Your phone number is painted on the truck, printed on every magnet and invoice, and listed on Google. You should never have to change it just to get your calls answered. Call forwarding lets you keep the number and still make sure somebody picks up when you are under a sink.
For a plumbing business, the phone number is one of the most valuable things you own. Past customers keep it on the fridge. Neighbors pass it along. Your reviews, your directory listings and your Google Business Profile all point to it. Changing it means reprinting everything and hoping the old listings get updated, and some of them never will.
So when owners look at answering services, receptionists or AI answering, the first question is usually: do I have to give out a new number? In most cases the answer is no. You forward the calls from the number you already have.
Call forwarding is a setting on your phone line that sends incoming calls to a different number. The customer dials the same number they always have. Your carrier quietly passes the call along to wherever you told it to go: your cell, a helper's phone, an answering service or an AI receptionist.
On many landlines and some cell carriers, you turn forwarding on by dialing *72 followed by the number you want calls sent to, and turn it off with *73. Other carriers use different codes or have you switch it on in an app or online account, and business phone systems usually have a forwarding setting in their dashboard. The quickest way to be sure is to ask your carrier or search their support page for “call forwarding.”
There are usually two ways to set it up, and the difference matters for a plumber:
A lot of owners use both: conditional forwarding during the workday, then all calls forwarded after hours so nobody has to wait through rings at 2am with water on the floor.
Forwarding is simple, but a five-minute test saves you from finding out on a busy day that calls were going nowhere.
Forwarding only moves the problem if the calls land somewhere nobody answers. Before you switch it on, decide who is actually picking up:
Whichever you choose, give them a short script for emergencies. A caller with a burst pipe should be told where the main shutoff usually is and to turn it off while they wait. A caller who smells gas should be told to leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 from outside.
You do not need anyone else's numbers to decide. Open your phone's call log and count the calls to your business number over the last two weeks that you did not answer, leaving out spam. Take out the ones you called back and booked. What is left are the callers who most likely hired someone else.
Multiply that by your average plumbing ticket from your invoices, then by 26 for a rough year. Compare that number to what an answering option costs you. That is your answer, based on your own business.
CallTwin is an AI receptionist built to work with the number you already have. You forward your line to CallTwin, and it answers every call 24/7 in English and Spanish, takes the caller's name, number, address and the problem, and texts the job to you so you can call back. It never quotes prices; pricing stays with you. Turn forwarding off whenever you want to take calls yourself. See how it handles plumbing calls on the CallTwin for plumbers page.
If you want to get estimates out faster, the optional AI Estimates add-on ($49/month) turns calls into estimates priced from your own price book. You review each one, and the customer signs and pays a deposit from their phone. CallTwin is a $500 one-time setup, the first 14 days are free, and then it's $99/month.
Call your carrier or check their support page today, learn your forwarding codes, and test them once. Then decide where your missed calls should go. If you want every plumbing call answered without changing your number, sign up for CallTwin or call (856) 204-3643 and we'll set you up on the phone.
No contract. Pay by card, Zelle or Cash App. Not a computer person? Call and we'll sign you up on the phone.