You run the trucks.
We run everything else.
The call center, the leads, the books, and the systems for HVAC, plumbing & electrical contractors — under one accountable partner. No new hires. No dropped calls. No guessing where you stand.
You didn't get into the trades to run a call center and a bookkeeping department.
But that's where the day goes. Missed calls become missed revenue. The paid leads you already bought go cold before anyone answers. The books are always a month behind, so you're running on a gut feel instead of a number.
Every fix means another hire to recruit, train, and manage. Contractor In Charge takes the whole front and back office off your plate — answered, booked, dispatched, and reconciled — so you can get back to the work.
The whole office — not just the phones.
Connected teams under one accountable partner. Take what you need; add the rest as you grow.
Call Center Services
- Inbound call handling & appointment booking
- Outbound scheduling & follow-up
- After-hours & emergency call handling
Leads to Revenue
- AI digital lead management
- Lead conversion & booking optimization
- Paid lead channel management
Full Service Bookkeeping and Accounting
- Full-service bookkeeping for home services
- Fractional CFO services
- QuickBooks Online services
- QuickBooks Desktop-to-Online conversions
In Charge Front Office
- Complete outsourced front office: people, process & technology
- Phone lines & digital lead channels set up
- Booking agents, customer service agents & dispatcher team
- Appointments managed in your software
- AI Dispatch for routing & rules-based dispatching
Business Systems & Software Optimization
- Pricebook, membership & inventory optimization
- ServiceTitan implementation & optimization
- Accounting & FSM integration
- FSM software selection & optimization
Calls, leads, books, and systems handed to one team — so the work in front of you is the work you actually do.
See the service lines →What are missed calls costing you?
Your numbers, not ours. Change the inputs and watch what the leak actually costs.
Example numbers — put in your own. Illustrative, not a quote: computed entirely from what you enter.
One partner, or four half-answers.
| Capability | Contractor In Charge | AI answering service | In-house hire | Single-function vendor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live humans, 24/7 | ✓ | partial | partial | partial |
| Books the job in your FSM | ✓ | partial | ✓ | partial |
| After-hours emergency dispatch | ✓ | partial | ✗ | partial |
| Paid leads worked to conversion | ✓ | ✗ | partial | partial |
| Bookkeeping & fractional CFO | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Systems & software optimization | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| One partner, one contract | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| No long-term lock-in | ✓ | partial | ✗ | partial |
How Contractor In Charge works
Answer
We pick up live as your team, 24/7 — after hours and overflow included.
Book & dispatch
The job goes into your FSM and out to the right tech, on your rules.
Follow up
Unsold estimates and paid leads worked until they convert.
Reconcile
Clean books and clear financials by the 10th, every month.
75+ people behind your business.
Run by someone who's sat in your chair.
Contractor In Charge was founded in 2016 by Lynn Wise — in the trades since 1974 as a former plumbing and HVAC business owner and GM, with a BBA in Finance and an MBA to match. She built CIC because she lived the problem: great crews, growing revenue, and a back office holding the whole thing back.
So this isn't an answering service or a bookkeeping vendor. It's one partner across your calls, leads, and books — one contract, one point of contact, and accountability measured on booking rates and month-end financials, not activity.
Straight answers
We work inside the tools you already run — ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, QuickBooks and more. No rip-and-replace.
No. An answering service takes a message. We answer as your team, book the job, dispatch it, follow up on the estimate, and keep the books behind it — the whole office, not just the phone.
HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors across the country — from established shops to teams scaling and feeling the back-office strain.
No long-term contracts. We keep earning your business and hold ourselves to measurable results — booking rate, answer time, and clean financials on schedule.
Our office runs 8am–5pm, Monday–Friday. The live answering service we run for clients is 24/7/365 — that's the whole point.
75+ people: 41 live agents answering 24/7, 26 accountants and bookkeepers, and a 9-person operations team.
Book a free discovery call. We'll look at your operations, show you where the missed calls and the money are hiding, and tell you exactly how we'd help.
See what a real back office feels like.
Book a free discovery call. We'll find where the money and the missed calls are hiding — and show you exactly how we'd help.
Book a Free Discovery Call