After hours · live 24/7
After-hours answering service
The calls that come in after five still get answered.
Evenings, overnight, weekends and holidays — on the number you already have. Callers reach a receptionist that answers their question, books the job or takes the message, and wakes you only for the ones that cannot wait until morning.
From $39 a month, billed monthly, cancel anytime. Live in 15 to 20 minutes.
Or hear it first — call the AI receptionist on (202) 335-4047
What happens when someone calls after hours
The line picks up before the second ring. The receptionist greets the caller with the greeting you wrote, in the voice you chose, and answers what it can from your own material — your hours, your services, your areas, the questions you get asked most.
If the caller wants to book, it books. If they need a person, it follows the rules you set. And if the call is one you told it to escalate, it escalates — immediately, with the details already written down. Every call is transcribed and waiting in your dashboard in the morning.
Overnight, weekends and holidays
There is no separate after-hours plan to buy and no hours to switch on. Every plan answers around the clock from the moment it goes live, which means the cover is the same at 2am on a Sunday as it is at 2pm on a Tuesday. You set your business hours during setup so the receptionist knows when it is speaking for a closed office — and can say so, rather than pretending someone is about to pick up.
Urgent vs non-urgent: how calls get triaged
You decide what counts as urgent during setup, and the receptionist sorts calls into three outcomes.
Straight through to a person
Calls you have flagged as always-urgent are transferred to the number you nominate, whatever the hour. You decide what qualifies during setup.
On-call alert, message logged
The receptionist takes the details, emails you the moment the message is taken, and flags it as urgent on the call record so it is not buried by the morning.
Held for the morning
Routine calls — quotes, availability, general questions — are answered from your knowledge base and the message waits in your dashboard with a full transcript.
After-hours answering by industry
The triage rules change with the trade. The setup does not.
HVAC after-hours answering service
A no-heat call at 11pm is the job that pays for the month. The receptionist takes the address and the fault, decides whether it wakes you, and books the ones that can wait until morning.
Medical after-hours answering service
Patients reach a calm voice instead of a dial tone. Routine requests are logged for the practice to pick up; anything you have marked urgent goes to the on-call clinician immediately.
After-hours answering for property management
A tenant with a burst pipe does not wait for office hours. Maintenance calls are triaged the way you set them, so the genuine emergencies reach someone and the rest arrive as messages.
Working in a trade that is not listed? See every industry we cover, or read how the answering service for plumbers works.
How much does an after-hours answering service cost?
An after-hours answering service costs between $39 and $199 a month with GrayWorks, depending on how many minutes you need and how much you want the receptionist to do. After-hours cover is included in every plan — you are paying for minutes and capability, not for the hours of the day.
Plans
Every plan answers around the clock.
Starter
$39/month
40 minutes · 1 phone number
- 24/7 answering on your number
- Transfers, messages & callbacks
- Transcripts & summaries
- Answers from your knowledge base
- Email alert on every lead
Essential
$69/month
100 minutes · 1 phone number
- Everything in Starter
- 100 included minutes for busier phones
- Invite your team
- Full voice library
- Flexible after-hours handling
Professional
$129/month
250 minutes · 1 phone number
- Everything in Essential
- Appointment booking, rescheduling & tracking
- Messages inbox — every message & callback in your dashboard
- Call recordings & playback
- Website chatbot — same brain as your receptionist
Premier
$199/month
500 minutes · 2 phone numbers
- Everything in Professional
- Support intake & ticketing
- English and Spanish answering
- Hybrid voice-and-chat widget
Overage $0.35/minute — connected call time only. No setup fee. Cancel anytime from your billing page.
Why isn't there a free trial?
Your receptionist is generated from your actual business details — hours, services, escalation rules — so there isn't a generic version to trial. Hear it first instead: call the demo line on (202) 335-4047 — it's the same AI you'd be paying for. Plans are month-to-month with no contract, so you can cancel anytime from your billing page if it's not a fit.
Set up in 15 to 20 minutes
Tell it about your business, choose a voice and greeting, set your routing and your after-hours rule, add the material it should answer from, and forward your number. It is built and published automatically once payment completes, so cover can start tonight. See the full setup, step by step.
Common questions about after-hours cover
Does an after-hours answering service use my existing number?
Yes. Forward your line to the number we provision and callers keep dialling the number they already have. Nothing on your website, van or business card needs to change.
What happens to an urgent call in the middle of the night?
You choose during setup. The receptionist can alert your on-call contact straight away, take a message for the morning, or offer voicemail — and you can set which kinds of call always reach a person.
Is after-hours cover included, or does it cost extra?
It is included. Every plan answers around the clock, so after-hours cover starts at $39 a month — the plan decides how many minutes you get and how much the receptionist can do, not what hours it works.
Will callers know it is not a person?
It answers in a voice and tone you choose, using a greeting you write. It answers questions from your own material before it takes a message, so most callers get a real answer rather than a promise of a callback.
How long does it take to set up after-hours answering?
Most businesses finish setup in 15 to 20 minutes. The receptionist is built and published automatically once payment completes, so cover can start the same evening.
The next call after five could be the one that matters.
Set up your receptionist tonight and it answers the next one.