How Much Does a Missed Call Cost an Appliance Repair Company? (2026 Refrigerator vs Washer Math)
In short
In a worked example for a two-tech appliance repair company taking 240 calls in July, the 48 calls it misses cost about $2,843 in repair revenue, or about $102 per missed new repair call. The appliance decides the number: a missed warm-refrigerator call costs about $173, a missed washer or dryer call about $60. Fourteen of the 48 missed calls cost nothing at all. Repair prices are from HomeAdvisor and Angi's 2026 cost pages.
In short: in a worked example for a two-tech appliance repair company taking 240 calls in July, the 48 calls nobody answers cost about $2,843 in repair revenue, or about $102 per missed new repair call. That average hides the real answer, which is that the appliance sets the price. A missed call about a warm refrigerator costs about $173. A missed call about a washer or dryer costs about $60. And 14 of the 48 missed calls cost nothing, because they were never your job.
Before the numbers, the conflict of interest: I'm Justin McKelvey and I run Local Call AI, which sells an AI receptionist to contractors. You will find our prices in one section toward the end; every table before it works the same whoever picks up your phone.
Appliance repair is a different phone from the trades we have priced so far. The tickets are small: HomeAdvisor's appliance repair cost page, updated June 17, 2026, puts most repairs at $108 to $252, with an average of $180. The calls are many and short. And a big share of them are screening calls: a brand you do not service, an address outside your radius, a machine still under the manufacturer's warranty. So the useful question is not "what is a missed call worth" but "which missed call is worth anything".
The month we model
Picture two techs on the road and an owner who answers the phone between jobs. July, the month refrigerators work hardest: 240 calls. With both techs in someone's kitchen most of the day, we assume 20% go unanswered, which is 48 missed calls. We sort them four ways:
- 6 not a job: vendors, spam, wrong numbers.
- 8 not your job: a brand you do not work on, an address outside your area, or a nine-month-old dishwasher that belongs to the manufacturer's warranty service.
- 6 existing customers: mostly "did my part come in yet?"
- 28 new repair calls.
The call count and the 20% are planning assumptions, not anyone's data. Your carrier's call log has your real numbers, and our missed-call cost research collects what published studies say about how often home-service calls go unanswered.
What each missed repair call is worth, by appliance
For the refrigerator we use Angi's refrigerator repair cost page, updated October 15, 2026, which puts the 2026 national average at $275 (most pay $150 to $400). For everything else we take the midpoint of HomeAdvisor's range for that appliance: washing machine $50 to $450 and dryer $100 to $400, so $250; cooktops, ranges and ovens $100 to $500, so $300; dishwashers $160 to $300, so $230.
| Missed new repair call | Missed | Repair value used | Booked if answered | Lost even after callback | Revenue lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator or freezer warm, food inside | 10 | $275 | 70% | 90% | $1,732.50 |
| Washer or dryer | 8 | $250 | 60% | 40% | $480.00 |
| Range, oven or cooktop | 4 | $300 | 60% | 50% | $360.00 |
| Dishwasher | 4 | $230 | 60% | 40% | $220.80 |
| Older machine, "is it worth fixing?" | 2 | $100 | 50% | 50% | $50.00 |
| Total | 28 | $2,843.30 |
Each row is missed calls times repair value times the chance you would have booked it, times the share a callback does not win back. Refrigerator: 10 × $275 × 70% × 90% = $1,732.50.
That is $101.55 per missed new repair call, or $59.24 averaged across all 48 missed calls.
Why the refrigerator is 61% of the month
Ten of the 28 new calls carry $1,732.50, which is 61% of the total. Two things stack. The refrigerator has the highest average ticket in the table, and its caller has a deadline: food is going bad. So we assume a callback two hours later loses 90% of them, because they kept dialing until someone picked up.
The washer caller is the opposite. Laundry can wait a day, they often leave a message, and a same-day callback usually still gets the job, so we assume only 40% are lost. Per missed call that is $173.25 for the refrigerator against $60.00 for the washer or dryer, almost three times as much. If your phone has to drop something on a busy afternoon, it should not be the call that starts with "my fridge is warm".
Gas adds to this. HomeAdvisor says gas appliances run about 20% higher to repair than electric, so a shop that does a lot of gas ranges should push that row up.
The missed calls that cost nothing
Fourteen of the 48 missed calls are worth $0: the 6 non-jobs and the 8 that were never yours. That is 29% of the missed calls, and most of them are not spam: they are real people with a real broken machine who should be told, politely and fast, that you are not the right shop. The 6 existing customers also cost nothing the day they call, though a customer who cannot find out about their part twice may not call you next time.
Here is the part that matters for choosing how to answer. A wrong-brand or warranty caller costs nothing when missed, but can cost a lot when answered badly. If whoever answers books every caller, one of those 8 becomes a truck roll to a brand you do not stock, and that slot on the schedule could have been a paying refrigerator. In this trade the phone is half sales desk, half filter.
The call that ends at the service fee
Some answered calls do not become repairs. Angi's rule of thumb is to repair a refrigerator that is under ten years old when the repair costs less than half a new one, and new refrigerators run $1,000 to $3,000. HomeAdvisor puts the life of a refrigerator, dryer or gas range at 13 to 15 years and a dishwasher at around 10. So a caller with an old machine often pays for the diagnosis and buys a new one.
That is why the "is it worth fixing?" row is priced at $100, the middle of the $75 to $125 minimum service fees Angi lists, not at a repair. It is also why we did not raise every row to a full repair: some of your booked refrigerators end the same way. These are revenue figures before parts, fuel and labor.
The refrigerator call at 6 PM
Angi says emergency or after-hours repairs often add $50 to $100. If you run evening calls, the same warm-refrigerator call is worth $275 plus a $75 after-hours charge, and at the same booking and callback rates a missed one costs $220.50. If you do not run evenings, the after-hours refrigerator caller who gets a person (or an AI) booking the first slot tomorrow morning is still more likely to wait for you than the one who got voicemail.
How sure are these numbers?
The repair values are from the two pages above. Everything else is an assumption, and the booking chances carry the most weight: halve them all and the month still loses $1,421.65. We left out microwave and garbage disposal calls, maintenance plans, and installs, which each would have moved the totals on a guess. For a wider view of what answering coverage costs across providers, our guide to what answering services cost compares the pricing models.
What it costs to answer an appliance repair phone
Our pricing has three tiers. Standard is $297 a month and includes 250 call minutes; Connected is $497 and includes 500; Concierge starts at $750 and includes 1,000. Each minute past the plan is $0.35, and English and Spanish come on all three. A repair intake (brand, model number off the tag, symptom, address, your service fee answer) takes about 3 minutes. Everything else, part status, wrong brand, a vendor, takes about 1.5. The AI gives the service fee you wrote and never guesses a repair price.
| What you forward | Calls, minutes | Standard ($297) | Connected ($497) | Concierge (from $750) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every July call | 240 calls, 570 min | $409.00 | $521.50 | from $750.00 |
| Only the calls nobody picks up | 48 calls, 114 min | $297.00 | $497.00 | from $750.00 |
| A heat-wave month, double the calls | 480 calls, 1,140 min | $608.50 | $721.00 | from $799.00 |
Two refrigerator repairs at Angi's $275 average, $550, cover the full July bill on Standard. The plan choice is about who gets told what: Standard emails you each call summary, Connected texts the tech on call and files new customers into Jobber or JobNimbus (the only two systems we connect to; there is no parts or warranty lookup), and Concierge recognizes returning customers mid-call and lets callers text a photo of the model tag. Our appliance repair answering service comparison covers the other options, including cheaper ones for a one-van shop. Plan details are on the pricing page.
The same washer, a different trade
A leaking washer shows up in our water damage restoration math too. To the restoration company it is a dry-out job priced in the thousands; to you it is a repair priced in the hundreds. Same machine, same wet floor, and a very different missed call, which is why each trade has to price its own phone.
Check your own phone
Pull last July's call log from your carrier and mark every unanswered call. Sort them the way we did: refrigerator, laundry, cooking, dishwasher, not a job, not your job, existing customer. Price each group at your own average ticket, not HomeAdvisor's. Our missed-call calculator will total it with your volumes. If most of the money sits in one appliance, make sure that is the call that never goes to voicemail.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a missed call cost an appliance repair company?
In our worked 2026 example, a two-tech appliance repair company loses about $102 per missed new repair call, and about $2,843 across 48 missed calls in a 240-call July. The appliance changes the number: about $173 for a warm refrigerator and $60 for a washer or dryer. Repair values are from HomeAdvisor and Angi; call counts, booking rates and callback losses are assumptions to replace with your own.
Which missed call costs an appliance repair company the most?
The refrigerator. It has the highest average repair in our table, $275 according to Angi's 2026 data, and the caller has food spoiling, so they keep calling until someone answers. In our example the refrigerator is 10 of 28 missed new calls and 61% of the lost revenue.
Is every missed call lost money for an appliance repair shop?
No. In our example 14 of 48 missed calls cost nothing: 6 were not a job and 8 were a brand the shop does not service, an address outside its area, or a machine still under manufacturer warranty. Those calls cost money only when they are answered badly and booked as a truck roll.
How much is an after-hours appliance repair call worth?
Angi says emergency or after-hours repairs often add $50 to $100. Using a $75 add-on on its $275 refrigerator average, a missed after-hours refrigerator call costs about $220.50 in our example, against $173.25 during the day.
What does an answering service cost an appliance repair company?
Local Call AI is $297 a month with 250 minutes and $0.35 a minute after. In our example, answering every July call (240 calls, 570 minutes) costs $409 on Standard or $521.50 on Connected, which texts the on-call tech and files new customers into Jobber or JobNimbus. A heat-wave month with double the calls costs $608.50 on Standard.
Sources: HomeAdvisor, "How Much Does Appliance Repair Cost in 2025?" (homeadvisor.com/cost/kitchens/repair-an-appliance/, updated June 17, 2026, read October 19, 2026: $108 to $252, average $180, full range $50 to $390; labor $50 to $150 per hour; gas about 20% higher than electric; by type, refrigerator $200 to $300, cooktops, ranges and ovens $100 to $500, dishwasher $160 to $300, washing machine $50 to $450, dryer $100 to $400; refrigerators, dryers and gas ranges last 13 to 15 years, dishwashers about 10). Angi, "How Much Does Refrigerator Repair Cost? [2026 Data]" (angi.com/articles/how-much-does-refrigerator-repair-cost.htm, updated October 15, 2026, read October 19, 2026: 2026 national average $275, most $150 to $400; minimum service fees $75 to $125; emergency or after-hours repairs often add $50 to $100; repair if under ten years old and under 50% of a new model; new refrigerators $1,000 to $3,000). Local Call AI pricing page, read October 19, 2026 (plans, minutes, $0.35 per-minute overage, alerts, integrations, returning-customer recognition, photo texting). The water damage comparison refers to our own post published October 17, 2026. Call volumes, the 20% missed rate, call mix, booking chances, callback losses and call lengths are planning assumptions, not measured customer data.