A landscaping phone has two seasons. From the first warm week of spring through fall cleanup it rings while every crew member is on a mower, a skid steer or a blower, and nobody can hear it. In winter it goes quiet, unless you plow, in which case it rings hardest during the storm you are out working in. An answering service for a landscaping company has to cover the loud months without charging you loud-month prices all year.
This page compares six options, three with live receptionists and three built on AI, for landscaping and lawn care companies with roughly 2 to 20 people in the field. If you are still deciding between a person and software, start with our breakdown of an AI receptionist versus an answering service.
How this page was made: researched from vendor pages, not hands-on tested. On November 8, 2026 we read each vendor’s pricing page and its landscaping page where one exists, then priced the same spring month and the same winter month on each. None of these services has answered a live landscaping line for us, so nothing here is scored. Our how we test and research page explains the difference between a research page and a hands-on review.
The short list, side by side
If you already run Jobber, the cheapest way to get calls answered is Jobber’s own AI Receptionist at $29 a month for 30 conversations, because bookings land in the schedule you already use. If you want a person on every call, PATLive is the only live service here whose landscaping page names Jobber, Yardbook and LawnPro, and MAP Communications is the one that says you can pause coverage for the winter.
| Service | Who answers | Best for | Price from | One limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber Receptionist | AI, inside Jobber | Crews that already schedule in Jobber | $29/mo for 30 conversations, $0.79 each after; unlimited on Plus | Needs a Jobber plan and a Jobber phone number |
| My AI Front Desk | AI, English and Spanish | Companies on LMN, Aspire, Service Autopilot or RealGreen | $99/mo ($79 billed yearly) for 200 voice minutes | Integration list is the vendor’s own claim |
| Quo Sona | AI, inside the Quo phone app | Owners who already use Quo for the business line | Quo from $19/user; Sona credit packs from $25/mo for 40 calls | Names no field service software |
| PATLive | People, 24/7, English and Spanish | Live agents that book into Jobber, Yardbook or LawnPro | $49/mo + $2.99/min; 200 min for $349 | Highest per-minute rate of the two budget live services |
| MAP Communications | People, 24/7, English and Spanish | Seasonal companies that want to pause in winter | $49/mo + $1.37/min; 125 min for $179 | Landscaping page names no software integration |
| Ruby | People, 24/7, English and Spanish | Design-build firms that want a polished front desk | $250/mo for 50 min | Overage rate not published |
Prices checked November 8, 2026 on each vendor’s own pricing or help page. Taxes, phone numbers and your scheduling software are extra.
Why landscaping calls need their own brief
Most answering service pages could swap “landscaping” for “plumbing” and still read fine. These five facts are why your script and your plan choice should look different.
Call volume follows the growing season
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says some grounds maintenance work is seasonal and that crews are busier and work longer hours in spring, summer and fall, when planting, mowing and trimming peak; some workers switch to snow removal in winter (BLS). A plan sized for May wastes money in January, and a plan sized for January runs into overage in May. That is why we priced both months below.
The caller you want is a recurring contract
Angi puts a single mowing visit at an average of $123, but recurring service at $65 to $100 a week, $200 to $400 a month or $2,000 to $4,000 a year (Angi). A spring caller who signs a weekly mowing contract is worth far more than one visit. The intake script should ask about frequency and lot size, not only take a name.
Some calls are about water, and they cannot wait
Irrigation is where a landscaping call turns urgent. Angi lists line leaks at $75 to $900 to fix and broken pipes at $100 to $400 (Angi). A customer watching water pool by the foundation should reach your on-call person, not a voicemail.
Winter brings a different kind of urgent call
If you plow or salt, a storm turns your quiet season into the busiest phone night of the year, and your commercial clients expect someone to answer. Quo’s landscaping page, for example, pitches its AI for snow removal inquiries in winter (Quo landscaping page). Whatever you pick, the winter script needs its own branch.
Your office software decides how much retyping you do
Landscaping runs on a different software list from the other trades: LMN, Aspire, Service Autopilot, RealGreen, Yardbook and LawnPro sit next to Jobber. A service that books straight into your system saves the morning spent retyping messages. Only three of the six options here name any landscaping software at all.
Three ways to put AI on the phone
AI answering costs a fraction of live agents per call and handles ten spring calls at once without a hold queue. The trade-off is judgment on odd calls, so test it with a mock irrigation emergency before you trust it at night. If you are unsure how open to be with callers about it, read whether an AI receptionist should say it’s AI.
Jobber Receptionist: best if you already schedule in Jobber
Jobber’s help center says its Receptionist answers calls and texts, answers questions from your business settings and website FAQs, books jobs through your online booking settings, can reschedule or cancel, creates requests and follow-up tasks, and transfers calls or sends a text alert when a caller uses a word you choose, such as “emergency” (Jobber help center). For a landscaper, “leak” or “flooding” is the obvious trigger word.
Price: included with unlimited use on the Plus plan, or an add-on at $29 a month for 30 conversations and $0.79 per conversation after that. Spam and no-conversation calls do not count. We break down the break-even point against the Plus plan in Jobber Receptionist vs Housecall Pro CSR AI, and the underlying plans in our Jobber pricing for small crews guide.
Limitation: it needs a Jobber dedicated phone number (US, Canada or UK), so you forward your existing number to it. The help article we read does not say whether it answers in Spanish.
My AI Front Desk: best for LMN, Aspire and Service Autopilot shops
My AI Front Desk has a set of landscaping pages. They say it integrates with Service Autopilot, LMN, Jobber, RealGreen and Aspire, captures property size, services needed and service frequency, and either books the job or routes project requests to an estimator. They also say English and Spanish are standard and that spring and fall spikes cost the same flat rate, with no per-minute surge pricing (My AI Front Desk landscaping page; Jobber page).
Price: $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly, with 200 voice minutes and 400 texts and a 7-day trial. Extra voice use is 25 credits a minute at $10 per 1,000 credits, which is $0.25 a minute (My AI Front Desk pricing). The landscaping page also advertises a way to start free; ask what that tier includes before you assume it covers a spring month.
Limitation: the integration list is the vendor’s claim, and its landscaping page does not say which fields sync. Ask for a demo that creates a real job in your LMN or Aspire account before you forward your main number.
Quo Sona: best if Quo is already your business line
Quo (formerly OpenPhone) builds its Sona AI agent into the phone app. The landscaping page says Sona collects the property address, service type and timeline, answers questions on services, seasonal availability, pricing ranges and service areas from a knowledge base you upload, and can run only after hours or as overflow in peak season (Quo landscaping page).
Price: Quo plans are $19, $33 or $47 per user a month ($15, $23 or $35 billed yearly). Every plan includes 10 Sona calls; extra credit packs run from $25 a month for 40 calls to $199 for 600 calls, with lower per-call overage on bigger packs (Quo pricing). The landscaping page quotes $1 per extra call on the $25 pack while the pricing page shows less, so confirm the rate at checkout.
Limitation: leads land in the Quo inbox. Neither page names Jobber, LMN or any field service app, so someone still enters the job by hand.
Three live answering services
PATLive: best for live agents that book into your software
PATLive’s landscaping page lists 24/7/365 US-based receptionists in English and Spanish who book estimates, service calls and maintenance visits, and route calls by season, time of day or day of week to a dispatcher, on-call tech or owner. It names integrations with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, Yardbook, LawnPro, FieldPulse, ServiceFusion and Workiz (PATLive landscaping page). Routing by season is the feature that fits this trade best.
Price: $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute on pay as you go; 50 minutes for $99, 100 for $189, 200 for $349, 300 for $479 and 500 for $759. You are billed only for time a receptionist is live on the call, with no night, weekend, holiday or bilingual fees, no contract and a 14-day free trial on every plan (PATLive pricing).
Limitation: pay as you go at $2.99 a minute is more than double MAP’s rate, so a company that wants to drop to almost nothing in winter pays more per call than on MAP.
MAP Communications: best for pausing coverage in winter
MAP’s landscaper page says its bilingual, US-based agents answer 24/7, schedule and reschedule, pre-qualify leads, give estimates based on your specifications and dispatch crews to locations. It is also the only page here that says outright you can scale down or pause call coverage in winter and turn it back on later, and that you only pay for calls answered (MAP landscaper page).
Price: Pay As You Go is $49 a month plus $1.37 a minute. Business is $179 for 125 minutes ($1.30 per extra minute), Enterprise $339 for 250 minutes and Premium $649 for 500 minutes, both at $1.28 per extra minute (MAP pricing).
Limitation: the landscaper page names no scheduling software, so expect messages by email or text that your office types into your system.
Ruby: best for a polished front desk at a design-build firm
Ruby’s landscaping page lists live receptionists 24/7 with an average answer time under 10 seconds, appointment booking and reminders, lead capture while you are on site, website chat, emergency call handling and English and Spanish answering on its plans (Ruby landscaping page). It suits a design-build or hardscape company where one call can be a five-figure project and the first impression matters.
Price: $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500, with optional AI features included at no extra cost (Ruby pricing).
Limitation: no overage rate is published, and at $5 a minute on the entry plan it is the most expensive per minute here. The landscaping page mentions CRM integrations but names no landscaping software.
Spring versus winter: the same company, two different bills
We priced a spring month at 200 calls averaging 2 minutes (400 minutes) and a winter month at 40 calls (80 minutes). For each service we used the cheapest published plan that covers the month. These are our calculations from published prices, not quotes.
| Service | Spring: 200 calls, 400 min | Winter: 40 calls, 80 min |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber Receptionist add-on | $163.30 (30 + 170 extra conversations) | $36.90 (30 + 10 extra) |
| Quo Sona + 1 Starter user | $118 (250-call pack $99 + $19) | $44 (40-call pack $25 + $19) |
| My AI Front Desk | $149 (200 min + 200 extra at $0.25) | $99 (within 200 min) |
| MAP Communications | $531 (Enterprise 250 min + 150 at $1.28) | $158.60 (Pay As You Go) |
| PATLive | $668 (300 min + 100 at $1.89) | $167.70 (50 min + 30 at $2.29) |
| Ruby | $1,725 (500 min plan) | $395 (100 min plan) |
Jobber Receptionist is the add-on price only; you also need a Jobber plan. Ruby is priced on whole plans because its smaller plans do not publish an overage rate. For comparison, BLS puts the median grounds maintenance wage at $19.27 an hour, so even a part-time office hire for the spring costs more than most AI options here, but it also brings judgment none of them has. To see what the calls you miss today are worth, try our missed call cost calculator.
A routing sheet to hand over on day one
Every option above asks for call instructions. Landscaping calls sort into four groups, and each should end differently.
- Water or property damage. An irrigation leak, a tree or limb on a structure, storm cleanup at a commercial site. Page the owner or on-call crew lead right away.
- Snow and ice (winter only). A plow or salting request from a contract client during a storm. Transfer to the dispatcher and log the time and address.
- New estimate request. Design, hardscape, sod, fall cleanup or a new mowing contract. Book an estimate visit and ask for photos and lot size by text.
- Everything else. Skipping a visit, billing, gate codes, a missed strip, a rain delay question. Take a message for the next business day.
For callers who hang up before anyone answers, add missed-call text back on your business number so they get a reply within seconds, whichever service you choose.
How to choose for your crew size
- Owner-operator or one crew, on Jobber: turn on Jobber Receptionist, set “leak” and “flooding” as transfer words, and review the transcripts every evening for the first two weeks.
- Two to five crews on LMN, Aspire or Service Autopilot: trial My AI Front Desk and confirm a test booking shows up in your software before the spring rush.
- You want a human on every call: PATLive if you want bookings in Jobber, Yardbook or LawnPro and season-based routing; MAP if paying the lowest per-minute rate and pausing in winter matter more.
- Design-build or high-end residential: Ruby, if $720 to $1,725 a month in peak season fits your margins.
- You plow: whatever you choose, write the winter branch first and test it before the first storm.
Also considered: Smith.ai, whose landscaping page says its AI collects property size, service type, timeline and budget and starts free for 25 calls, with live plans from $300 a month (Smith.ai landscaping page), but whose pricing page names no landscaping software; and Rosie ($49 a month for 250 minutes, English and Spanish), whose entry plan cannot transfer calls or book on your calendar (Rosie pricing). For AI tools across every trade, see the best AI receptionists for small business, and the rest of our phone coverage lives in the AI receptionists hub.
Sources
- Jobber help center: Receptionist, powered by Jobber AI
- My AI Front Desk pricing, landscaping page and Jobber page
- Quo pricing and Quo landscaping page
- PATLive pricing and landscaping page
- MAP Communications pricing and landscaper page
- Ruby pricing and landscaping page
- Smith.ai landscaping page and Rosie pricing
- Angi: how much does lawn mowing cost and Angi: sprinkler repair cost
- BLS: grounds maintenance workers
