24/7 VIRTUAL RECEPTIONISTS

Architect answering service and overflow answering

Let's build your business together. Smith.ai's architect answering service answers calls & texts 24/7 — and with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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Incoming calls are unpredictable.

Calls come in, but you're not always available to answer them. We capture leads, book appointments, collect payment, and log details instantly in your systems.

Design structural plans while we handle the calls.

There’s too much to do, and you can't delegate an architect's work. Hand off "the rest" to our receptionists. We capture leads, set appointments, and follow-up to win business.

We provide 360-degree coverage to manage both your inbound and outbound customer engagement.

Powerful call intelligence gives your business the lead

Make better business decisions with real-time call data, visualized in every Smith.ai client dashboard. Every call summary is enriched with metadata including actions completed, caller disposition, priority, relevance, call recording and transcription, and more. See the big picture with historical tables and charts to predict business growth, costs, and ROI with superior accuracy.

Outreach calls and campaigns speed-up sales and support

Smith.ai receptionists make calls on your behalf, improving your speed-to-lead and unburdening staff who need to reach out to clients. We'll call-back online leads who complete web forms, contact donors for donation renewals, chase down payments on unpaid invoices, and more. We'll even send follow-up emails and texts after every call to ensure a connection is made. Learn more.

82%

of consumers expect an immediate response to a sales inquiry

50%

of lead generation budgets are wasted on leads who are never contacted

67%

of customers who receive excellent service spend up to 14% more

Capture and book appointments with 24/7 Live Chat.

Keeping an architecture firm up and running can be time-consuming. Our 24/7 live agents respond instantly to chats and texts, so new online leads are converted while you get back to more important work.

Complete Human Coverage When You Need It

Prefer 100% live agents? We've got you covered.

While our AI Receptionist with human support delivers exceptional results for most businesses, we understand that some situations require dedicated human coverage. That's why Smith.ai also offers comprehensive virtual receptionist plans with 100% live, North America-based agents answering your calls 24/7.

Our virtual receptionist plans provide:

Dedicated human agents trained specifically on your business and industry.
True 24/7 coverage with live professionals, never voicemail or automated systems.
Complete call handling including complex scheduling, detailed note-taking, and sensitive conversations.
Seamless CRM integration with the same advanced features as our AI plans.
Custom call instructions tailored to your exact preferences and procedures.
Professional representation that sounds like an extension of your in-house team.

Smith.ai is trusted by 3,000+ businesses

5.0 stars

4.9 stars

5.0 stars

4.7 stars

“We are very happy with it. Your receptionists are the best we’ve used so far. They go above and beyond any other service we’ve used up to this point!”

Brandon Lochridge

Armor Electric

Read case study

TALK TO OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS

Book a consultation

Improve customer experiences with 24/7 AI-powered engagement built specifically for your business. Unlike basic AI competitors that offer one-size-fits-all solutions, Smith.ai delivers infinite customization with white-glove implementation tailored to your exact needs and goals.

Custom AI prompts engineered for your industry, terminology, and workflows.
Intelligent call handling with seamless human escalation.
Native CRM integration with your existing tech stack.
Dedicated implementation team that ensures perfect setup from day one.

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END-TO-END INTEGRATIONS

We play well with your software

Calls, appointments, and payments are automatically logged in your systems by our AI. Real-time syncing with over 7,000 integrations.

View all integrations

END-TO-END INTEGRATIONS

We play well with your software

Calls, appointments, and payments are automatically logged in your systems by our AI. Real-time syncing with over 7,000 integrations.

View all integrations

Frequently asked questions

The best architect answering services do much more than pick up phone calls and take messages for home and office. At Smith.ai, we provide virtual receptionists capable of a wide range of services from call handling, to scheduling, to lead intake, to website chat, and more. Whether you need a virtual receptionist for full-time call handling, overflow support only, after-hours, or triage, here are the answers to the most common questions we receive from commercial, residential, industrial, and other specialized architects.

Like many high-stake careers, architects work under constant pressure. Whether they're specialized in designing and building a local movie theater or an apartment complex, architects have plenty that requires their undivided attention and constant focus. They don't need to worry about setting aside time for their more-frivolous duties, like appointment scheduling or call answering. But when customer service gets neglected, client relationships and lead conversion opportunities tend to suffer huge, sometimes irreparable damage. That leaves an architecture firm's reputation and revenue up in the air. Thankfully, busy architects can protect their customer base without sacrificing their productivity by allowing an answering service to take over all of their call handling, consultation booking, and lead screening duties for them. A reliable answering service provides architecture firms of all shapes and sizes the support they need, where they need it. Listed below are a number of the benefits that architects have experienced when they hired a answering service like Smith.ai:

Expanded availability‍

With an answering service available around-the-clock, your clients will always speak with a real human being, regardless of whether you're busy, away, or otherwise unavailable. Allowing a dedicated professional to take over your calls can allow clients to receive the exceptional customer service they deserve at all times.

Increased leads captured

Missed calls lead to missed opportunities. Don’t let leads pass you by just because you can't reach the phone. Answering services provide nighttime, overflow, weekend, and after-hours availability, so you can rest assured knowing your leads will be captured and nurtured when you're not around.

Boosted work productivity

By entrusting an architect answering service to handle your most tedious administrative responsibilities, you can allocate the time you used to spend on the phone towards more productive work, like designing renovation plans. This opens the door for countless growth opportunities for your architecture firm.

Enhanced client satisfaction and business reputation

Smith.ai knows how to deliver a superior customer experience, so whatever your business size, know that our virtual receptionists got you covered. Each and every Smith.ai virtual receptionist is highly-trained in customer service, so let us put our award-winning practices to work for you by delivering the responsiveness your customers will appreciate.

Get more for less

Architects can enjoy all the benefits of a dozen highly-trained in-house receptionists wrapped into one easy-to-use service, all for the mere price of a gym membership. Customers who use Smith.ai instead of hiring in-house receptionists can save upwards of $30,000/year, not to mention on-boarding hours.

Keep up with leads and clients

Phone answering services can deliver detailed call summaries after every call, and even offer your clients chat and text messaging, so your clients have more than one way to get in contact with your architecture firm, paving the way for ten-times as many lead conversion possibilities to come your way.

A live architect answering service can revolutionize the way you do business. Smith.ai's virtual receptionist services are uniquely designed to fit your business needs, whatever they may be. Whether you're on a limited budget, overwhelmed by growing business demands, or simply looking to strengthen your customer service, Smith.ai can provide the individualized support you need wherever you need it. Your firm can receive all the benefits of several in-house receptionists wrapped into one simple service, and with plenty of convenient features available for you to take advantage of, Smith.ai can empower your architecture firm to reach peak productivity and lead conversion levels.

Smith.ai’s answering service can provide architecture firms with nearly limitless administrative services, like…

24/7 availability

After-hours & overflow answering

Bilingual answering

Outbound call-backs

Spam blocking

Appointment scheduling

Sales development

Payment collection

CRM Integration

Lead development

And much, much more…‍

With an extensive list of features and resources, Smith.ai’s answering service is the clear choice for architects eager to build their productivity, revenue, and outreach. Smith.ai has long been dedicated to offering comprehensive administrative support to architecture teams like yours. For years now, our staff has been able to provide our award-winning services to thousands of satisfied clients. Read some of the 5-star reviews from clients like these to learn why architects from around the world trust Smith.ai to deliver exceptional virtual receptionist services.

Looking for a way to hand off your overwhelming administrative tasks without breaking the bank? Well then, "front desk" support is the way to go and luckily, you have options to choose from so you can find the perfect fit for your firm. But when it comes to choosing between hiring a traditional in-house receptionist or an answering service, costs tend to be the deciding factor. Keeping prices as low as possible without sacrificing the quality of work is key, but with an in-house receptionist, that might not be what you'll get. To show you the cost comparisons, we've compiled a brief list of the average expenses architects can expect when hiring an in-house receptionist.

The average salary nation-wide for an in-house receptionist is about $37,000 and they usually come with hefty, often unspoken fees, such as:

Medical, dental, and vision insurance, costing about $11,000/year
Life and disability insurance, costing about $2,000/year
401K’s, retirement and pension plans, costing about $2,000/year
Paid sick leave, holidays, and vacations, costing about $5,500/year
Commuting reimbursement, costing about $5,000/year
Child care subsidy and parental leave, costing about $3,000/year
Health and wellness programs, costing about $1,000/year
Bonus pay, costing about $2,000/year
Company retreats, team bonding events, and employee outings, costing about $4,000/year
Free lunch, snacks, and drinks, costing about $3,500/year

Total Cost in Addition to Salary: $77,000/year

If your architecture firm happens to be located in a highly-populated area, that final cost is guaranteed to be a lot higher. And with all the time you'll have to spend on-boarding and training your new hire on all your software and processes, the initial price of hiring a traditional in-house receptionist will likely far exceed your budget. And those up-front costs never end up balancing out as the years go on. When your in-house receptionist inevitably comes in late, calls in sick, requests time off, takes personal leaves of absence, goes on vacation, etc., it's your firm that'll suffer. Contrarily, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can accomplish pretty much the same tasks as an in-house receptionist can, and they're even able to complete those tasks more efficiently than an in-house receptionist can. As if the quality service Smith.ai can offer wasn't enough, our virtual receptionists are also significantly more affordable than in-house receptionists, so you'll be getting much, much more for less.

Smith.ai’s answering service costs as little as $292.50/month, with no hidden fees. Ever. By hiring an answering service instead of an in-house receptionist, your business could save over $33,000/year on salary alone, and possibly up to $40,000/year in benefits beyond salary payments. So not only will your dollar stretch a lot farther, but with Smith.ai, you'll be gaining an entire team of highly-trained professionals who'll work around-the-clock to keep your productivity, lead conversion rates, and net profit growing. Unlike in-house receptionists, virtual receptionists can answer calls outside of regular business hours, enabling you to capture and covert nearly 27% more leads. Smith.ai’s agents can even respond to live chats and texts, which is how 46% of customers prefer communicating with businesses, empowering your team to connect with potential leads you may have never even known existed.

Virtual receptionists can also provide additional sales assistance as well by making outbound calls to capture potentially interested leads, providing the responsiveness that over 67% of clients base their decision to hire a business on. With potential clients receiving the timely, professional responses they expect, you can expect to see your lead conversion rates (and profit) explode practically overnight. With Smith.ai’s reliable architect answering service, your architecture team can enjoy all the benefits of an in-house receptionist and so much more without the unnecessarily high expenses. Read our article to learn more about the differences between an in-house vs. a virtual receptionist.

A day in the life of an architect is rarely, if ever, boring. Whether they're drawing plans for a new project or putting the finishing touches on a new building, architects are more than familiar with working on high-stakes projects. With such a fast-paced working environment, it can be tough for architects to set aside their limited time to accomplish less urgent tasks, like sending off invoices. Limited in-office hours and budgets keep them from receiving the support they need to remain productive, as well. Thankfully, with an answering service, busy architects can manage all of their administrative responsibilities and avoid cracking under the mounding pressure of their hectic jobs. By bringing in professional outsourced support, architects can transform a massive chunk of workload over to a team of highly-trained professionals, who will work tirelessly to help them complete their most time-consuming administrative tasks. Common scenarios that we've noticed architects experience that have required a virtual receptionist service for are:

I need administrative support, but can't afford it

"Front desk” support in any form is an absolute must for just about every business. Entrusting a trained professional to complete your most time-consuming administrative duties on your behalf can be a huge sense of relief. But with limited office space and budgets, many architecture firms are unable to bring in expensive in-house receptionists. Without the invaluable administrative support they need, architecture teams will become overwhelmed and leads will start to slip through the cracks.

Non-stop phone calls are distracting me from work

Calls come in whether your team's available to answer them or not. When architects constantly have to step out from client appointments to answer the phone throughout their day, it can lead to a number of problems. And when it takes, on average, about 23 minutes to get back to a task after being interrupted by a phone call, clients will be less than pleased and architects can watch their productivity, and possibly their reputation, go down the drain.

Growing business demands are overwhelming

Growth can be a major sign of success for any business, however, that same growth can present a unique problem for architecture firms still getting established. Growth means more: more calls to answer, more consults to book, more clients to talk to. As projects will begin to pile on day-after-day, already-overwhelmed architects are sure to struggle in managing their new and existing workloads, causing a uproar of panic amongst architecture teams that results in plummeting productivity.

I can't offer the around-the-clock availability clients want

When the work day ends, architects should be able to enjoy some much-needed time away from clients. But just because you clock out for the day doesn't mean calls stop coming in. And when you're unavailable to answer their calls, you miss the over 27% of leads who call outside of regular business hours. Despite being interested in offering after-hours answering, many architecture firms are unable to afford the in-house receptionists or expensive call centers they'd need to hire in order to answer calls.

Sound familiar? If your architecture firm has endured any of these frustrating scenarios, know that there's no need to struggle through these sticky situations alone. You can save yourself the headache by allowing a group of highly-trained virtual receptionists to take over those overwhelming administrative tasks on your behalf. This means your architecture firm will finally receive the support it's always needed, and your clients will receive the immediate responsiveness and premium customer service they've come to expect. So whether you could use some call handling, lead screening, or appointment scheduling support, our team of highly-trained virtual receptionists can provide you with the professional help you need to keep your clients happy, your team uplifted, and your work days stress-free.

While it may be tempting to try and spread workloads amongst your in-house team, the truth of the matter is you simply can't get everything done internally. Issues will come up that you won't be able to see coming or that you won't have to manpower to resolve internally. That's just the nature of business. Outsourced support, like an answering service, can lend you the helping hand you'll need in order to make your way out of even the toughest spots unscathed. A few of the most frequently reported problems we've seen architects need virtual receptionist services for are:

I can't offer the responsiveness leads demand

Architects have a chaotic work schedule that often leaves little time to dedicate towards new customers. Responsiveness has time-and-time again been proven crucial for any business interested in converting leads, but a majority of architects lack the flexibility in their busy schedules to make time for delivering the exceptional and reliable customer service that leads want, costing architecture firms all over the nation to lose out on valuable clients.

Growing administrative demands keep my team from being productive

As in-house receptionist costs continue to climb, many architecture firm attempt to tackle their administrative duties themselves. But with a growing list of projects that need to get done, architects find themselves unable to balance the overwhelming administrative pressures with their regular responsibilities. It's absolutely impractical to expect architects to be able to get all of their normal work duties done while still making the time to provide high-quality customer support.

I can't get to the phone in time to answer leads, and it's costing me money

Whether they're preoccupied servicing an existing client or merely away from the phone, architects can't be expected to answer every call that comes in. Balancing existing projects with customer service demands can be an obstacle even the most experienced architect can have a hard time overcoming, and when the work days get busy (as they so often do), call handling and lead screening duties are the first of many priorities to be sacrificed, leaving leads unanswered and unconverted.

My competitors are responding to potential clients faster than me

Smaller architecture firms suffer from a huge disadvantage when it comes to differentiating their services from their competitors, as a limited budget, staff, and outreach often result in their company going unnoticed by leads. Providing top-tier customer experiences through immediate, thoughtful responses can place any professional in good standing with potential clients, but high-quality customer service takes time that many busy architects simply don't have.

Capturing and converting leads is increasingly challenging

Generating and converting new clients can be time-consuming. Unfortunately for them, architects are up to their necks in work-related projects, which means, despite being a major priority, lead conversion duties often fall to the wayside. With only so many hours in the day, architects struggle to find the time to balance their everyday responsibilities with customer service demands. Consistently poor responsiveness and customer service leave architecture firms to lose out on a number of clients.

I'm unsure of how to properly track and store my clients’ data

Knowing exactly how, when, and why clients call helps business understand how to grow and maintain their customer base, but when information about a customer's experience is improperly stored or mismanaged, architecture firms tend to miss out on useful lead generation and conversion opportunities. Maintaining detailed phone records and call summaries can be an obstacle for firms that may not have the bandwidth or the means available to properly store client data, costing them crucial information that could've easily been recalled in order to make a sale or convert a lead.

If your firm's hit a wall due to any one of these problems, don't worry – you can get your business back on track with the help of our trained virtual receptionists. Smith.ai has spent years working to help architectural firms and other businesses effectively conquer common problems just like these, so rest assured that we're well-equipped to handle your most frustrating and complicated issues. Additionally, Smith.ai is not a "one-size-fits-all" service – this means to give you the individualized support you need, our virtual receptionists adjust their service to provide customized assistance designed to fit your needs. This means that our virtual receptionists will spend their time on the problems you need the most help with, whether that's something as straightforward as call handling or something more complicated, like deposit collecting. Smith.ai caters to your business needs, no matter how simple or complex, so you get the most for what you pay for. Sign up risk-free with our 30-day money-back guarantee and experience first-hand how Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can help you overcome all of the common problems your architecture firm faces.

When considering a virtual receptionist service, a good place to start is to consider what administrative tasks tend to be the most demanding for you and your team. To better understand which services you might benefit from, consider the on-going issues that tend to impact your firm's ability to meet and exceed your (and your clients) expectations. For example:

Are call handling responsibilities overwhelming your architecture team's work day?
Would lead screening support allow you to capture the leads you've been missing out on?
Does your team struggle to book consultations?

Whatever you struggle with, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can alter their services to provide assistance wherever you may need it, which means your firm has plenty of reinforcements prepared to tackle any and all problems that may come your way.

Once you've pin-pointed a few of the issues that Smith.ai receptionists can help you with, consider your team's activity level:

Does your company receive more Facebook inquiries than phone calls?
Could you use more support reaching out to interested web leads?
Would your agency benefit from 24/7 phone answering or would you prefer a particular time frame, such as 9-to-5, for answering calls?

Whether you get twenty calls a month or 2,000, Smith.ai can customize your virtual receptionist service to fit your business activity so you only ever pay for exactly what you need.

All you have to do next is sign up. Getting started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service is quick and simple. No annual contracts, no hidden setup fees, and no scripts required.

To sign up with Smith.ai, follow these three easy steps:

Customize your instructions – Just answer a few, quick questions about your team and the preferences you have, and we’ll get you started. We’ll use your answers to customize the way our virtual receptionists answer your calls and your clients’ questions.
Send your calls to us – We work with every major phone system and can set up customized rules for when we answer your calls, or we can answer every call, 24/7!
Try risk-free with our 30-day money-back guarantee – Fully experience our call answering, scheduling, payments, and other phone services completely risk free for 30 days. If you find that we're not the right fit for you, you can receive up to $1,000 back within the first 30 days.

So whether full-time virtual receptionist or an overflow or after-hours call answering service would fit your architecture firm's goals, Smith.ai is more than capable of fulfilling each and every one of your administrative needs. From lead screening and consultation booking to payment collecting and call handling, our team of virtual receptionists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to give your business the comprehensive support it needs. And when you sign up with Smith.ai, you aren't just gaining a virtual receptionist service, you’re gaining a professional, reliable, and friendly team of well-trained experts who can transform the way you do business for good. And once you start using Smith.ai's virtual receptionist service, you'll wonder how you ever got anything done without us.

‍Learn how to get started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service.

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Take the faster path to growth.
Get Smith.ai today.

Affordable plans for every budget.

Get started

Learn more

24/7 VIRTUAL RECEPTIONISTS

Architect answering service and overflow answering

Incoming calls are unpredictable.

Design structural plans while we handle the calls.

We provide 360-degree coverage to manage both your inbound and outbound customer engagement.

Powerful call intelligence gives your business the lead

Outreach calls and campaigns speed-up sales and support

Capture and book appointments with 24/7 Live Chat.

Complete Human Coverage When You Need It

Smith.ai is trusted by 3,000+ businesses

Brandon Lochridge

TALK TO OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS

Book a consultation

END-TO-END INTEGRATIONS

We play well with your software

END-TO-END INTEGRATIONS

We play well with your software

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of an architect answering service?

How much money will I save by hiring an answering service for my architecture firm instead of an in-house receptionist?

What kinds of scenarios do architects need virtual receptionist services for?

What are some of the common problems that indicate my architecture firm could use a virtual receptionist service?

What do I need to prepare to get started with an architect virtual receptionist service?

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