The problem
A trade business has a phone problem that answering services were never built to solve. Your phone is the entire sales channel, it rings while both hands are busy, and the caller moves on after four rings. Something has to pick up.
The obvious fix is an answering service. That's where the second problem starts:
- Metered billing costs you most when you're busiest. Growth raises the bill rather than the margin. Every call you win is a line on an invoice.
- A script can't qualify a trade job. A receptionist takes a name and a number. They can't ask whether the boiler is a fault or a replacement, or whether the caller is a tenant or the owner.
- So you ring back and start from scratch. Hours after the competitor who answered properly.
A trade business needs something that answers every time, asks the questions you would ask, books the job, and costs the same in a busy month as a quiet one.
What AllDayPA does well
AllDayPA is one of the biggest answering services in the UK. Large team, 24/7 coverage, real receptionists taking messages and forwarding calls. For firms that want human answering at any hour, that scale is genuine.
You can choose how you're billed: per call or per minute, depending on what suits you. It handles high volumes and covers message taking, call forwarding, and customer service support. For a business that needs a big human team behind the phones, AllDayPA can carry that load.
Where it falls short for trade businesses
Start with what you cannot easily find out. AllDayPA's main site offers "pay per call/per minute, you choose" and then routes you to a savings calculator, a quote form, or a phone number. The published rates live on its self-service signup portal instead: STARTER at £29.95 a month excluding VAT for 25 minutes, GROWTH at £49.95 excluding VAT for 45 minutes, and a bespoke Accelerator tier above that.
Read those numbers carefully, because they are quoted before VAT. GROWTH is £59.94 a month once VAT is on it, and that buys 45 minutes. No overage rate is published anywhere, so what happens past 45 minutes is the number you cannot model until you are already a customer.
What is clear is the billing shape. Both options are metered, per call or per minute, so the cost rises with the enquiries. A good month raises the invoice, and growth costs you more rather than less.
Then there is what you get for it. A human message-taker reads from a general script. They log a name and number. They do not know the difference between an emergency callout and a routine quote request. They cannot ask the qualifying questions that separate a real job from a time-waster.
You are on-site with your hands full. You need calls answered, jobs scoped, and urgent work flagged, without a per-minute meter ticking up while that happens.
How Telphi compares
| AllDayPA | Telphi | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | UK-based human receptionists | AI receptionist with a natural voice |
| Availability | 24/7 | Answers your calls 24/7 |
| Business understanding | General script | Configured for local businesses and their services |
| Lead qualification | Takes name and message | Asks qualifying questions, filters time-wasters |
| Booking | Passes message or forwards the call | Texts the caller a booking link; they book directly into your calendar |
| Pricing model | From £29.95/month ex VAT for 25 mins, then per call or per minute | £44.99/month flat, or £274.99 a year |
| Setup time | Onboarding and briefing period | Set up in minutes |
| Contract | Often a contract term | No contract, 7-day free trial |
Who should choose which
Choose AllDayPA if you need a large human team fielding high call volumes at any hour, you want a human voice on every call, and per-call or per-minute costs fit your margins. For bigger operations with heavy phone traffic, that human scale has real value.
Choose Telphi if you are a sole trader or small team, you want 24/7 answering without a meter running, and you want the caller qualified by something that understands your trade. One captured job worth £100 to £500 covers months of Telphi. Your bill stays flat no matter how busy the phone gets.
Frequently asked questions
Telphi runs on a flat monthly subscription, and the price is visible before you sign up. No per-call or per-minute fees, so a busy month never raises your bill. AllDayPA publishes rates only on its self-service portal, starting at £29.95 a month excluding VAT for 25 minutes, and bills per call or per minute beyond that. Its main site sends you to a quote form instead. For a trade business with steady enquiries, a flat published price is easier to compare and easier to budget for.
Yes. Evenings, weekends, bank holidays. You capture the after-hours enquiries your competitors miss. Call answering is configurable, so you decide which calls Telphi handles and when.
Telphi is an AI receptionist with a natural voice. It answers calls, captures details, qualifies the job, and sends you a summary. AllDayPA uses human receptionists who take messages and forward calls. Telphi trades the human voice for trade understanding and flat pricing.
Telphi texts the caller a booking link and they pick a slot that goes straight into your calendar. It captures the job details first, so you ring back or turn up with everything you need.
Yes. Natural voice, call handling configured around your services, your questions, and your booking rules. It understands the terminology and call patterns that come with UK trade work.
Try Telphi free for 7 days
Download Telphi from the App Store and start a 7-day free trial. Set it up in minutes. It answers your calls around the clock, qualifies jobs, and sends you the details while you work. One captured job pays for months of service.
