A new AI receptionist built for the trades is betting that HVAC contractors don't need another lead-generation tool. They need to stop losing the leads they already have.

HVAC contractors spend a lot of money making the phone ring.

Google Local Services Ads. SEO. Trucks. Billboards. Facebook. Referrals. Maintenance agreements.

But there is a much simpler problem sitting at the end of that funnel:

Someone actually has to answer the phone.

And according to new industry data, HVAC contractors aren't doing that particularly well.

Invoca's 2026 Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks found that just 34% of inbound HVAC calls are answered by a person, one of the lowest answer rates across the home services categories it measured.

That creates a potentially expensive leak in the contractor's sales funnel.

A homeowner with an AC failure in July isn't necessarily going to leave a voicemail and patiently wait for a callback.

They're going to call the next company.

A new company called Penny is trying to solve that problem with an AI receptionist designed specifically for trades businesses.

The idea is simple

Penny sits behind the contractor's existing phone number.

If someone at the business answers, nothing changes.

If nobody answers, Penny picks up.

The AI answers using the contractor's business name, asks the customer what they need, collects the job details and can book an appointment directly into the contractor's calendar.

After the call, the contractor receives the caller's information along with a summary, transcript and recording of the conversation.

For smaller HVAC businesses, the proposition is straightforward:

Keep running calls. Let someone else run the phone.

Penny says its system can answer within seconds, operate around the clock, handle multiple simultaneous calls and communicate in English and Spanish. Higher-tier plans can also perform live and warm call transfers, work across multiple technicians or calendars, and connect with CRM workflows.

Why this matters now

AI phone agents have improved quickly.

A few years ago, speaking with an automated system usually meant navigating a phone tree and repeatedly yelling "representative."

The latest generation of voice AI is considerably different.

These systems can increasingly hold natural conversations, understand why somebody is calling, ask follow-up questions and take actions such as scheduling an appointment.

Consumers are encountering them more frequently