Google bills you for the ring. We get you the job.
Starting October 1, a Local Services Ads call that rings longer than 20 seconds during your business hours can be charged as a valid lead whether anyone picks up or not. You are paying for that homeowner either way. Missed Call Rescue texts them back in under 60 seconds, finds out what the job is, and hands it to your team while they are still holding the phone.
Done for you, start to finish. Your published number never changes. Most contractors are live in 3 to 5 business days.
Miss the call and you pay twice.
Google charges you for the lead.
Under the new rule, a Local Services Ads call during your listed hours becomes a billable lead when the caller stays on the line past 20 seconds. Nobody has to answer. Nobody has to say a word. The clock does it.
The homeowner hires the next guy.
Most people do not leave a voicemail. They go back to the results and call whoever picks up. You paid Google to put your name in front of that person, and somebody else did the job.
Here is the part nobody selling this will tell you. A text back does not stop the Google charge. By the time the phone has rung past 20 seconds, that money is already spent and no software undoes it.
The second loss is the one still sitting on the table. You already bought the lead. Missed Call Rescue exists to make sure you get the job that came with it.
What actually changed, in plain English.
This is the part that decides whether software actually gets used. If it takes an office day to run, it dies in month two. This runs off the phone already in your tech's pocket.
Missed calls now count
A call during your business hours can be charged as a valid lead when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds. Under the old rule, a missed call with no voicemail only became billable once you called them back. Your action was the trigger. Now it is the clock.
Follow up calls now count
If a first call does not qualify as a charged lead, a later call between you and that same customer can be charged when it meets Google's valid lead criteria. Repeat contact with one homeowner is no longer automatically one lead.
Keypress menus buy you time
If your phone system makes callers press a key to reach a department, the 20 second clock does not start until they press it. If they never press one, the call is not charged. This is the one real lever you have on the charge itself, and we will look at your setup with you.
Google notified Local Services advertisers by email in late August 2026. Reported by Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable. Google's public help documentation had not been updated to match at the time those stories ran, so read the rule and your own account notice together.
Your phone still rings first.
Nothing changes about the calls you answer. This only wakes up for the ones that go unanswered.
Your line rings
We set up conditional call forwarding on the number you already publish. It rings your shop, your cell, whatever you have today. Only the calls nobody picks up roll to your rescue line.
The text goes out
In under 60 seconds the caller gets a text from your business. It asks what the job is, where it is, and how soon they need somebody. It sounds like your office because it is trained on your services and your service area.
You get the handoff
Name, address, job type, urgency, and the whole conversation. Pushed to your phone or your dispatcher the moment it is worth somebody's time. Emergencies get flagged loud.
It qualifies like your best dispatcher.
It does not just say sorry we missed you and wait. It asks the questions your office would ask, so what lands on your phone is a job you can price and schedule, not a phone number you have to chase.
Every conversation is logged and reviewable. Anything it should not be handling gets handed to a person instead of guessing.
You fill out one form. We do the rest.
This is not a login and a pile of settings. The rest of TradeMarkers is self serve on purpose. This one is not, because carrier registration and conversation training are where these things fall apart.
Most contractors are live in 3 to 5 business days. If you already have an approved texting number it is faster. If carrier approval drags, we tell you that day instead of letting you wonder.
Job capture, your way
Conditional call forwarding configured on the number you already publish, so nothing on your truck or your Google profile has to change.
A unique page per job and area
10DLC registration prepared and filed under your business name, start to finish. Carrier approval usually runs 3 to 7 days and we start it on day one.
Reviews after every job
A texting number provisioned and registered to you, or your existing one connected if it is already approved.
A monthly proof report
Conversation training on your services, your service area, your hours, and what you do not take, so it stops wasting your time on jobs you would turn down.
Schema for search and AI
Instant alerts by text or email on every qualified lead, with emergencies flagged separately so they do not sit in a pile.
Reviews after every job
A weekly report showing every call that got rescued, what it turned into, and how many you are missing in the first place. Most shops have never seen that number.
A monthly proof report
A 30 day tune up call where we read the transcripts with you and fix whatever the bot is handling badly.
One price. Installed and running.
Separate from your Geo Pin plan. You do not have to be a TradeMarkers customer to buy it, and buying it does not change what you already pay.
One time implementation
$397Then monthly
$149(software & support)
Telecom is separate, and it is at cost
Number rental, carrier registration fees and per message charges are billed separately at what they actually cost. We do not mark up telecom and we do not hide it inside the monthly. Nothing gets spent on numbers or carriers until your implementation is paid.
Before you buy.
Does this stop Google from charging me?
No, and anybody telling you otherwise is selling. Once the phone rings past 20 seconds the charge is triggered. This makes sure you get the job you already paid for. If you want to cut the charges themselves, keypress routing and faster answering are the levers, and we go through both on your setup call.
What is 10DLC and do I have to deal with it?
It is the carrier registration that lets a business legally send text messages. Skip it and your texts quietly stop getting delivered. We prepare and file it under your business. You sign off, we handle the paperwork, approval usually takes 3 to 7 days.
I already pay for ServiceTitan or Podium.
Then keep them. Those are big platforms you configure and run yourself. This is one job, installed for you, sitting in front of what you already use. It only touches calls nobody picked up, so there is nothing to rip out.
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. Conditional call forwarding means your published number rings exactly the way it does today. Only the calls nobody answers get handed off, and the customer never sees a different number on the way in.
Will customers know it is automated?
It reads the way your office types. You can review every conversation, and anything outside what it was trained on gets pushed to a person instead of improvised. If you want it to introduce itself as an assistant, we set it up that way.
Do I need to be running Local Services Ads?
No. The October 1 change is why most contractors are calling us this month, but a missed call has always been a lost job. This works the same whether the phone rang because of an LSA, your Maps listing, or a sign in somebody's yard.
The phone is going to ring while you are under a sink. That part is not fixable. Losing the job is.
Owner to owner: you already paid for that lead the second it rang. Go get the work that came with it.