AI call coverage for local service businesses
Stop losing good calls to voicemail.
Starkby answers when your team can't, qualifies callers, books approved appointments, and gets the right person involved when needed.
Keep your number · Start with missed or after-hours calls
Johnson Plumbing
“Hi, you've reached Johnson Plumbing. I'm Ava, their AI receptionist. How can I help?”
A good caller can still arrive at the worst possible time.
8:42 PM
Customer calls
Technician is on a job
Office is closed
Reaches voicemail
Tries someone else
52%
of inbound callers reached a person overall in Invoca's 2026 home-services benchmark.
Starkby is built for the calls your team cannot reach.
Source: Invoca 2026 Home Services Call Conversion Benchmarks
A real call, start to finish.
This is the kind of exchange Starkby handles every day.
Captured
Turn the call into a clear next step.
Depending on the rules you approve, Starkby can capture a new lead, ask qualification questions, transfer the caller, request an appointment, book when the connected system confirms availability, or notify your team to follow up.
Lead captured
A new caller's details are collected and waiting in your dashboard.
Caller qualified
The service, location, and urgency your team needs are already answered.
Appointment confirmed
Booked only when your connected calendar actually confirms it.
Human reached
Urgent or high-value calls are transferred straight to the right person.
Follow-up needed
Flagged for your team when a call needs a person to close the loop.
Question safely deferred
Starkby says so instead of guessing, then takes a message.
How it works
From missed calls to captured leads in three steps.
Starkby covers what you can't
It runs behind your existing number for after-hours, overflow, and no-answer calls. Your team keeps answering exactly as they do today.
It qualifies and books
It collects the details your team needs, checks real availability, and books the appointment or routes urgent calls to a person.
You get every lead
Caller details and a clean summary land in your dashboard the moment the call ends. Nothing slips through the cracks.
Keep your number. Change nothing else.
No new number on your trucks. No new Google Business listing. No retraining customers. Starkby runs behind the number you already use.
Normal call, nothing changes
Your receptionist. Your name, voice, and rules.
Call them Ava. Call them Alex. Call them “Front Desk.” Or give them whatever name fits your business. Choose a voice, pick a tone, and review the exact greeting before you activate anything.
Starkby is the platform. Your receptionist belongs to your business.
Your receptionist
Name
Voice
Tone
Greeting
“Hi, you've reached Johnson Plumbing. I'm Ava, their AI receptionist. How can I help?”
Decide what your receptionist knows, and what it should never guess.
Approve your services, service area, hours, FAQs, pricing statements, qualification questions, booking rules, and escalation rules. If an answer hasn't been confirmed, Starkby says so instead of making one up.
Approved fact
Confirmed information Starkby can state directly.
Needs review
Flagged for a human to confirm before it's used.
Never answer
Off-limits topics Starkby will always defer on.
Ask the team
Routed to your team instead of guessed at.
Example
Caller: “How much does emergency service cost?”
Ava: “I don't have a confirmed price for that, but I can take your information and have the team follow up.”
Test it before a real customer does.
A receptionist shouldn't go live just because a setup form was submitted. Starkby checks normal calls, unknown questions, unsupported services, bookings, transfer failures, emergencies, and tool failures before you approve real-call routing.
Launch readiness
0 / 12 tests passed
Want to push harder? Try to break your receptionist before your customers can.
Built first for businesses where a missed call can become a missed job.
The questions are different for every trade. The job is the same: understand why they're calling and get them to the right next step.
Fits into the day you already run.
Connect the calendar your team already uses. Starkby should move the call forward, not create another inbox to check.
Every call, already organized.
No transcripts to dig through. Every call lands in your dashboard with a clean summary and a clear next step.
Calls
John Smith
HVAC Repair · 2m 41s
Summary
AC stopped cooling this afternoon. Customer is inside the service area. Appointment booked Friday at 10:00 AM.
Actions
Appointment booked ✓
Coverage that grows with your call volume.
Same core receptionist. Higher plans support more volume and more complex workflows. Self-setup is included at no extra cost.
Want us to configure it with you instead? Concierge Setup is available for a one-time $299.
Essential
200 minutes / mo · $0.40/min overage
- ✓AI call answering
- ✓No-answer, after-hours & overflow coverage
- ✓Lead qualification
- ✓Appointment booking
- ✓Live transfers
- ✓Call summaries & transcripts
- ✓One business number
Growth
500 minutes / mo · $0.35/min overage
- ✓Everything in Essential
- ✓More included minutes
- ✓Advanced routing rules
- ✓Expanded calendar & integration options
- ✓Multiple alert recipients
- ✓Guided setup review
Scale
1,000 minutes / mo · $0.30/min overage
- ✓Everything in Growth
- ✓Multi-location / number support
- ✓Advanced CRM workflows
- ✓Team controls
- ✓Priority configuration support
Need more minutes? We'll show your usage clearly and notify you before you reach your included amount.
Overage beyond your plan's minutes is $0.30–$0.40/minute depending on your plan.
Control the calls before you trust them.
Starkby is designed so important behavior is visible: what information is approved, when calls are covered, what actions are allowed, whether recording is enabled, where calls escalate, and whether the receptionist passed its launch checks.
Meet the founder
Built by a person. Tested before your customers hear it.
I'm Axel, founder of Starkby. I've spent two decades building software, including LLM and automation work at Verily (a Google company). Now I bring those same AI tools to local businesses, minus the enterprise price tag.
You get a real person who designs your receptionist, tunes it to your business, and stands behind it. When something needs a human, you get me, not a support ticket.
Axel Alwan · Founder, Starkby · St. Petersburg, FL
Have Starkby call me
Give Starkby your number and hear the same kind of AI receptionist your customers would reach.