One in three tradespeople has already lost work because they could not answer the phone. That is not a guess.
A Fix Radio survey found that 34% of tradespeople believe they have lost work because they were not able to answer the phone.
And the reason is painfully obvious to anyone who works on the tools:
60% of tradespeople say they struggle to answer the phone when they are at work.
So the question is not whether you need help with calls. The question is what kind of help actually makes sense for a sole trader. Two names that come up a lot in this space are Moneypenny and Soteriaa. They are both marketed as CRM, AI receptionist solutions, but they are built for very different types of business. This post breaks down the key differences so you can make a straight call on which one fits your situation.
Why Missed Calls Are Costing Tradespeople So Much
You are halfway through a job. Hands dirty, tools out, customer talking to you. Your phone rings. You cannot answer. That caller has no idea you are busy doing good work. All they know is that nobody picked up.
Research shows that **85% of callers will not try again if you do not answer the first time.** They will call your competitor instead.
Most people who get voicemail do not leave a message. They hang up and try the next number, which in the trades is usually another result from the same Google search.
UK industry data shows that owner-operators such as builders, electricians, and plumbers are losing an average of £24,000 per year due to missed phone calls.
That is a significant chunk of annual turnover disappearing because of a problem that is entirely fixable.
Emergency call-outs, your most profitable work per hour, go almost entirely to whoever answers first. If that is not you, it is your competitor.
What Moneypenny Actually Is
Moneypenny is one of the UK's most established telephone answering services.
Founded in 2000, it began as a small team of receptionists and has grown into the UK's leading telephone answering service provider, trusted by businesses looking for an affordable answering service that still delivers a human experience on every call.
Instead of calls going to voicemail or being missed, they are handled by real, professional receptionists who act as an extension of your team. They answer calls in your company name and, based on your availability, either transfer the call or take a message sent to you by email or text.
What sets the service apart is a layer of AI working behind the scenes, with proprietary tools that surface key information instantly and draft message summaries in real time, so their PA can focus on delivering personality and warmth.
It is a solid, proven service. For larger businesses with a team, a receptionist budget, and complex call-handling needs, it works well. But there are some important limitations to consider if you are a sole trader on the tools.
Where Moneypenny Falls Short for Sole Traders
The first issue is hours.
Moneypenny answers calls Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. Outside of those hours, you can add 24/7 answering from an additional £35per month, or your calls will be sent to voicemail.
For a sole trader, most emergency call-outs and new enquiries do not arrive neatly between 9 and 5.
The second issue is pricing transparency
Many traditional receptionist providers still do not publish full pricing online, making it difficult for business owners to compare options or accurately predict monthly spend.
Generally, providers charge either by the number of calls you receive or the duration of those calls in minutes. Each provider has a different price per call or per minute, and you select a package based on the volume you expect to need monthly.
If your call volume spikes unexpectedly, your bill does too.
The third issue is that Moneypenny is fundamentally a call answering service, not a trade CRM.
Notes can be dropped into your CRM system after a call, but that requires you to already have a separate CRM in place.
For most sole traders, juggling another tool is just another headache.
A human receptionist typically costs £1,500 to £2,500 per month for a full-time employee, which is not viable for most sole traders.
A managed answering service sits below that, but for a one-man band, the per-minute billing model and minimum contract terms can still make costs hard to predict.
What Soteriaa Does Differently
Soteriaa is built from the ground up for sole traders and small trade businesses. It combines an AI phone agent with a built-in CRM in a single platform, at a flat monthly price. No per-minute billing. No surprise invoices at the end of the month.
The AI agent answers calls around the clock, every day of the week, not just office hours. It takes the caller's details, captures the job information, and logs everything directly into the CRM automatically. You do not need to use a separate tool. You do not need to brief a human PA. And you do not need to worry about what happens to enquiries that come in on a Sunday evening when someone's boiler has packed in.
For a trade business, this matters.
A lead is 21 times more likely to convert if responded to within five minutes.
And 79% of callers move on to the next Google listing within 30 minutes if they have not spoken to a professional.
Soteriaa's AI agent means a caller gets a response immediately, every time, without you having to stop what you are doing.
The CRM side keeps everything in one place. Previous calls, customer details, job history, follow-up reminders. It is the kind of admin layer that usually requires a dedicated office manager, available at sole trader pricing.
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The Pricing Question: What Does Each One Actually Cost?
This is where things get very clear. Soteriaa costs £29.99/$39 per month for 100 mins with a variable charge of £0.25/$0.30 per minute over the initial 100 minutes. The average call is around 1:30 but if we use 2mins that is 50 calls per month. If you were a high usage user and handled 150 calls per month Soteriaa would become £79.99/$99 per month.
You know exactly what you are paying before you sign up.
With Moneypenny,
the service is charged on a per-minute basis, with arange of schemes based on the amount of minutes you use.
Smaller schemes with 150 minutes or below carry a minimum contract length of three months.
If you go over your included minutes, you pay more. For a busy period, that monthly bill can climb significantly.
The honest comparison: Moneypenny is a well-respected service with real humans and a long track record. It makes sense for businesses with predictable call volumes, existing CRM systems, and a bigger budget to match. Soteriaa makes sense if you are a sole trader who wants one affordable tool that handles the phone, captures the lead, and keeps the records, without having to think about it.
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Which One Is Right for You as a Tradesperson?
If you run a small team, already have CRM software, and want a human voice answering your calls during office hours, Moneypenny is worth considering. The service is proven, the receptionists are professional, and it integrates with existing systems.
But if you are a sole trader working on the tools and you need something that handles your CRM, AI receptionist, and call capture in one place, at a price that makes sense for a one-person business, Soteriaa is the stronger fit.
The better you are at your core service, the less available you are to capture new business. That is the paradox.
Soteriaa is designed to break that cycle.
You should not be losing jobs because you were too busy doing jobs. That is a problem technology can solve.
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Try Soteriaa free for 14 days at soteriaa.com . No card required. At £29.99 per month after your trial, it is the most affordable way for UK sole trader trades people to get a built-in CRM, AI receptionist, and round-the-clock call handling working for them from day one.
