For HVAC shops·Tri-Cities, Tennessee
After-hours answering for HVAC shops.
When a furnace quits at nine at night, the homeowner wants someone to pick up. Brass Lantern answers the calls you miss as your shop, asks the right questions, books the job on your calendar and texts you the details.
- Keeps your number
- Live within 48 hours
- 30-day money-back guarantee
IIn short
Brass Lantern is an after-hours and overflow answering service for HVAC shops. When you can’t pick up, it answers with your shop’s name, books no-heat and no-cool calls into open time on your calendar, follows your rules for urgent calls and texts you every detail. You keep your number, and a local business in Northeast Tennessee sets it up with you.
The calls it handles
The calls your HVAC shop misses.
No heat on a cold night
Furnaces blowing cold air, heat pumps that can’t keep up, ignition trouble.
AC out in the heat
No cooling, warm air from the vents, a unit that won’t turn on.
Tune-ups and maintenance plans
Spring and fall visits, booked into the days you run them.
New systems
Estimate visits for a new furnace, heat pump or air conditioner.
Thermostats and small fixes
Blank thermostats, short cycling, odd noises, water around the unit.
Gas smells and CO alarms
Safety steps first, then you hear about it right away.
IIHear it
An HVAC call, start to finish.
Tuesday, 7:13 PM · after hours
A furnace quits on a Tuesday night.
The sound couldn’t play here, so the words play on their own.
The text the shop gets
Thanks for calling Cedar Hollow Heating and Air. This is the after-hours assistant, and this call may be recorded. How can I help you tonight?
Yeah, hi. My heat won’t come on. The fan’s running, but it’s just blowing cold air.
Oh, I’m sorry about that. Let’s get someone out to you. Can I get your name?
Chris Price.
Thanks, Chris. And what’s the address where the system is?
214 Maple Lane, in Jonesborough.
Got it. Is it a gas furnace or a heat pump, if you know?
Gas furnace. Maybe 15 years old.
Okay. Do you smell gas anywhere in the house?
No, nothing like that.
Good. I can have a technician there tomorrow between 8 and 10 in the morning, or 1 to 3 in the afternoon. Which works better for you?
8 to 10, please.
Perfect. You’re booked for tomorrow, 8 to 10 in the morning. I’ll text you a confirmation, and the tech will call when they’re on the way. Anything else I can help with?
No, that’s it. Thanks so much.
You’re welcome, Chris. Thanks for calling Cedar Hollow Heating and Air. Stay warm tonight.
This call is scripted and voiced by text-to-speech. The shop, caller, address, phone number and prices are made up. On your line it answers with your shop’s name, in the female or male voice you pick, and follows your rules. Hear the other trades.
IIIWhat it asks
The questions you’d ask.
- Name, callback number and service address
- What’s going on: no heat, no cooling, a noise, a leak or something else
- Gas furnace, heat pump or AC, and about how old, if they know
- Whether they smell gas or a carbon monoxide alarm is going off
- Whether anyone at home is elderly, very young or has a medical need, if you want those calls first
- Which of your open times works for them
You choose the questions. These are where most shops start.
When it can’t wait
Your rules for urgent calls.
A gas smell
Tells them to leave the house and call 911 and the gas company from outside, then flags you as urgent.
A carbon monoxide alarm
Tells them to get everyone outside and call 911, then flags you as urgent.
No heat in freezing weather
Rings your cell, or books the first slot in the morning. Your call.
No cooling with someone vulnerable at home
Rings your cell, or takes the first open slot. You choose.
IVQuestions
HVAC questions.
Can it tell a no-heat call from a tune-up?
Yes. It asks what’s going on, follows the rules you set for urgent calls, and books routine work like tune-ups into the slots you choose.
Will it quote prices for a new system?
It only shares the prices you give it, like a diagnostic fee. For a new system, it books an estimate visit instead of guessing over the phone.
Can it book maintenance plan visits?
Yes. Tell us how long a tune-up takes and which days you run them, and it books callers into those times.
Do I have to learn new software?
No. You get a text after every call, and we set up the calendar it books into.
More answers about pricing, contracts, recordings and AI on the main questions list.
VBook a demo
See it answer as your shop.
Fifteen minutes, at your shop or over the phone. You’ll call the line, hear it answer with your shop’s name, and watch the text land on your phone. No pressure and no commitment. If it’s not a fit, we’ll say so.
Where we work
- Johnson City
- Kingsport
- Bristol
- Elizabethton
- Jonesborough
- Greeneville