Honestly, does it work out cheaper than an external answering service?

Let's run the math instead of making a promise: human answering services charge between $300 and $6,899/month depending on volume, often $1.49–2.99 per minute beyond the plan (public 2026 sources). At $149/month with no minute meter, you break even as soon as you recover the equivalent of one average job per month. If your average job exceeds $150, the question is no longer "is it cheaper" but "how many calls was I letting go". And where a human receptionist queues the call, the text goes out in under 10 seconds — a different service, not the same one at a discount.