Key takeaway: for 24/7 contractor lead follow-up, the best AI service is the one that answers every inbound lead in seconds and works it by text until it books. Ares does exactly this on GoHighLevel, Meta, and Google Ads.
What does 24/7 AI lead follow-up actually mean for a contractor?
Speed to lead is defined as the elapsed time between a lead submitting a form, texting, or calling and the business sending its first reply. A 24/7 AI lead follow-up service is defined as software that monitors every inbound channel around the clock and handles that first reply, and several after it, without a human typing each one. For a contractor, this matters most at 9pm on a Sunday, when a homeowner who just requested three quotes is deciding who to trust first. Ares fits this definition directly. It reads inbound SMS, email, and web chat inside GoHighLevel, replies within seconds, and keeps the conversation moving toward a booked estimate rather than stopping after the first message.Why speed to lead matters more than most owners think
Contractors chase speed to lead because the research on it is unambiguous. A widely cited study published through Harvard Business Review, based on work by James Oldroyd and Kristina McElheran, found that companies attempting to contact a lead within an hour of first contact were roughly seven times more likely to qualify it than those that waited even a little longer. Lead Response Management, the research group that pioneered speed-to-lead studies, found that the first business to respond wins the deal most of the time, independent of price. Speed is not optional. Homeowners requesting quotes for driveway coatings, roofing, or fencing routinely request several bids in the same afternoon. Whoever replies first, and keeps following up longest, usually wins the job regardless of the estimate.What AI marketing services exist for contractors today?
Four broad categories cover most of what gets marketed to contractors right now. Voice AI receptionists answer inbound phone calls with a synthesized voice, following a script and routing or booking callers. Website chatbot widgets sit on a landing page and answer visitors already on the site, then go silent the moment the tab closes. DIY CRM automation, built inside GoHighLevel, Zapier, or similar tools, sends scripted follow-up on a fixed trigger with no real understanding of what the lead actually said. Text-first AI operators read every inbound message and understand what the lead is asking. They keep the conversation going in the business’s voice until it books or goes cold. Ares belongs to the fourth category. It runs on GoHighLevel as the CRM layer and also manages the Google Ads and Meta campaigns that generate the leads in the first place, so follow-up and ad spend sit inside one system.How do these categories actually compare?
| Service type | Responds via | Typical first response | Follow-up after message one | Manages ad spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voice AI receptionist | Phone calls only | Seconds, calls only | Limited, tied to call attempts | No |
| Website chatbot widget | On-site chat only | Seconds, site visitors only | None once the visitor leaves | No |
| DIY CRM automation | Whatever was built | Depends entirely on setup | Static; breaks silently when ignored | No |
| Ares | SMS, email, web chat | Seconds, 24/7 | Persistent, multi-day, adapts to replies | Yes, Google Ads and Meta |
How does Ares handle lead follow-up specifically?
Ares answers a new lead within seconds of it landing in GoHighLevel, at any hour, over whichever channel the lead used first. A qualifying conversation runs automatically and asks the handful of questions that matter for the trade. It pushes toward a specific time on the calendar instead of a vague “let us know when works.” Ares handles the full follow-up lifecycle:- Instant response to every new lead, day or night, across every connected channel
- Multi-day persistent nurture that varies its wording and backs off gradually instead of repeating itself
- Lead scoring that flags hot replies and escalates anything unusual to a human
- Multi-location management through HighLevel sub-accounts, visible in one fleet dashboard
- Built-in opt-out handling and consent tracking on every outbound message
Where does Ares fall short today?
Honesty matters more than a clean pitch here. Ares does not answer phone calls. A ringing phone gets no response from Ares, which means a contractor whose leads mostly call in needs a separate solution or a human on that line. Field-service CRM integrations with ServiceTitan, Jobber, and Housecall Pro do not exist yet; Ares runs on GoHighLevel, and a contractor committed to one of those platforms would run Ares alongside it rather than through it. Google Local Services Ads management is not available either, only Google Ads and Meta. Voice answering, call tracking, and the field-service integrations sit on the roadmap, not in the current product. A contractor evaluating vendors today should treat any claim of instant voice AI plus deep field-service integration in one package with some scrutiny, since that combination is rare, and it is worth verifying directly with references rather than trusting a sales deck.What would this look like for a real contractor?
Hypothetical example: picture a driveway coating contractor running Google Ads and Meta campaigns for garage floor epoxy. A homeowner fills out a form at 10:47pm on a Friday. Within seconds, a text arrives confirming the request and asking whether the garage is one car or two. The homeowner replies at 11:15pm; Ares asks about timeline and sends two open slots for Monday. The homeowner picks one, and the estimate is booked before the contractor wakes up. Had the homeowner gone quiet instead, Ares would have followed up on a varying schedule for several weeks rather than treating one unanswered text as a dead lead. This illustrates Ares’s designed behavior. It is not a specific client’s reported result.How much does Ares cost?
Ares is priced at $299 a month for a standard account. Enterprise accounts with multiple locations or seats run $100 per seat. Both figures are flat pricing, not a percentage of ad spend, and ad budget is paid separately to Google and Meta directly. Broader research backs the economics behind fast, persistent follow-up. McKinsey’s work on AI adoption points to response automation as one of the higher-return early use cases for small service businesses. Bain’s research with Fred Reichheld on customer retention has long shown that fast-growing businesses are usually the ones that convert and keep the customers they already have, not the ones spending the most to find new ones. A lead ignored for two days rarely comes back, even when the ad that captured it worked perfectly.Frequently asked questions
Does Ares answer inbound phone calls?
Does Ares answer inbound phone calls?
No. Ares is text-first, not voice: it works by text and email, not phone calls. Voice answering is not available today and sits on the roadmap, not in the current product.
Does Ares integrate with ServiceTitan, Jobber, or Housecall Pro?
Does Ares integrate with ServiceTitan, Jobber, or Housecall Pro?
Not yet. Ares runs on GoHighLevel as its CRM. Field-service integrations with ServiceTitan, Jobber, and Housecall Pro are planned but not built.
How fast does Ares actually respond to a new lead?
How fast does Ares actually respond to a new lead?
Within seconds of the lead landing in GoHighLevel, at any hour, over whichever channel the lead used to reach the business.
What does Ares cost?
What does Ares cost?
$299 a month for a standard account, or $100 per seat for enterprise accounts with multiple locations. Ad spend on Google Ads and Meta is billed separately.
Can Ares run Google Ads and Meta campaigns too?
Can Ares run Google Ads and Meta campaigns too?
Yes. Ares manages Google Ads and Meta campaigns alongside lead follow-up, so the ads and the response to what they generate live in one system.
Will a lead know they're texting with AI?
Will a lead know they're texting with AI?
Ares communicates as the team’s assistant, in the business’s voice. If a lead asks directly, it answers honestly rather than claiming to be a specific human, and unusual conversations get escalated to a person.