Receptionist options for a small trade business in 2026
Five ways to get the phone answered, from free to more than A$65,000 a year. What each one costs, what it does with a job enquiry, and who it suits.
The short answer
If you need someone in the office doing invoices and greeting customers, hire a person. If the problem is the phone ringing while you’re on the tools, an answering service, a virtual assistant or an AI receptionist covers it for a lot less.
Most Australian businesses have nobody to hand the phone to. The ABS counted 2,814,778 actively trading businesses at 30 June 2026, and only 996,203 of them employed anyone. In the rest, the receptionist is the owner.
Five options side by side
| What it costs | What it does with a call | Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiring a receptionist | At least A$1,119.10 a week full time plus 12% super: at least A$65,176 a year | Answers, books jobs and does the paperwork too | The hours you roster, 38 a week full time |
| A human answering service | From A$25 a month plus A$2.50 a call at OfficeHQ, before GST | Takes a message. Dearer plans transfer calls or book | 8am to 6pm weekdays at OfficeHQ, with after hours at extra cost |
| A virtual assistant | A$39.90 to A$50 an hour plus GST in prepaid blocks at one we checked; from A$880 a month for 160 hours, GST included, at another | Admin you hand over, and calls in the hours you buy | The hours you buy |
| Voicemail | Free | Records a message, if they leave one | Any hour |
| An AI receptionist | Ours: A$299 a month for a sole trader, 100 minutes and 150 texts included | Answers as your assistant, books the job, texts you emergencies | Any hour |
Wages are the minimum under the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 for a Level 2 employee, whose duties include answering enquiries, from 1 July 2026, plus the 12% super guarantee (ato.gov.au). Answering service prices from OfficeHQ’s pricing and plan pages. Virtual assistant prices from The Virtual Assistant’s and Virtual Assistant Team’s own pricing pages. All read on 12 October 2026.
When each one suits
Hire someone when there’s a full day of office work: quotes, invoices, chasing payments, a counter. Software can’t do that, and a good receptionist does a lot more than the phone.
An answering service suits you if you want a person on every call and don’t mind ringing back. At low call numbers it can cost less than ours.
The paperwork you never get to is what a virtual assistant is for. A phone ringing at 7pm is a different job, and at one VA business we checked, phone call costs get added to the invoice.
Voicemail is fine for a phone that barely rings, or callers who are all regulars happy to wait.
An AI receptionist suits a phone that rings while you’re on the tools and after hours, when you want routine jobs booked and only the urgent ones sent to you.
What a receptionist really costs
The award minimum for a full-time Level 2 employee is A$1,119.10 a week from 1 July 2026, or A$29.45 an hour part time. Add 12% super, and a full-timer costs at least A$65,176 a year.
Part time is cheaper but not small. Twenty hours a week at the minimum comes to about A$2,859 a month with super.
You also can’t hire someone just for the lunch rush. Under the award, a part-timer has to be rostered for at least 3 hours in a row, and the days, hours and start times get agreed in writing up front.
Leave, payroll costs and a desk sit on top of all that. Fine if there’s a day’s work in the office. Dear if most of it is waiting for the phone.
Or mix them
You can run a receptionist in business hours and an AI receptionist after hours. Or a virtual assistant on the quotes and invoices, and an assistant on the phone.
If you’ve got a receptionist, tell us their hours and we’ll set ours up around them.
How to decide
- Count a month of missed calls first. The missed-call calculator turns them into dollars
- Write down what you need: answering, booking, paperwork, or all three
- Price each option against your busiest month
- Ring each one after hours, as a customer would, before you pay anything
Receptionist questions
What’s the cheapest way to get my business phone answered?
Voicemail is free. After that, a human message service from about A$25 a month plus a fee per call, or an AI receptionist app on a free or low-cost plan. Check whether the cheap option books the job or just takes a message.
How much does a receptionist cost in Australia in 2026?
Under the Clerks award, at least A$1,119.10 a week for a full-time Level 2 employee from 1 July 2026, plus 12% super. That’s at least A$65,176 a year before leave, payroll costs and a desk.
Is a virtual assistant the same as a virtual receptionist?
Not quite. A virtual assistant does admin by the hour. A virtual receptionist answers calls, usually from a call centre, and usually charges by the call. Ours is an AI assistant that answers calls any hour.
Can I have a receptionist and an AI receptionist?
Yes. Tell us when your receptionist works and we’ll set the assistant up around them.
This phone is answered.
Ring us on the number below, or email. Either way, a human gets back to you.
0468 075 000Or email hello@offsitemate.com.au