Pay per appointment if you only need a few jobs set a month and can live with someone else's definition of a good appointment; hire a dedicated appointment setter once you are paying for more than roughly 7 to 15 appointments a month, or once you want your own leads, script, and CRM worked by one person. A dedicated bilingual setter from our teams is $13 an hour, about $2,249 a month for a full-time seat, and that number does not move with how many appointments get booked.
The two models solve different problems, and contractors usually mix them up because both end with a name on the calendar. This post lays out what you are actually buying in each, the arithmetic for where they cross, and the situations where per-appointment is the better call. We run the dedicated model, so weigh our view accordingly, but the math below works with any price you plug in.
What are you buying when you pay per appointment?
You are buying an outcome: a homeowner who agreed to meet your estimator. The vendor owns the calling, the lead source or list, and the script, and you pay a fee for each appointment that meets their definition of a set. Published per-appointment ranges vary widely from vendor to vendor, so get the price in writing before you compare anything.
That structure has real advantages. There is no monthly floor, you pay nothing in a slow month, and you do not manage anyone. The tradeoff is that the vendor decides what counts as an appointment, the callers are not working inside your CRM, and the person talking to your homeowner is rarely the same person twice.
What are you buying when you hire a dedicated setter?
You are buying hours from one named person who works your leads the way you tell them to. Our rate card is a single fully loaded hourly rate: salary, supervision, facility, technology, and QA are inside it. Scheduling and appointment work is $13 an hour, which at 173 billable hours a month is about $2,249 for a full-time seat.
Two terms belong next to that price. The initial commitment is 90 days, then month-to-month, and there is a one-time onboarding fee billed at signing unless it is waived on your proposal. After the initial term you can cancel with 30 days' written notice, and if the setter is not the right fit in the first 30 days we replace them at no cost.
A per-appointment vendor charges for each result. A dedicated setter charges for each hour. The cheaper one depends on how many appointments you would otherwise be paying for.
Where do the two models break even?
Divide the monthly seat cost by what you pay per appointment. That is the number of appointments a month at which the two cost the same; above it, the seat is cheaper per appointment, below it, per-appointment is.
Take $2,249 a month as the seat cost. If a vendor charges you $150 per appointment, break-even is about 15 appointments a month. At $300 per appointment it is about 7.5. At $500 it is about 4.5. These prices are illustrations to show the arithmetic, not quotes from any vendor, so replace them with your own.
The seat only wins if the setter actually produces that many appointments, and that depends on your lead volume, your lead quality, and the offer. We do not publish a promised appointments-per-month figure, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does without knowing your leads.
Which model fits which contractor?
Per-appointment fits when your volume is low or uneven, when you have no leads of your own and want the vendor to generate demand, or when you simply want to test appointment setting before committing.
A dedicated setter fits when you already pay for leads that go cold because nobody calls back fast, when old leads sit unworked in the CRM, or when your last setter quit and the office has nobody to cover the phones. It also fits when your homeowners include Spanish speakers and you want the same person to handle the call in either language.
- Choose per-appointment if you need fewer appointments than the break-even number, or you want the vendor to source the demand.
- Choose a dedicated setter if you have your own leads, want one person who learns your script, and expect to exceed the break-even number.
- Use both if you want a dedicated setter on your own leads and a per-appointment vendor for extra volume.
What should you check before signing with either?
Ask how an appointment is defined, in writing. Does the homeowner need to be the decision-maker, own the property, be in your service area, and be available at the time booked? Per-appointment disputes almost always trace back to a definition that was never written down.
- Who sets the script, and can you change it?
- Does the person work inside your CRM, or in the vendor's system and send you a list?
- What happens when an appointment does not qualify: is it credited, replaced, or still billed?
- Can you listen to calls, and how often do you get a recap?
- What is the exit: monthly cancellation, a 90-day term, or a minimum?
For a dedicated setter, the agent works as a user in your account and follows your script, so access to your systems and process documents is something you provide. We do not claim integrations or partner status with specific CRM products; the setter uses the same login a staff member would.
Does a dedicated setter cost more than a US hire?
Usually not. A full-time US appointment setter, once wages, payroll taxes, benefits, software, and turnover are counted, commonly lands well above $13 an hour fully loaded, although the exact figure varies by city and is an approximate industry range, not a number we can pin down for you. The nearshore seat also comes with supervision and a replacement guarantee that a single in-house hire does not.
Get your own number
Honest caveat: if you need only a handful of appointments a month, a per-appointment vendor is probably cheaper and we would tell you so. If you are above the break-even number, or paying for leads that go uncalled, get an exact figure: pick dedicated customer service agents or scheduling on our quote page and the instant estimate shows your monthly cost. You can also run your current spend through the savings calculator. For what this looks like in practice for contractors, see our home services industry page.