Virtual receptionist for Australian businesses

What a virtual receptionist costs, and how it compares to an answering service

A dedicated VA receptionist is billed by the hour at $12-17/hr AUD (ex GST) for the hours you book, so the monthly cost depends on how much of the day you want covered. Placements start at 10 hours a week. Monthly figures below are costed at 4.33 weeks.

Dedicated receptionist or call answering service?

Call answering services usually charge a monthly plan plus a per-call or per-minute fee. Their operators answer for many businesses at once, take a message or transfer the call, and they are good value when calls are few and unpredictable, or when you need people on the phone overnight. A dedicated VA receptionist is one person who learns your business: they book straight into your calendar or practice software, recognise your regular customers, and do inbox and follow-up work in the quiet stretches between calls. The rule of thumb we use on discovery calls: if most calls end in a booking or a decision rather than a message, a dedicated person earns the fee. If they mostly end in a message, an answering service or the AI receptionist is the cheaper fit, and we will tell you so.

Leave, sick days and who runs what

Your receptionist works from the Philippines on your Australian business hours, answering in your business name. When they are on leave or unwell, we arrange a substitute wherever we can, briefed on your call-handling rules, and the AI receptionist can take overflow in between so the line does not ring out. You direct the day-to-day work; DotVA handles recruitment, pay, performance and any replacement, with a free replacement in the first 30 days if the fit is wrong.