Market note, October 9, 2026: a missed Google call now costs money

1. Google: a missed call is a paid lead after 20 seconds

Google rewrote its "How leads work" help page for Local Services Ads; Search Engine Roundtable reported the rewrite on October 8. Among the leads you are charged for, the page now lists this one: "You missed a phone call during your business hours and the customer stays on the line for more than 20 seconds." Google told advertisers about the change by email in August and named October 1, 2026 as the start, according to the same publication on August 25. The help page itself shows no date.

The details, all from Google's page:

• "Business hours" are the hours in your Google Business Profile. An unanswered call is charged only inside those hours and inside your ad schedule.
• Voicemail or a greeting that picks up during business hours counts as a connected call: charged if the caller stays more than 20 seconds.
• With a phone menu ("press 1 for..."), the 20 seconds start when the caller presses the first key. A caller who hangs up without pressing anything is not charged.
• The same customer calling or writing again from the same number or email is not charged twice, as long as there was contact within 15 days.
• Google says it keeps assessing each lead for 30 days and credits a bad one automatically. Each lead shows a status: Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited.

What to do about it this week

Why it matters: you are on a ladder, the phone rings out, and you have now paid for a customer you never spoke to.

1. Open your Google Business Profile and set the hours to the hours when somebody really answers. Not the hours you are "open".
2. Call your own Local Services number from another phone. Count the seconds until voicemail picks up, and listen to what a customer hears.
3. Decide who answers in those hours: you, someone in the office, an answering service or an AI assistant.
4. Once a week open the leads list in Google and look at the charge status of every call.

2. NAHB's economist: 7.5% mortgages are "the new normal"

On October 9 NAHB published its podcast from the fall leadership meeting. Chief economist Robert Dietz said a mortgage rate in the 7.5% range is "the new normal" until geopolitical issues are resolved. NAHB forecasts a 3% decline in single-family home production in 2027, the third modest decline in a row, and Dietz puts the chance of a broad economic pullback in 2027 at 35%. This is a forecast, not a measurement.

Why it matters: fewer new houses means framers, drywallers and painters who worked for builders will look for remodeling jobs, and bid against you. And your customers will not get cheaper money soon.

• Plan next year on today's rates. Do not build a budget on rates coming down.
• If part of your work comes from builders, start filling the remodeling side now, while you are still busy.

Where WorkTime CRM helps with this

Only with the first item. It does not make a Google lead free: Google charges for answered calls too. It makes sure the call you paid for reaches someone.

• Every Local Services lead in one place: connect Google Ads in Settings → Connections → Google and each new lead becomes a client on your pipeline within 10 minutes, so you can see who you paid for.
• A number that never rings out: a tracking number used as the phone on your Local Services profile can be answered by the AI assistant, or forwarded to your phone with the assistant behind it. The assistant runs on your own Twilio and Vapi accounts, which you pay separately.
• A call nobody took is still written down: it lands in the CRM as a missed call with the caller's number, and you get a Telegram message with a call-back link.

Questions

Sources

• Google Local Services Help: How leads work (read October 9, 2026)
• Search Engine Roundtable: Google Local Service Ads expands "how leads work" help document (October 8, 2026)
• Search Engine Roundtable: Google Local Service Ads to charge for missed and subsequent calls (August 25, 2026)
• NAHB: Podcast: 7.5% mortgage rates "new normal" until geopolitical issues resolved (October 9, 2026)

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