You've just spun up an AI voice agent. The trial's done. You've paid the $5,500 setup fee. Now the clock starts on usage: every inbound minute, every outbound call, every SMS. The question everyone asks in week two is always the same: what does this actually cost once it's live?

We pulled anonymised first-month spend data from 87 Australian tenants who went live between October 2024 and February 2025. No cherry-picking. No best-case scenarios. Just what the average small operator actually ran through in their first 30 days, broken down by vertical.

Trade services: high volume, predictable cost

Plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs. These operators run the highest inbound call volume. Median first-month spend: $840. That breaks down to roughly 2,000 inbound minutes at $0.42 each, or about 65 calls a day if you assume three-minute average handle time.

One plumbing outfit in western Sydney told us their agent fielded 94 calls in the first week alone, most of them "Can you come today?" or "How much for a hot water unit?" The agent booked 60% into ServiceM8 slots without human touch. The owner's advice: set your after-hours greeting to route genuine emergencies to your mobile and let the agent handle everything else. They spent $780 in month one and considered it cheap compared to the two casual admin staff they'd been rostering on Saturdays.

Budget tip: if you're trade services, assume $700 to $900 in month one. Turn off outbound dialling until you're confident the inbound flow is stable. You don't need to chase quotes when your phone's already ringing.

Professional services: lighter load, SMS-heavy

Accountants, bookkeepers, mortgage brokers, conveyancers. Median first-month spend: $520. Lower call volume than trades, but these tenants lean harder on two-way SMS. The agent sends appointment confirmations, chases missing documents, reminds clients about deadlines.

SMS adds up fast at $0.60 per message. One tenant in Melbourne ran 340 SMS exchanges in their first month, which added $204 to the bill on top of 750 inbound minutes. The pattern we see: professional services use the agent as a follow-up engine, not just a receptionist. Clients prefer text for quick confirmations, and the agent handles it without clogging the principal's inbox.

Budget tip: assume $450 to $600 in month one if you're professional services. If you're planning heavy SMS workflows - like document chase sequences or multi-step onboarding - add another $150 to $200.

Health and beauty: appointment-focused, moderate spend

Physios, dentists, beauty clinics, massage therapists. Median first-month spend: $610. Most of the load is inbound booking and rebooking. Integration with Cliniko, Timely, or Mindbody means the agent checks real-time availability and confirms slots without back-and-forth.

These tenants typically run 1,200 to 1,500 inbound minutes in month one. Call length tends to be shorter - two to three minutes - because the conversation is transactional: "Do you have Thursday at 2pm?" The agent checks, books, hangs up. One dental practice in Brisbane recorded 58 bookings in their first 22 days, with zero missed calls during lunch.

Budget tip: assume $550 to $650 in month one. If you're running reminder campaigns via outbound calls, add $200. Most health tenants find SMS reminders cheaper and less intrusive, so consider that before you dial.

Real estate: outbound-heavy, higher ceiling

Property managers, agencies doing appraisal follow-up or tenant screening. Median first-month spend: $1,340. The difference here is outbound. Calling Australian mobiles costs $1.32 per minute, and real estate agents use the platform to chase appraisal leads, confirm inspection times, or follow up on applications.

One agency in the inner west ran 620 outbound minutes in their first month, mostly three-minute calls to warm leads from their website. That's $818 in outbound alone. Add 800 inbound minutes for general enquiries and you're over $1,150 before SMS.

Budget tip: if you're doing outbound prospecting, assume $1,200 to $1,500 in month one. Gate your campaigns by state dial-hour rules and respect the Do Not Call Register. The platform enforces this, but you still need to know when your agent's allowed to dial.

What to do in your first 30 days

Start with inbound only. Let the agent handle your existing call flow for two weeks before you add outbound or complex SMS workflows. Watch your usage dashboard daily for the first week, then weekly after that. Most tenants stabilise their spend by day 20 once they've tuned their routing rules and greeting scripts.

Set a mental ceiling. If you budgeted $800 and you're tracking towards $1,200, pause outbound or trim your SMS automations. The platform doesn't lock you into runaway spend - you control the dial rules and message templates.

One other thing: the call we listened to last Tuesday from a Sydney conveyancer showed the agent handling a four-minute enquiry about settlement timing, booking a callback with the solicitor, and sending a confirmation SMS. Total cost: $2.28. The client never knew they weren't speaking to a human, and the solicitor didn't lose 15 minutes of billable time. That's the math that makes this work.

Sign up at app.voxreach.com.au/signup - 30 minutes, see what your first week actually costs before you commit.