Paper St internal brief, 2026-08-08. Plain language. Full technical plan: VOICE-AND-CAPTURE-PLAN-2026-08-08.md
Someone calls 424-946-8057. This number is on every page of the new site, three to five times per page. It is a Google Voice number shared by Gordon, Fallon and Kodi.
Somebody picks up. Good. Nothing gets written down, but the call happened.
Nobody picks up. It goes to voicemail and that is the end of it. No text back, no email to anyone, no record. If that person clicked an ad we paid for, the money is gone and we cannot even count it.
This is the biggest hole in the business right now, and the one nobody can measure.
Someone calls the same number. Nothing about the number changes.
The team's real phones ring first, for about four rings. Exactly what Gordon asked for.
If nobody grabs it, an assistant answers. It says who it is, that it is automated and recording, and takes the name, the building address and a callback number.
Gordon and Fallon get an email within seconds, and the call is written down where we can count it.
The problem. Google Voice is free, but it is a rental. It rings phones and takes voicemail and that is all it will ever do. Google states in writing that you cannot forward a Google Voice number to an automated system.
The expensive answer. Move the number to a real phone company. That takes two to four weeks, needs paperwork Google does not issue, and if it is rejected the clock restarts.
The cheap answer nobody tested. Google's rule is about what Google forwards to. It says nothing about what the cell phone in the team's pocket does. Google Voice already rings a real cell. Every carrier lets you say: if this phone does not answer in 20 seconds, send the call over there. So it goes Google Voice, then the real cell, then after 20 seconds, the assistant.
Same result. Nothing moves. One dollar to test, and one code to undo.
Two things must be measured first. Google Voice grabs the call for voicemail at about 25 seconds and that timer cannot be changed, so the assistant has to win that race. And we need to confirm the caller's real number still shows after the hand off. Both answer in one afternoon.
Telnyx. Every option costs between 27 and 78 dollars a month at Gordon's call volume, so price is not the deciding factor. Telnyx is the only one where the phone line and the assistant are the same company on one bill, which is one less thing to break at three in the morning. No monthly minimum, one dollar a month for the number.
| How they reach out | Captured | Human told | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form on the website | Yes | Email to Gordon | Never confirmed he receives it |
| Booking a call | Yes | Calendar invite | Never run once, ever |
| Phones the number | No | Nobody | Completely dark |
| Texts the number | No | Nobody | Advertised, no automation |
| Emails Gordon | No | Personal inbox | No auto reply, no logging |
The uncomfortable part: Gordon has never been given the key to the lead board, so email is his only way to receive a lead, and we have never once confirmed one of those emails arrived in his inbox rather than his junk folder.
| Item | Whose | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The advertising name | Gordon | His licence is registered to DTAG Inc with no trade names on file. California requires the licence number in advertising, under the name the licence covers. No lawful ad until this is settled. |
| Confirm he receives a lead email | Gordon | It is his only channel and it has never been proven. |
| Facebook conversion tracking | Us | We already have access to his ad account and have read it. Nothing to ask him for. What is missing is the tracking tag on the new pages, which is ours to build. Without it the ads cannot learn which clicks became customers, so the budget optimises toward clicks instead of jobs. |
| Privacy page | Us | Facebook requires one on any page that collects details. |
| Test every entry point | Us | One day of work. Cheaper than one week of leaking ad spend. |
Your new site is live on your own domain now. It is at compliance.laconstructionconsultants.com. Your main site has not changed and your email was never touched.
Right now if nobody picks up, that call is just gone. No message to you, no record, nothing to follow up.
What we want is what you asked for. Your phones ring first, and if nobody grabs it in about four rings, an assistant answers, takes their name, building and number, and emails it to you and Fallon within seconds.
Your number does not change. Nothing moves. We think we can do it by changing one setting on the phone that already rings, and we can test it this week for about a dollar.
Before any ad runs, I need to know which name we advertise under. Your licence is registered to DTAG Inc, and the state requires the licence number to appear under the name the licence covers. So either we run the ads as DTAG Inc, or you file the trade names with the licence board first and we wait for that.
Which do you want to do?
One more thing. I am going to send a test enquiry through the new site this week. When it lands, can you tell me you got it, and whether it went to your inbox or your junk folder? Right now email is the only way a new enquiry reaches you, and I have never actually watched one arrive.