How DBH pricing works
This is the arithmetic behind every price the field app hands you — read it before the next two articles, which each go deeper on one piece of it.
The measurement: DBH
Section titled “The measurement: DBH”Diameter at breast height (DBH) — the trunk’s diameter measured at standard breast height — is the one physical number this engine needs from you. Everything else on a line (service type, cleanup, multipliers) picks a rate; DBH is what that rate gets multiplied by.
One line at a time
Section titled “One line at a time”Every tree on an estimate is one or more lines — a service (removal, trim, or stump), a cleanup level (included or not), and a DBH. Each line prices independently:
- Service and cleanup pick a rate per inch from your rate matrix — see Your rate matrix for where those numbers come from.
- Any multipliers you’ve ticked for that line multiply the rate together, not add — a tree with two surcharges applied gets both factors stacked, the same compounding rule your online estimator uses for its own per-tree multipliers. See Multipliers & price overrides for the full list.
- Rate per inch × DBH = that line’s total, rounded to the nearest dollar.
Lines sum to a total
Section titled “Lines sum to a total”Every line’s total adds into one subtotal for the estimate. If you’ve turned on a multi-tree discount, it comes off the subtotal next. If what’s left falls under your account minimum, the minimum takes over instead. Whatever’s left after that is the computed total — the number the app builds everything else from.
The guardrail band
Section titled “The guardrail band”Around the computed total, the app builds a band — a percentage below and a percentage above, rounded to the increment you’ve set. By default that’s 10% either side. It’s a soft sanity range for you, not a range you read to a customer: the field app’s job is to hand you one firm number, and the band is there so you notice when the number you’re about to quote has drifted a long way from what your own rates predicted.
A firm number, not a range
Section titled “A firm number, not a range”Your online estimator gives a homeowner three tiered price ranges before anyone has set foot on the property. The field app does the opposite — you enter a real measurement on a real tree, and it gives you one number plus that guardrail band, not tiers and not something for a customer to pick from. It’s built for someone standing in front of the work, pricing off rates they’ve set themselves.
Your rates are versioned
Section titled “Your rates are versioned”Every rate you edit is saved as a new version rather than overwritten. An estimate keeps the exact rates it was priced with, even after you change your rate matrix later — see Your rate matrix for how saving works.
What to watch out for
Section titled “What to watch out for”Every account starts on the same generic starting rates until you open your rate matrix and save — see Your rate matrix for what that means before you send a crew out pricing off numbers nobody’s checked.
The guardrail band moves with the computed total — it’s a percentage, not a fixed dollar amount, so a small job and a large job both get proportionally the same cushion.