Multipliers & price overrides

Multipliers raise a line’s price for whatever makes that specific tree harder to work; overrides let you change the final number on the estimate itself.

The multiplier catalogs

Each service on your rate matrix has its own list of situational surcharges. These are your starting catalogs — every label, and every factor, is editable, removable, or replaceable from Your rate matrix:

Removal multipliers

Multiplier	Factor
No Machine Access	×1.5
House / Structure Nearby	×1.4
Overhead Power/Comm Lines	×1.35
Septic/Leach Field/Soft Ground	×1.25
Landscape/Gardens/Manicured Turf	×1.2
Hardscape/Driveways/Sidewalks	×1.15
Fencing/Gates in Drop Zone	×1.1
Water Meters/Pools/Small Targets	×1.1

Trim multipliers

Multiplier	Factor
House/Structural Overhang	×1.45
No Machine Access	×1.4
Overhead Lines	×1.35
Heavy Deadwood/Hazard Tree	×1.25
Landscape/Ornamental Gardens	×1.2
Hardscape/Driveways/Sidewalks	×1.15
Service Clearance Target	×1.1

Stump multipliers

Multiplier	Factor
No Machine Access / Tight Gates <36″	×1.5
Underground Utilities	×1.4
Hardscape Touching Root	×1.3
Foundations/Decks/Structural Walls	×1.25
Surface Roots Chase per 10 sq ft	×1.2
Fencing/Grown Into Fence Line	×1.15
Landscape/Mulch/Rock Beds	×1.15

They compound

Tick more than one multiplier on the same line and the factors multiply together, not add. A removal with No Machine Access (×1.5) and Overhead Power/Comm Lines (×1.35) applied together prices at ×2.025 — not ×1.85. Three or four multipliers stacked on one line can more than double it; that’s the math working as designed, not a bug to chase down.

Overriding a total

The number you actually quote lives in its own field, separate from the computed total — it can match, or you can type something different. A reason is optional as long as your quoted number stays inside the guardrail band. Go outside the band in either direction and the field asks for a reason before it lets you save — that reason is your record of why this job was priced above or below what your rate matrix predicted.

That reason doesn’t feed the calibration math directly. But the estimate itself can: once a job like this closes, record its real outcome — see Calibrating from job outcomes — and it joins the same pool of finished jobs future calibration runs learn from.

When to override rather than adjust rates

An override is for this one job — a driveway that turned out narrower than the pin suggested, a customer relationship that earns a break. Reach for your rate matrix or a multiplier’s factor instead when you notice a pattern across several jobs — a rate or multiplier change affects every estimate you price from then on, where an override only ever touches the one estimate you’re looking at.

What to watch out for

Each line’s price locks in the moment you save it. Editing or removing a multiplier later doesn’t change a price you already quoted — only new lines priced after your edit use the updated catalog.

The override-reason field only shows up as required once you’re outside the guardrail band. If you don’t see it, you’re still inside your own range.