Residential Red Line Rubric
A sales-team rubric for pricing residential estimates with Red Line floor discipline, upside, commissions, and manager review.
Residential Red Line Rubric
Use this rubric to coach residential sales reps on how to price inside the Red Line model. The goal is not to make every quote as cheap as possible. The goal is to give reps a clear floor, protect margin, reward upside, and keep every customer-facing price easy to explain.
Red Line uses the same live residential calculator as the estimate wizard. CE Pro first calculates the suggested service price from the selected service, size, stories, dirtiness, material, and other job inputs. Then it applies the configured Red Line floor percentage for that service.
Core Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Suggested price | The normal calculated price before the rep manually adjusts the line. |
| Red Line floor | The lowest allowed service price, calculated from the suggested price and that service's floor percentage. |
| Sold price | The current price the rep is quoting for that service. |
| Upside | Sold price minus Red Line floor. |
| Red Line status | The deal-health label CE Pro shows for each service line. |
| Service commission | The configured base commission at or below the floor, plus the configured upside commission on dollars above the floor. |
| Add-on commission | The configured add-on commission rate applied to selected residential add-ons. |
Red Line visibility follows the assigned sales rep on the estimate. If the assigned rep is on standard pricing, Red Line floor guidance does not show for that quote even if a manager is editing it.
Status Rubric
These status labels are based on the sold price compared with the Red Line floor. The exact near-floor and healthy-upside thresholds come from Pricing Manager > Red Line.
| Status | What It Means | Rep Action | Manager Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below Red Line | The sold price is below the floor. | Raise the line to the floor or correct the scope inputs before saving or sending. | Required if the rep believes the floor is wrong, the scope is unusual, or a strategic exception is needed. |
| At Red Line | The sold price is exactly at the floor. | Use only when the rep has a clear close reason, such as a competitive save or narrow budget. Avoid stacking extra discounts. | Review repeated at-floor quotes, high-risk surfaces, or any quote where the customer still has not committed. |
| Near Red Line | The sold price is above the floor but inside the near-floor threshold. | Treat as a controlled discount. Capture the reason in notes and try to win value back with an add-on, bundle, deposit, or maintenance plan. | Review if more than one major service is near floor. |
| Above Red Line | The sold price is above the near-floor band but below the healthy-upside threshold. | This is the normal target zone for standard residential work. Keep the quote confident and explain the scope clearly. | No special review unless the quote has unusual risk or margin pressure. |
| Healthy Upside | The sold price is comfortably above the floor. | Protect the value. Do not automatically discount just because there is room. Use this zone for complex, urgent, high-trust, or bundled work. | Review only if close rate drops or the quote looks out of line with the market. |
Deal Scorecard
Score each residential quote out of 100 during sales coaching, manager review, or weekly pipeline review.
| Area | Points | What Good Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| Scope accuracy | 25 | Address, property data, square footage, counts, linear feet, material, dirtiness, access issues, and service descriptions are verified. |
| Red Line discipline | 25 | Every selected service is at or above floor, the rep knows which services are near or at floor, and any discount has a business reason. |
| Value strategy | 20 | The rep anchors on the suggested price, explains the result, and uses bundles, add-ons, maintenance plans, or seasonal sidecars before reducing price. |
| Close readiness | 15 | Customer details, proposal copy, payment/deposit path, expiration, and next step are clean before the quote is sent or presented. |
| CRM hygiene | 15 | Lead source, assigned rep, notes, follow-up date, status, and customer context are saved so the office can coach, rehash, or report on the deal later. |
| Score | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | Strong Red Line quote | Send, present, and use as a coaching example. |
| 80-89 | Good quote with minor cleanup | Send after the rep fixes notes, scope copy, or one weak pricing explanation. |
| 70-79 | Needs manager coaching | Review before send when possible, especially if the quote is at or near floor. |
| Below 70 | Not ready | Rework the scope, price, or follow-up plan before the customer sees it. |
Service-Level Expectations
Use Red Line after the scope is correct. A wrong measurement creates a wrong floor.
| Service | Rep Checks Before Pricing |
|---|---|
| House wash | Confirm square footage, stories, dirtiness, siding complexity, access, and heavy organic growth. |
| Roof cleaning | Confirm roof square footage, material, partial-roof selection, pitch/access risk, and visible staining. |
| Windows | Confirm window count, exterior-only versus interior/exterior, screen handling, height, and access limitations. |
| Gutters | Confirm linear feet, height, debris severity, gutter guards, and safe ladder access. |
| Driveway and sidewalks | Confirm square footage or linear feet, surface type, heavy staining, water access, and runoff constraints. |
| Deck, patio, and fence | Confirm material, square footage or linear feet, condition, delicate surfaces, furniture movement, and prep work. |
| Add-ons | Position add-ons as convenience and margin builders. Add-ons do not use a service floor, but they do feed Red Line commission when enabled. |
Discount Rules
Reps should follow these rules before reducing a residential service price:
- Start from the suggested price as the customer-facing anchor.
- Use the Red Line floor as an internal guardrail, not as customer-facing language.
- Correct bad measurements before touching price.
- Prefer value trades over price cuts: add a bundle, add maintenance, secure a deposit, or set a clear decision deadline.
- Do not remove necessary scope, safety, access, or risk language just to reach a lower price.
- If a service lands at or near floor, add a note explaining the reason.
- If the customer still hesitates at the floor, move the deal into follow-up or manager review instead of lowering the price further.
Manager Review Triggers
Managers should review the quote before send or during the next pipeline review when any of these are true:
- A service is below Red Line or the rep says the floor is wrong.
- Two or more major services are at or near floor.
- A package discount and manual price reduction are both being used.
- The quote includes high-risk work such as steep roof access, delicate material, unusual staining, or limited water access.
- The customer asks for a competitor match.
- The rep is using the floor as the normal target instead of the exception.
- The CRM record is missing lead source, assigned rep, customer contact, address, or follow-up context.
Coaching Metrics
Use saved Red Line snapshots, commissions, and estimate history to coach the team over time.
| Metric | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| At-floor rate | Whether reps are relying on the floor too often. |
| Near-floor rate | Whether discounting is creeping into normal quoting. |
| Healthy-upside rate | Whether reps are protecting value on better-fit jobs. |
| Average upside dollars | How much room above floor the team is keeping. |
| Close rate by status | Which pricing bands actually win jobs. |
| Add-on attach rate | Whether reps are replacing discounts with useful extra scope. |
| Maintenance attach rate | Whether reps are turning one-time quotes into recurring value. |
| Rehash recovery | Whether near-floor or lost quotes are being followed up cleanly. |
Before-Send Checklist
Before a residential quote is saved, sent, or presented from mobile, the rep should confirm:
- The assigned rep is correct.
- Red Line is visible when the rep is supposed to be on Red Line.
- Every selected service is at or above floor.
- Any at-floor or near-floor service has a note.
- Property measurements and dirtiness are accurate.
- Add-ons, bundle, maintenance, and seasonal upsell opportunities were considered.
- The customer-facing descriptions match the work being sold.
- The quote has a clear next step: send, present for signature, collect deposit, or schedule follow-up.
Example Reads
| Example | Read |
|---|---|
| Suggested price is $500, floor is $350, sold price is $425 | The quote has $75 of upside, or 21.4% above floor. If the workspace healthy-upside threshold is 20%, this is healthy upside. |
| Suggested price is $1,000, floor is $700, sold price is $725 | The quote has $25 of upside, or 3.6% above floor. If the near-floor threshold is 5%, this is near floor and should have a reason. |
| Floor is $600 and sold price is $575 | The service is below Red Line. Raise the price or fix the scope before saving or sending. |
The best Red Line reps use the floor as a guardrail, not a goal. They sell the correct scope, protect the minimum, and earn upside by making the value clear.
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