A 3-tier proposal puts three side-by-side options in front of the customer — Good (basic), Better (recommended, middle), Best (premium) — instead of one fixed price. The customer picks the option that fits their budget. Housecall Pro shops report ~50% average-ticket lift when they switch from single-quote to 3-tier (water-heater jobs going from $1,200 → $1,850 in published case studies).
Why it works (the anchoring math)
- Single-quote framing: customer compares your price to $0 (do nothing) — anything looks expensive.
- 3-tier framing: customer compares Good vs. Better vs. Best — the middle option becomes the default 'reasonable' choice.
- When customers self-anchor on the Best option, even picking Better feels like a discount. Most pick Better.
- The Good tier serves customers who would otherwise haggle or walk — instead of losing the job, you book it at the floor.
Building a 3-tier proposal
- 1Open the quote composer
/portal/quotes/new — same composer you use for single quotes.
- 2Toggle 'Make this a 3-tier proposal'
Above the line-items section. The composer switches to a 3-tab layout: Good / Better / Best.
- 3Build each tier's line items
Click into a tab and add the lines that make up that option. Same line-item editor as single quotes — manual entry, pricing book, or line-item catalog. Each tier is independent — you can have completely different scopes per tier (e.g. Good = repair only, Better = repair + minor upgrade, Best = full replacement).
- 4Review tier totals
The composer shows the total at the top of each tab as you build. Use the 'Preview public link' button to see what the customer will see — three side-by-side cards.
- 5Save & send
The customer gets the same email + public link as a single quote, but the link renders three cards instead of one line-item table.
How to price each tier
| Good (basic) | 30-40% UNDER your Better price. Covers the immediate problem with the cheapest viable solution. No frills. |
| Better (middle / recommended) | Your normal single-quote price. The option you'd recommend if the customer asked. Marked 'Most chosen' on the public page. |
| Best (premium) | 30-40% OVER your Better price. Adds the upgrades / longer warranty / faster timeline / better materials a small slice of customers will pay for. |
What the customer sees
- Three cards side-by-side on desktop, stacked on mobile. Header pill: 'Three options · pick your fit.'
- Middle (Better) tier highlighted with a star + 'Most chosen' label and a softly glowing border. Default visual anchor.
- Each card shows: tier name, optional description, total price, subtotal + tax breakdown, every line item with a green check icon.
- One signature input at the bottom — shared across all three tiers. Customer types their name, then clicks 'Accept Good' / 'Accept Better' / 'Accept Best' on whichever card.
- Decline path: 'None of these work for me' link reveals an optional decline-reason textarea. Same flow as single-quote decline.
What happens after they accept a tier
Plyrium copies the chosen tier's line items into the regular line_items table, nulls out proposal_tiers, and sets accepted_tier_name to the picked option. From that point on the quote behaves like any normal accepted single-quote — invoice draft auto-builds, customer record auto-creates, the contractor sees 'they picked Better' on the quote detail view. Downstream code (invoicing, P&L, customer history) doesn't need to know it was originally a tiered proposal.
Below $500 the price spread between Good and Best is too small to anchor anything — you're shaving $30 off a $200 job, which doesn't move buyer psychology. Above $500 (water heaters, HVAC repairs, drain mains, panel upgrades) is where anchoring pays. Below that, send a single quote.
Tiers that differ ONLY in dollars feel like manipulation ('why is the same job $800 vs $1,200?'). Tiers that differ in scope feel like real choices: Good = 6-month warranty + standard parts; Better = 2-year warranty + brand-name parts; Best = 10-year warranty + premium parts + free annual tune-up. Customers respect the math when they can see what they're getting.
When NOT to use 3-tier
- Emergency calls — customer wants the problem fixed, not a menu. Send a single quote.
- Diagnostic-only visits — there's nothing to tier; you're charging a flat dispatch fee.
- Repeat customers on a service plan — they trust your judgment; a 3-tier proposal feels like overselling.
- Recurring contracts — the price is set by the contract cadence, not a one-off proposal.
Don't build a Good tier you'd be embarrassed to do — your reputation rides on every job, even the floor-priced ones. The Good tier should still be solid work; it just leaves out the upgrades. Customers pick up on bait-and-switch tiers fast and they'll tell their neighbors.