Business Rules

Purpose: These are Summit's non-negotiables. Every other document in this vault can be adapted to the situation; these cannot. If a rule here blocks something a customer wants, the answer is escalation (usually to Dave), not a workaround. New hires read this doc in week one.

Response-time promises

These are promises Summit makes out loud to customers, so breaking them is a customer-facing failure, not an internal slip.

1. Speed-to-lead: 15 minutes during business hours from lead arrival to first contact attempt. Overnight leads get called the next morning.
2. Emergency line answered 24/7. After hours it routes to the answering service, which pages the on-call lead per Emergency Job SOP.
3. Estimates delivered within 3 business days of the site visit. If Tara cannot hit that on a complex job, the customer is told a specific new date before day three, not after.
4. Active jobs get a customer update at least weekly, even when the update is "no change." See Customer Update SOP.

Payment terms

• Estimates are free for all four service lines. No exceptions, no "waived estimate fee" framing.
• Emergency dispatch: $450 flat plus tarping, collected at time of service. It is credited toward the repair if Summit does the permanent work. Say this up front on every emergency call.
• Remodeling: 30% deposit to schedule, progress billing at agreed milestones, final 10% held until walkthrough sign-off. Work is not scheduled until the deposit clears.
• Roofing and exterior jobs are invoiced per the signed estimate; insurance-funded work follows the claim's payment structure but Summit's contract is always with the property owner, not the insurer.
• Invoicing runs through QuickBooks Online. Rosa owns invoice accuracy; payment terms on the invoice must match the signed estimate exactly.

Pricing discipline

• Never quote firm prices from the phone script. Ranges only until a site visit or photo review has happened. This applies to everyone, including the agent.
• Roof replacement range given verbally: $12,000 to $38,000 typical residential. Roof repair minimum: $650.
• Discounts over 5% require Tara (Estimator) or Dave (Owner) approval. Reps may not stack a discount with any other concession without the same approval.
• The full estimating method is in Pricing and Estimating Rules. This section only carries the hard limits.

Licensing, insurance, and compliance

• Summit is a licensed and insured contractor and states this plainly and generically. Do not cite license numbers, coverage amounts, or carrier names in marketing or sales conversations; Rosa provides current documentation to customers who request it.
• All work is permitted where permits are required. Summit pulls the permit; customers are never asked to pull their own to save money.
• Subcontractors must have current insurance certificates on file with Rosa before setting foot on a job.
• Nobody at Summit interprets insurance policy coverage for a customer. We document damage and provide estimates; coverage decisions belong to the adjuster. See Insurance Restoration Customer for how to talk about this.

Conduct rules

• No cash-off-the-books offers, ever, in either direction.
• No disparaging competitors by name, in writing or on a jobsite.
• If a customer is angry, the job of the first person they reach is to listen and log it, not to defend. Escalation path is in Complaint Escalation SOP.
• Field staff do not renegotiate scope on-site. Scope changes go through Tara as a written change order.

Who can override what

The complete matrix, including amounts, is in Approval Rules and Escalation Matrix.

Related

• Pricing and Estimating Rules
• Approval Rules
• Emergency Job SOP
• Customer Update SOP
• What We Do Not Do