Regional Pricing Engine — Live, Sourced Pricing

The Regional Pricing Engine looks up a reference price for a line item based on the job's location — and returns the sources it used to get there. It's built for one reason: pricing holds up better when it reflects the local market and can show where the number came from.

What it does

For a given line — described by its work, unit, and the property's ZIP code — Estimatics queries live web sources for the current regional unit price. It returns:

A regional reference price for that unit of work.
A confidence level (high, medium, or low).
The sources it drew from, so the number isn't a black box.

This is a reference placed alongside the line's catalog-derived price — not an automatic override. You decide whether to apply it.

How pricing is resolved on a line

Estimatics follows a clear order of precedence when settling on a line's unit price:

A manual unit price you enter always wins.
Otherwise, your configured rates apply.
Otherwise, the catalog basis is used.

The regional reference sits next to all of this as decision support: apply it into the unit price when it's the best number, or keep your own. You stay in control of what the line actually charges.

Reading the sources

When a regional price comes back with sources, open them. A high-confidence price backed by relevant, current sources is worth applying; a low-confidence price with thin sourcing is a prompt to use your own judgment or local knowledge. The point isn't to outsource pricing — it's to give you a defensible, current starting point you can explain.

Good practice

Treat regional pricing as support, not truth. Your market knowledge is still the deciding factor.
Prefer ranges and reason from the sources, especially on high-value or unusual items.
Keep the sourcing with the file — being able to show why a price is what it is is exactly what makes an estimate defensible.

Related: The Catalog & Line-Item Matching · The Pricing & Scope Confidence Indicator · Building & Editing Your Scope