How prices compute on Scope.
Each professional sets a rate card once. Scope evaluates it against each job as it comes in and returns a real price. Here is the formula in plain English, plus two worked examples.
Base rate plus modifiers. The professional sets the numbers.
A rate card is a base rate plus a handful of modifiers that fire conditionally on the job's attributes. The professional sets every number themselves, in their dashboard, once. From then on, when a job lands, Scope reads the job's attributes, runs the formula, and returns a price.
Common modifiers for process serving: rush, distance, after hours, skip trace required, subpoena vs. summons, re-attempts. Other categories have their own modifier sets (page count and realtime for court reporting; record type and pages for records retrieval; testifying vs. consulting for experts).
Smith Process Service, one rate card, two job prices.
The same formula returns different numbers for different jobs. Below is Smith's rate card, then two jobs computed against it.
Smith Process Service
Beltway v. Acme, summons, Harris County address on file, one attempt sufficient. Standard turnaround.
Reyes v. Mercer, summons, defendant's last-known address unconfirmed, served on a rush timeline, two attempts needed.
One professional, one rate card, two prices. The formula does the work per job. The firm sees the real number for the actual job, not an averaged rack rate.
What happens when a job needs something the rate card doesn't cover.
Example: a job needs a Mandarin-speaking server, or tribal-court service, or a category modifier the professional never set up.
Two outcomes. Either the professional falls out of qualified for that job (their rate card cannot price it, so Scope routes to another professional whose card can). Or, if the professional is on roster, Scope prompts them to add the modifier to their rate card. They set the number once, the professional becomes qualified for that job class going forward, and the next dispatch with the same attribute prices automatically.
Standing rate cards, not auctions.
The earliest version of Scope dispatched a job to qualified professionals and waited for each to type a price back. That burned hours per dispatch for the firm and re-pricing work for the professional. Worse, it framed every dispatch as an auction, which is the wrong frame for a relationship business.
Rate cards flip the model. Professionals set their numbers once. Scope returns named professionals with computed prices for the actual job in seconds. Professionals compete on the rate-card structure they set, not on how fast they can type a price. Professionals self-tune over time: leaner cards win more often and earn less per job; richer cards earn more per job and win less. Scope does not mediate. The formulas do.