Economy: prices, costs, wallets and the long gameEC

An honest economy. A job costs what the work takes: minutes on the lawn times the street's rate. The bills are real, the money grows with the company (pocket cash, then grandma's lockbox, then a company bank), and being broke hurts but never ends the game. Later, crews, contracts and new trades turn a lawn round into an empire, and the mansion waits for the ones who chase it.

The player's view

Week one. Mom's envelope is all you have. Grandma's garden pays in biscuits and a note on the fridge. Mrs. Higgins next door pays at the door, with a slice of cake: "Your grandmother charged me $20, dear." A few small lawns a day on grandma's street keep you just ahead, and on Monday a letter brings the household bill: utilities, the phone, the groceries for every sibling at the table. A bad week hurts. It never ends the game.

At the door. The job is done and the client waits at the gate. Whoever goes to ask gets the cash, and decides how much goes into grandma's lockbox and how much into their own pocket. Nobody else ever sees your pocket.

At the till. Every payment screen offers the lockbox, your pocket, your card... and dad's platinum card. It's always declined: the beep, the clerk's look, someone in the queue sighs, and on the third try a voicemail from dad.

Before bed. Grandma's notepad sums up the day: what you earned, what you spent, one line per job, and what's coming up this week. One glance says whether the week is safe.

A bad week. A bill bounces: a red letter and a late fee. The next one brings dad's voicemail ("The utility company called ME"). After that the lights, the computer and the fridge's hum go off until you pay. There's always a way out: put pocket money back, trade a tool in, sell one of grandma's treasures (she'll find out), or, once you're a company, a bank loan. Mom won't bail you out.

Registered. The company opens a bank account and the lockbox becomes petty cash with a night deposit bag. Big clients get invoices and pay days later; some are late, one in a long while never pays. A rate card on the computer sets your prices: dearer means fewer calls from richer, pickier clients. Every four weeks the tax letter arrives, and dad has opinions about it.

The late game. From the workshop you hire crews who work off-screen on the jobs you hand them, estates sign weekly contracts, and from the depot you bid against GreenCorp for the golf club and the city parks. You still pick the jobs you want to do yourself. Pools, windows, pressure washing and housekeeping each climb the same ladder as the lawns.

Rich. A pool in grandma's back garden, your own car, a van wrap with the logo, the good room at grandma's retirement home (she's unbearable about it), a postcard to dad from the yacht. And for the try-hards, the mansion, paid in cash.

Ideas

EC1: honest prices and costs

Realistic prices from work time, real household costs, honest bills on the receipt (EC8), and every number shown so the player always understands the money.

Job prices: from work time

• Price = work minutes × the district's hourly rate, rounded to $5, + supplies used (feed, chlorine, patch mix at pack price, ~$18 for a dose of feed or chlorine) + a call-out fee for far districts. Work minutes = the task's par in game minutes (par seconds ÷ 2, the same 2 s per game minute as the clock). Optional and surprise tasks are priced the same way.
• District rates live on DistrictDefinition (built with TU6). The examples are the work price; far districts add their call-out:

District	Rate / hour	Call-out	Example
Grandma's street	$24	$0 (you walk)	Mrs. Higgins' small lawn, 50 min → $20 ("Your grandmother charged me $20, dear")
Suburbs	$32	$0	m01 Parker 105 min → $55; m03 Kowalski 230 min → $125; m10 Petersens 350 min → $185
Leafy avenues	$45	$10	m04 Nguyen 320 min → $240; m09 Delacroix 500 min → $375
The hills	$70	$25	m07 Moreau 410 min → $480 + chlorine; m14 Mossley 550 min → $640

• The client pays the quote. The time bonus and coverage bonus go away as money: finishing fast is rewarded by fitting another job in the day (the clock runs); stars and reputation stay as today (par still gives a star). Quality shows in the client's mood → tip (up to 20%, as today) and reviews.
• Damage is billed at cost: the client deducts what it costs them (flower bed $15, broken pot $20, scalped turf = patch mix + labour at the district rate). Same events (JobIncidents), honest names on the receipt (EC8). The full price list is in J13; claims and insurers come with IN1-IN3.
• Regular clients: the old ×1.2 bonus turns round: regulars get a steady price (no haggling), you get guaranteed visits. Haggling outcomes are stored as their own field (haggleFactor), not contractBonus.

Unhappy clients and cancellations

• Bad work: the client pays the quote when the required tasks are done. If their mood ends low (< 0.35: missed strips, scalped patches, trampled beds), they ask at the door: a discount (10-30% by mood) or a free return visit to fix it (booked like a job, unpaid; done → mood restored). Say no to both and they pay in full, then leave a review and don't book again. Same negotiation model as haggling.
• Late cancellations: a client who cancels on the day (not for weather) pays a $15-50 cancellation fee by district; regulars don't (goodwill). Weather moves are free both ways (weather.md).
• Your no-shows: the client is lost, and −1 reputation, as today.

Costs: tight but never stuck

• Household bill, every Monday from day 8 (a paper letter + the ledger): utilities $60 + phone & internet $40 + groceries $50 per sibling → $150 solo, $200 for two, $300 for four. It replaces the $45 house bill.
• Car fuel per drive: $0.20 per travel minute in grandma's hatchback, $0.30 in the small van, $0.40 in the big van; drives are both ways (DY1's rides make the trip home real). m01 = 2 × 16 min → ~$6.
• Mower and tool fuel, line, supplies, repairs: as today (already realistic).
• Rent for premises as today ($220 / $600 / $1,500 a week), on top of the household bill.
• Tax starts at registration (EC3).

The first week

Mom's $200; grandma's garden (unpaid, below), Mrs. Higgins $20 + cake, then 1-2 street jobs a day at $20-45. About 4-5 small jobs a week break even with the household bill: a bad week hurts, it never ends the game.

Showing the money

"Easy to understand" is mostly here. Nothing new to simulate, only to show.

• The quote, everywhereOn paper, in calls, on the calendar and the job sheet: minutes × rate + supplies + call-out, one line each. The receipt repeats it (EC8): quote − damage + tip = paid.
• The end-of-day reportBefore bed, on paper in grandma's notepad style: earned today, spent today, profit, one line per job; coming up: this week's household bill, rent, wages, the next tax letter, invoices due in.
• The ledger in categoriesOn the computer (My Company): jobs, supplies, tools, bills, rent, wages, tax. Never pockets.
• Net worthKeeps its headline and the vision board, plus a trend line over the last 4 weeks.
• Ego quipsComment on the numbers ("Profit. Like a real businessman. Dad would be... still annoyed.").

Difficulty: the money axis

difficulty.md (DF1) holds every system's dials and lands with this idea: chosen by the host at new game and locked, presets + Custom (Money / Machine / Mishaps). The money axis's numbers (bills, client generosity, late payers, tax) are the Money dial in DF1. The EC5 simulator checks all three presets.

Fixes that come with it

• Grandma's garden is never paid (as built): she leaves a note and a tin of biscuits; no stars into the reputation total.
• Grandma's mower can't be sold ("Your grandmother's mower? Absolutely not." + a grandma call if tried).
• MissionDefinition.basePay goes away (derived from the tasks); the "ArriveRich" quip reads the district instead.
• The request generator checks IsUnlocked (no more booked jobs the start refuses).
• The old plan's "2-3×" store line is corrected: the store is ×1.4 (×1.19 with the trade card); an emergency run costs mostly time.
• Reputation gates are retuned to the day targets in EC5 (today's +4 a job makes registration two jobs away).
• Every mission is recomputed from the formula (data version bump).

Needs: DF1 (lands together); DY1 makes the return rides real but isn't required · Done when: a fresh solo week plays tight but positive with ~5 small jobs; two instances show the same prices.

EC2: wallets

Money grows with the company. Before registering, the business is a sole trader's cash; registering makes it a company with a bank account (EC3). Build it together with EC8 (how the cash first arrives).

Money	Who	Where	From
Pocket cash	each sibling	on you (shown only to you)	day 1
Personal bank	each sibling	Hedge Fund Bank, a debit card	day 1 (empty: dad cut you off)
Grandma's lockbox	shared	a station in the house: deposit / take, no item inventory	day 1 = the business's money
Company bank	the company	Hedge Fund Bank, company card	opens at registration (EC3); the lockbox becomes petty cash

• Splitting the door money: the sibling who collected a job's cash (EC8) splits it between the lockbox and their pocket. Unequal shares are allowed; skimming is possible (the clues wait in Leftovers from the old plans). Tips go to whoever collects at the door (EC8). Solo, the split is a one-button default ("all to the company"), the slider optional.
• Paying: one payment screen for every purchase (store till, GreenGear, bills, paint) offers the sources you can use: lockbox / company, pocket, your card, and dad's credit card: always DECLINED, from day 1. The beep, the clerk's look, someone behind you sighs; after three tries dad's voicemail: "The bank called me, kiddo."

• Online needs a card: before registration, GreenGear orders go on someone's personal card; reimbursing yourself from the lockbox is honest... or not (a skimming clue).
• The business pays bills, fuel, supplies and rent, automatically (the lockbox before registration, the company bank after). Any sibling can put money back in.
• Cash ↔ bank: deposit and withdraw at the ATM on the street corner (TU6's walkable street); until the street exists, through the bank on the computer.
• Your own money: a glance at the gold watch or the phone shows your pocket, your personal bank and your share of net worth. The ledger shows deposits per job, never pockets.
• Net worth splits into the company's and each sibling's (pocket + bank + their dreams). Personal money buys personal dreams: the gold watch is your watch, shown on your avatar. The mansion is paid by the company.
• Mom's envelope and her later gifts go to one sibling's pocket.

Needs: EC8 · Done when: a guest buys line with their pocket at the store, the host's lockbox is untouched, dad's card fails on both screens; and a guest who collected a job's pay keeps part of it while the company gets the rest, and their gold watch shows on the host's view of them.

EC3: the registered company

Registering (the $250 fee) turns the sole trader into a company: a bank account, invoices, its own prices, taxes, and the ways out of being broke.

• The company bank opens at registration. The lockbox becomes petty cash with a night deposit bag: cash put in it lands in the company bank the next morning.
• Invoices: small and street clients still pay cash at the door (EC8); big clients (leafy avenues, the hills, contracts) get an invoice and pay the company bank 3-7 days later. About 1 in 10 pays late (a reminder letter, then a call); about 1 in 50 never pays (write it off, or a grumpy "collections" call that costs a fee and gets most of it back). Skimming fades on its own as the company grows.
• The ledger adds profit per client and per trade (which clients are worth keeping, which trade pays) and the invoices outstanding.

Your prices: haggle first, then a rate card

• Before registering, every job is haggled around the district price (one negotiation model, J7).
• Registering adds a rate card on the computer (My Company): one multiplier per trade on the district rate, 0.8× to 1.5×. Higher rates → fewer calls but richer, pickier clients; lower → more calls, less money, more tired siblings. Haggling still moves single jobs around your card. A first sketch of the demand: calls a week ≈ 14 × (1 / multiplier)^2.2 (at least 2); bargain hunters below ×0.95, a mixed crowd up to ×1.2, rich and picky above. The EC5 simulator sets the real curve.

The tax letter

From the Office of Revenue, every 4 weeks from registration ("estimated tax", compressed for the game): 20% of the company's profit since the last letter (income − business costs; the household bill isn't deductible). Paid from the company bank; unpaid = a bounced bill with a bigger fee. Ego quips and dad's comments write themselves. Skimmed cash isn't on the books (the audit is EC14). Before registration there's no tax (small sole-trader income).

Broke: never game over

Bills and rent are taken even when the business money can't cover them (the lockbox before registering, the company bank after), and the bill bounces:

1. A bounced bill+$25 late fee, a red letter, and your standing on the street drops (it drops with each bounce).
2. Dad's voicemail on the second bounce: "The utility company called ME."
3. The power is cut at the house on the third: lights, computer and the fridge hum off, until the bills are paid.

The ways out:

• Pocket moneyA sibling puts their own money back in.
• Trade tools in at the store.
• Grandma's treasuresSell them; she finds out (the detail waits in Leftovers from the old plans).
• A Hedge Fund Bank loan, once registered (host only): up to 4 weeks of average profit, repaid over 8 weekly installments with 8% total interest, shown as plain dollars.
• The free patch-up of your last broken tool stays.

Mom does not bail you out: her envelope and gifts stay story beats.

Needs: EC2 · Done when: a registered company runs four weeks with invoices, one tax letter and a loan, same on two instances.

EC4: crews and contracts

The late engine, from the workshop tier (crews at the workshop). This is the money that makes the depot and, for the try-hards, the mansion reachable.

• A crew = 2 hired workers + a vehicle + a kit you assign. Wages ~$130 a day each, paid every Monday from the company bank.
• Crews work off-screen through the day on jobs you assign on the calendar (or "auto": the best fitting bookings). Two workers bill like one quote and finish ~1.6× faster, so a crew does 3-5 jobs a day. Each worker has a skill (1-5) that rises with work: skill sets quality → client mood → tips, reviews, reputation risk. A crew's kit wears like yours.
• Margin ~35-45%: a crew bills about 8 h × 1.6 × the district rate a day. A leafy-avenue crew bills ~$580 a day, costs ~$260 wages + ~$60 fuel and wear → ~$250 profit. Hills crews earn more, street crews barely pay (or lose a little).

• Season contracts: estates sign weekly contracts, done by you or a crew. From the depot: commercial tenders, won by bidding against GreenCorp (the depot's story beat). A missed contract visit costs the contract.

Contract	From	Per week
Estate, a visit or two a week	the lock-up on	$400-1,500
Business park	the depot, a tender	~$3,000
Golf club	the depot, a tender	~$8,000
City parks	the depot, a tender	~$15,000

Needs: EC3, the workshop tier · Done when: a crew's day settles the same on both instances; a contract pays weekly.

EC5: the balance pass

The pace the whole economy is tuned to, and the simulator that proves it.

• The main arc takes ~70 in-game days (~30 h) for a steady player: odd-jobber → registered → lock-up → workshop with crews → depot and season contracts, beating GreenCorp's bids along the way. "Stay self-made in grandma's house" is comfortable long before that.
• The mansion stays $2.5M, paid in cash, for the players who chase it (user: "fair for try-harders"). It goes on sale at $500k net worth (as today; around day 90). Expected around day 140-160 (~60 h) for a player who pushes crews and contracts; many players will never buy it, and that's fine. Free play never ends. A mortgage is EC16.
• The targets, steady player, net profit after wages, costs and tax:

Days	Ladder step	You do	Net profit / day	Big buys in this stretch
1-7	Odd-jobber (grandma's street)	1-3 small jobs	$20-60	trimmer, fuel, line
8-20	Sole trader → registered	2-3 jobs, suburbs	$150-250	registration $250, small van $1,500
21-40	Lock-up garage, first crews	the best jobs + 1-3 crews	$600-2,000	lock-up $1,420, workshop $3,600, ride-on
41-70	Workshop → depot	estates; 4-10 crews; contracts	$3,000-10,000	depot $9,500, crew vans, pro kit
70+	Free play	whatever you like	$10,000+	dreams; the mansion

• The economy simulator (EditMode, headless): a scripted "steady player" and a "try-hard" play 160 days on the Sim (jobs at par ± noise, sensible buys, crews when allowed). It asserts the day-target table and prints the curve.
• Retune reputation gates, the prices of tiers, wages and contract sizes until the curve holds.
• Difficulty: the simulator checks the three presets: Relaxed reaches the depot ~day 55, Normal ~day 70, Hard ~day 90.
• Playtest week 1-2 by hand: the tight start is the riskiest feeling.

Needs: EC1-EC4, WK1-WK4 (the demand the simulator plays against) · Done when: the simulator's steady player hits each ladder step inside its day range, and the try-hard buys the mansion between days 120 and 170.

EC6: the odd-jobs board

The early game's safety net: newspaper classifieds and neighbour favours. Quick, varied, no investment, low pay: there's always something to do for cash before you can afford a trimmer. Some lead into a trade (gutters teach ladders before windows). Each is a short scene on grandma's street using pick-up/carry (PL11).

Odd job	Pay	Time	Needs
Walk a dog	$10	30 min	nothing (the dog chooses the route)
Wash a car	$15	45 min	bucket, sponge (the hose from the house)
Move a sofa	$20	30 min	a sibling helps (solo: the neighbour's nephew, slower)
Assemble furniture	$25	60 min	the instructions lie
Clean gutters	$30	60 min	a ladder ($40; teaches ladders before windows)
Clear a garage	$40 + what you keep	2 h	carry to the skip; some junk sells, some is treasure

Priced like everything else (about $20-25 an hour at street rates), 1-3 on the board a day, fewer once you're registered (the board is for odd-jobbers).

Needs: EC1, pick-up/carry · Done when: a broke day-2 sibling earns $30 from the board; two siblings move a sofa together.

EC7: things to buy when you're rich

A "make a lot of money" game needs places for the money to go, or money stops meaning anything after the depot. Today: the vision board (espresso machine → yacht) and the mansion. Added, all from things already agreed elsewhere:

• Grandma's houseUpgrades and extensions on the house's modular sockets (Socket_Front, _Back, _Side, _WingBack): a real kitchen, a games room, a home gym, a pool in the back garden, a bigger garage. Personal money for your room, business money for the workshop bits.
• VehiclesYour own car (not grandma's hatchback), a show-off van wrap, a vintage pickup.
• LooksClothes and accessories at the closet (step 3b), bought with personal money; shown to everyone.
• The company's lookLogo paint on every van, uniforms for crews, a sign at the depot (reputation +, ego +).
• Being generousPaying for grandma's retirement-home upgrades (her calls change: the good room, the trip to the seaside, she's unbearable about it), gifts to mom, sending dad a postcard from the yacht. Story payoffs, no stats.

Prices span $50 (a cap) to $250,000 (the pool house), on the vision board and the computer catalogue, so there's always a next thing at every stage.

Needs: EC2; looks need the sibling skins (built) · Done when: at every ladder step there's a next thing to want.

EC8: getting paid at the door

How a job ends and its money first arrives (it works before wallets exist, and the same with today's job scenes or J37's lawns in the world).

• The job ends at the door. When you're done, you knock and say so: the client comes out, looks at the lawn, gives their verdict out loud (the line picked from the job's score, like Mrs. Higgins' in J2) and pays the sibling who knocked (CollectPayCommand, actor = that sibling): the agreed price − damage + tip.
• No result screen: the verdict is the feedback, then a paper receipt (the job sheet with the client's words, what was done, damage and pay) goes on grandma's calendar as the job's record; E on it opens it as a paper screen. Stars stay hidden until registration (J3).
• The tip goes to whoever collects at the door.
• Small and street clients always pay cash in hand. Once registered, big clients get an invoice instead (EC3).
• Leaving without knocking: by the end of the day the client looks for themselves and pays the business money by the next morning, with no tip.
• Until wallets (EC2), everything collected goes to the business money. With EC2 the collector splits it between the lockbox and their pocket.
• The ledger shows deposits per job, never pockets.
• Nobody home: the envelope under the mat (EC19).

The amount is today's pay; EC1's quote replaces it once EC1 lands.

Needs: none · Done when: on two instances, the guest knocks after a job, hears the client's verdict, collects the pay and the tip, the company money goes up on both screens, the receipt appears on grandma's calendar, and a job left without knocking is paid to the company by the next morning.

EC9: trades: four tiers, one machine

Economy is the most important part of the game: the mansion is the ultimate goal but not the only one, and like Schedule I, you need to make a lot of money. So there are many ways to make it, all on one machine.

The loop for every trade: do it by hand → get good → hire → automate → scale → open the next trade. The satisfying hands-on work never goes away (you pick the jobs you want to do yourself); the empire grows around it.

Every trade climbs the same four tiers, with the same machinery (quote = work minutes × rate, bookings, invoices, contracts, crews). A new trade needs new tools and a new satisfying mechanic, not a new economy: learn it once in the garden trade, it reads the same everywhere.

Tier	Who pays	Needs	Garden	Pools	Pressure washing	Windows
1. Neighbours	cash, haggled	nothing	grandma's street lawns	a family pool	a patio	a bungalow
2. Residential regulars	cash / invoice	registered company	weekly lawns, estates	weekly pool rounds	driveways, decks	monthly rounds
3. Commercial contracts	invoice, weekly contract	reputation + crews	business parks, hotel grounds	hotels, gyms	car parks, petrol stations	offices, shopfronts
4. Prestige tenders	tender won against GreenCorp	depot, licences, a track record	city parks, golf club, the stadium	the aquapark, the country club	the city plaza	the downtown tower

Each trade has its own money profile, so picking the next trade is a real management choice, not a reskin:

Trade	Kit cost	Margin	Repeat work	Weather	Role
Garden	low → high (ride-ons, fleets)	low, high volume	weekly / fortnightly	rain stops it	the backbone, first trade
Pools	medium + chemicals	good	weekly, sticky clients	rain-proof	steady income
Pressure washing	expensive machine	high per job	one-off, yearly	dry days only	the big cheques
Windows	very cheap	good	monthly rounds	rain stops it	fast, early; ladders = risk
Housekeeping	almost none	thin, all labour	weekly	indoors, rain-proof	made for crews; rainy-day work

• Diversifying is the weather hedgeRain stops mowing and windows, not pools or housekeeping (weather.md). Seasons later add winter snow clearing (EC13).
• Cross-sellingThe outdoor trades serve the same houses. The client whose lawn you mow has a pool, a dirty patio and windows; today's upsells grow into "this client buys 3 services from us". Losing a client hurts more, and GreenCorp has something to steal.
• One doc per tradeGarden in depth first (Garden trade: from grandma's street to the stadium, GA1-GA8), then windows (EC10), then pools and pressure washing up the ladder (EC11), then housekeeping (EC12).

Needs: EC3, EC4 · Done when: a second trade runs on the same quote, booking, invoice, contract and crew code as the garden, adding only its own tools and mechanic.

EC10: the windows trade

The second trade after the garden: very cheap kit, good margins, monthly rounds, fast and early; ladders are the risk (the gutters odd job, EC6, teaches them). It reuses pressure washing's dirt mask. Glass cleaning from the Vision is this trade.

EC11: pools and pressure washing up the ladder

Pools and pressure washing are already built at tiers 1-2; this takes them up to commercial contracts (hotels, gyms; car parks, petrol stations) and prestige tenders (the aquapark, the country club; the city plaza), each with its own doc.

EC12: housekeeping

Indoors, in clients' homes: a different world, mostly run by crews. Almost no kit, thin margins, all labour, weekly, rain-proof: the rainy-day work. Ironing at home is its own small trade (WE6).

EC13: the seasonal economy

When seasons are on: autumn leaves and winter snow-clearing jobs, and quiet months to save for.

EC14: the audit

When skimming gets big, the tax office finds the gap between the reviews and the books.

EC15: property

Buying houses on the street and renting them out. Offered, not chosen for now.

EC16: a mortgage on the mansion

A mortgage as an alternative to paying the mansion in cash. Offered, not chosen for now: the mansion stays a cash goal for try-hards (EC5).

EC17: stolen cash

With burglary (Leftovers from the old plans), cash at home and in pockets can be stolen; money in the bank can't. A reason to use the night deposit bag and the ATM.

EC18: a bike delivery shift

Food delivery as a full trade is parked (see Rejected); at most an evening odd job for quick cash, on a bike.

EC19: the envelope under the mat

A client who expects to be out on a booked day leaves an envelope under the mat with the agreed price (no tip); their verdict comes later by phone, depending on their temperament (J37c).

• You can troll: take the envelope and leave without mowing. It has consequences: the client calls, furious, and wants the money back; street standing (TU5) and word of mouth drop hard; that household never books again; grandma hears about it. Later, worse (EC20).

Needs: EC8, J37c · Done when: a client away on a booked day leaves an envelope with the agreed price, the verdict call follows the job, and taking the envelope without mowing brings the angry call, the drop in standing and word of mouth, and no more bookings from that house.

EC20: the police

Later: stealing (an envelope taken without the work, other crimes) can bring the police: a fine, a visit, a headline. It shares a world with burglary (EC17, IN5).

Tuning

Name	Value	Idea	What it does / why
District rate	street $24, suburbs $32, leafy $45, hills $70 an hour	EC1	the price of a work minute; richer streets pay more
Call-out fee	street $0, suburbs $0, leafy $10, hills $25	EC1	far districts cost a drive
Price rounding	to $5	EC1	quotes read like real quotes
Work minute	par seconds ÷ 2	EC1	the same 2 s per game minute as the clock
Supplies	pack price (~$18 a dose of feed or chlorine)	EC1	what the job used
Tip	up to 20% (at mood 1)	EC1	quality pays through the client's mood
Damage	flower bed $15, broken pot $20, scalp = patch mix + labour	EC1	billed at cost (full list: J13)
Unhappy client	mood < 0.35 → 10-30% discount or a free return visit	EC1	bad work costs, through the negotiation model
Late cancellation fee	$15-50 by district; regulars and weather free	EC1	a cancelled day still pays a little
Your no-show	the client lost, −1 reputation	EC1	as today
Household bill	utilities $60 + phone & internet $40 + groceries $50 per sibling, Mondays from day 8	EC1	$150 solo, $200 for two, $300 for four
Car fuel	$0.20 / $0.30 / $0.40 per travel minute (hatchback / small van / big van), both ways	EC1	m01 ≈ $6
Rent	$220 / $600 / $1,500 a week	EC1	premises, as today
Mom's envelope	$200	EC1	lasts about a week
First-week break-even	4-5 small jobs a week	EC1	tight, never stuck
Store markup	×1.4 (×1.19 with the trade card)	EC1	an emergency run costs mostly time
Difficulty, money	see the Money dial (DF1)	EC1	DF1's money axis
Dad's card	always declined; voicemail after 3 tries	EC2	the gag
Registration	$250	EC3	opens the company bank
Invoice delay	3-7 days	EC3	big clients pay the bank later
Late / never payers	1 in 10 / 1 in 50	EC3	a reminder letter, then a call / write off or collections
Rate card	×0.8 to ×1.5 per trade	EC3	price vs calls and client mix
Demand sketch	calls a week ≈ 14 × (1 / k)^2.2, at least 2; bargain hunters < ×0.95, mixed to ×1.2, rich and picky above	EC3	illustrative; EC5 sets the curve
Tax	20% of profit every 4 weeks	EC3	household bill not deductible
Bounced bill	+$25 late fee; 2nd: dad's voicemail; 3rd: power cut	EC3	broke is never game over
Loan	up to 4 weeks of average profit, 8 weekly installments, 8% total	EC3	host only, once registered
Crew	2 workers, ~$130 a day each, wages Mondays	EC4
Crew speed	~1.6× one player; 3-5 jobs a day	EC4	a crew bills ≈ 8 h × 1.6 × the district rate
Crew fuel and wear	~$60 a day	EC4
Crew margin	~35-45% (leafy ~$580 billed → ~$250 profit)	EC4	street crews barely pay
Worker skill	1-5, rises with work	EC4	quality → mood → tips, reviews, reputation
Contracts	estates $400-1,500 a week; business park ~$3,000; golf club ~$8,000; city parks ~$15,000	EC4	tenders against GreenCorp from the depot
Main arc	~70 days (~30 h)	EC5	steady player
Mansion	$2.5M cash; for sale at $500k net worth (~day 90); bought ~day 140-160 (~60 h)	EC5	the try-hard goal; Done when allows 120-170
Depot by preset	Relaxed ~day 55, Normal ~day 70, Hard ~day 90	EC5	checked by the simulator
Simulator run	160 days, steady player + try-hard	EC5
Odd jobs	$10-40, 30 min-2 h; 1-3 a day, fewer once registered	EC6	~$20-25 an hour
Ladder	$40	EC6	for gutters, then windows
Things to buy	$50 (a cap) to $250,000 (the pool house)	EC7	always a next thing
Paper ads a day	2 + 1 per extra sibling	Co-op	demand scales with the group

Co-op

Same pace, scaled.

• More siblings = more hands, but the household bill grows (+$50 a week each) and demand scales with the group: paper ads a day = 2 + 1 per extra sibling, more calls and canvassing answers. The ~70-day arc holds for 1-4 players.
• Crew and contract numbers don't change with the group size.
• Pockets belong to the save: a sibling's pocket and personal bank live in that company's save. A guest who plays in two friends' companies has two separate pockets; leaving keeps theirs for next time (PlayerData by Steam id once Steam lands).
• Nothing ticks without the host: bills, invoices and wages only roll with the host's days.
• A guest's personal debts and dreams stay in that save, and show on their avatar there.

The golden-rule checklist.

1. State: household bill, district rates, invoices, loans, tax, crews and contracts in company state; pocket and personal bank per player in PlayerData; the lockbox in company state.
2. Ownership: business money = the company (host-owned); pocket and personal bank = each sibling, changed only by commands with that actor.
3. Host-only: bills, invoices paying, tax letters, wages, crew results, loan installments (the day roll), and taking a loan. Any sibling can pay, deposit, take from the lockbox (logged with by), collect at the door and haggle.
4. Randomness: late and never-paying invoices, crew quality rolls → SimRandom(seed, day, salt) with named salts (SD2).
5. Channel: company updates (NetCompany), no new channel.
6. Packets: a few more fields, under one packet per update as today.
7. Late joiners: everything comes with the save.
8. Secrets: each sibling sees only their own pocket and personal bank (the save still holds them; the guest UI hides other siblings' amounts). The ledger never shows pockets.
9. Cinematics: none.
10. Save: see Tech.
11. Voice lines: dad's declined-card and bounced-bill voicemails, the tax letter quips, grandma's "my mower?" call.
12. Tests: see Tech, plus a two-instance run (a guest pays with their pocket at the store; the host sees the lockbox change but not the guest's pocket).

Tech

Who owns what

• Demand lives in work.md (WK1-WK6: households, channels, booking, rivals, the scarce-then-overflowing arc); the EC5 simulator needs WK1-WK4. The job visit, the offer algorithm and damage billing live in Jobs: from the phone call to the review; the damage price list in J13.
• Dials: difficulty.md (DF1). Claims and insurers: insurance.md (IN1-IN5); until then, damage stays billed at cost (EC1). The garden trade: garden.md (GA1-GA8). The clock and rides: day.md (DY1). Weather moves: weather.md.
• The tutorial: the walkable street with its ATM (TU6). The negotiation model is J7. The skimming clues and grandma's treasures wait in Leftovers from the old plans.

The code before EC1

• Income: a job pays its tasks' prices (game scale, $120-1,250 required) + a time bonus (up to $40-200) + a coverage bonus + a "contract" bonus (regular ×1.2 × haggle ×1.1/1.25) − penalties (flower $15, debris $20, clippings $0.6/cell, scalp $0.8/cell) + a tip (up to 20% at mood 1). MissionResult.cs:130-193. Today's pay per mission: m01 Parker $120 + up to $40, m03 Kowalski $370 + $80, m10 Petersens $500 + $110, m04 Nguyen $630 + $110, m09 Delacroix $680 + $150, m07 Moreau $600 + $140, m14 Lady Mossley $1,080 + $180.
• Costs are symbolic: grandma's house bills $45/week (first on day 8), mower fuel ~$0.70 a job, the car's drive uses no fuel, no return trip. Only registration ($250), tools ($45-560) and the lock-up ($1,200 + $220/week) bite.
• The long game doesn't add up: best job ~$2.4k, about one big job a day → $2.5M is ~1,000 days away; workshop, depot, ride-on and crews are all "coming soon", so nothing fills the mid and late game.
• Broke changes nothing: an overdraft only sends an "Overdraft" mail; no fees, no bounced bills.
• Small contradictions: MissionDefinition.basePay disagrees with the task sums (it only feeds the "ArriveRich" quip); requests are generated for jobs StartJobCommand then refuses (IsUnlocked, not checked by the request generator); grandma's mower can be traded in; haggle money is stored as contractBonus; reputation levels {0, 6, 15, 28, 45, 70} gate nothing; up to +4 rep per job makes registration (6) and the lock-up (10) two or three jobs away.

Code pointers

MissionResult.cs, Company*.cs, CompanyCommands.cs, BaseCommands.cs, StoreCommands.cs, Clients.cs, Dreams.cs, SaveData.cs, CompanyRecords.cs, the mission and base .asset files, HubComputer.cs, GarageUI.cs, NetCompany.cs. DY1, TU7, J37 and EC2 edit several of them.

Data and save

• Save version bump: pockets, personal bank, lockbox, company account flag, invoices, loan, tax period, crews. Migration: today's money = the lockbox (or the company bank if registered), pockets 0.
• Data version bump: district rate per mission, household bill, fuel per travel minute, wages; the difficulty multipliers in GameDatabase (DF1).

Tests

• EC1: the price formula, Mrs. Higgins = $20, household bill by sibling count, fuel both ways, no request for a locked job, discount by mood, cancellation fee by district, difficulty multipliers.
• EC2: payment sources, the declined card, migration (money → lockbox), a guest can't read another pocket.
• EC3: invoice timing, tax amount, the bounce ladder → power cut and back, the loan schedule.
• EC4: crew margin in range per district, skill growth, a missed contract visit ends the contract.
• EC5: the simulator itself (day targets per preset).
• EC8: collection by the actor who asks, uncollected pay reaching the company; two instances.

Open questions

• Districts for today's missions: the district picks for the existing missions are placeholders until each mission gets a real district (DistrictDefinition, TU6).
• Bounced bills before EC3: the household bill (EC1) can outrun the lockbox from the second week, but the bounce ladder comes with EC3. Until then an overdraft only sends a mail: move the bounce ladder into EC1, or accept the gap?
• The demand curve of the rate card is a sketch (calls a week, client mix); the EC5 simulator decides it.

Rejected

• The time and coverage bonuses paid as money: finishing fast is rewarded by fitting another job in the day; stars and reputation keep rewarding par.
• A ×1.2 bonus for regular clients: regulars get a steady price instead, and you get guaranteed visits.
• The flat $45 house bill: too symbolic to matter; replaced by the household bill per sibling.
• Paying for grandma's garden: she's family; she pays in biscuits.
• Mom bailing you out when broke: her envelope and gifts stay story beats.
• Difficulty changeable later: locked at new game (DF1).
• Food delivery as a trade: it needs driving (rides are autopilot, DY2) and isn't a property service (no shared clients, no contracts). At most a bike shift (EC18).