How Sammy Gets Pricing
Sammy generates pricing for your estimates using a combination of industry knowledge and your custom settings. Here's how it works.
Base Pricing Knowledge
Sammy has been trained on a broad corpus of Australian trade information, including:
- Industry standard rates – Typical labour rates for different trades
- Material costs – Common pricing for building materials
- Regional variations – How pricing differs across Australian locations
- Trade practices – Standard approaches to different types of work
This gives Sammy a solid foundation for generating realistic estimates, even before you add any custom settings.
How Your Settings Improve Pricing
Sammy's base knowledge is a starting point. Your custom settings make estimates more accurate and tailored to your business.
Trade Settings
Your trade type, finish level, and location help Sammy:
- Apply appropriate rates for your specific trade
- Adjust for premium vs standard finishes
- Factor in location-based pricing differences
Rate Rules
When you add rate rules, Sammy uses your actual rates instead of industry averages. For example:
- Without rate rule: Sammy estimates an electrician at $90/hour based on industry data
- With rate rule: Sammy uses your specific rate of $105/hour
Rate rules override Sammy's base pricing for both labour and materials.
AI Instructions
Your custom instructions guide how Sammy approaches estimates:
- Include specific allowances (waste, contingency, etc.)
- Prefer certain brands or quality levels
- Add standard items you always include
Supplier Data
After reconciling with your suppliers:
- Material costs reflect your actual purchase prices
- No more guessing – you're using real data
The Pricing Hierarchy
When generating an estimate, Sammy applies pricing in this order:
- Your rate rules – If you've set a specific rate, it's used first
- Supplier pricing – For reconciled items with supplier matches
- AI instructions – Any pricing guidance you've provided
- Base knowledge – Industry data as a fallback
The more you customise, the less Sammy relies on base knowledge.
Why Prices Might Differ from Your Expectations
If Sammy's pricing seems off, consider:
- No rate rules set – Sammy is using industry averages, not your rates
- Different finish level – Check if Standard is selected when you do Premium work
- Location differences – Your postcode affects pricing assumptions
- Missing context – More job detail helps Sammy price accurately
- Wrong generation mode for the job – Big multi-trade jobs (additions, new builds, full-house renos, commercial fit-outs) need the thorough planning path to be priced properly. If those job types keep coming in light, flip the generation mode picker next to the Create estimate button to Thorough. If a smaller job has been routed through the thorough path and you trust your existing pricing, flip it to Quick. See Choosing a Generation Mode.
Improving Estimate Accuracy
To get the most accurate estimates:
- Set up your trade customisation – Tell Sammy what trade you're in and where you work
- Add rate rules – Enter your actual labour and material rates
- Upload supplier lists – Use real costs from your suppliers
- Write detailed descriptions – More detail means better estimates
- Review and adjust – Refine estimates with Sammy's help
Over time, as you add more rules and supplier data, estimates become increasingly accurate to your business.