22 May Release — Allowances, Contingency, ServiceM8 + Ascora

Krishna here. Quick one — we've shipped three new tools for the parts of a job where the scope or price isn't fully locked down, plus our ServiceM8 and Ascora integrations are now out the door, and the Auto / Quick / Thorough mode picker we wired in last week is now switched on for everyone.

Quick note: we ship every day. This article covers the major stuff worth knowing about. If you're unsure how anything works, ask Sammy in chat — he can walk you through it step by step.

Here's what's new.

Provisional Sums and Prime Cost Items

For the parts of a job where you can't commit to a fixed price at quoting time, you've now got two proper line types.

A Provisional Sum is for work you can't fully scope. Asbestos removal where you don't know what's behind the wall yet. Earthworks on unknown ground. Piering through soil of uncertain bearing capacity. You allow a number, name what the allowance covers, and reconcile against actual cost when the work's done.

A Prime Cost Item is for a product your client hasn't picked yet. Tapware, appliances, tiles, light fittings, vanities. You leave a budget, name the spec ("chrome single-lever mixer, client to select"), and reconcile when they choose.

Both types are extracted from the body of your proposal and shown in a separate Schedule of Allowances appendix, which is what NSW, VIC and QLD residential renovation contracts are legally required to do anyway. You set the disclosed margin you'll charge on reconciliation, either per estimate, per line, or as a profile-wide default in Settings → AI.

Mark a line as PS or PC by hovering over it in the estimate editor — a dashed + Allowance chip appears at the end of the qty/rate row. Tap it, pick the type, fill in the scope description (PS) or product spec (PC). Or ask Sammy in chat: "Add a $5,000 provisional sum for asbestos removal" or "Leave $400 for the kitchen mixer, client choosing."

Full walkthrough: Provisional Sums, Prime Costs and Contingency.

Contingency

Contingency is a buffer for everything else that might come up on the job. New estimate-level setting in the Financials panel of the estimate editor, with three modes.

Internal — adds the percentage to every line price proportionally. Your client sees slightly higher rates but never the word "contingency". Your bottom-line total still ties out cleanly even with line-level pricing showing on the proposal. This is the right mode for residential where the contingency conversation gets awkward fast.

Advisory — your line prices stay exactly as quoted; the proposal adds a separate Recommended Reserve section telling the client to hold X% as their own buffer. Common for commercial tenders where the client expects to manage their own contingency.

None — no contingency applied. Default.

In chat: "Add a 6% buffer to the whole estimate" — Sammy applies Internal. "Recommend the client holds 10% in reserve" — Sammy applies Advisory. If you just say "add a contingency" without specifying, Sammy will pause and ask which one you want, with a quick explanation of the difference.

The full walkthrough lives in the Provisional Sums, Prime Costs and Contingency guide alongside PS and PC.

ServiceM8 Integration

If you run ServiceM8, Sammy now connects directly.

Hook it up in Settings → Integrations with one click — log in via OAuth, no fiddly API keys to copy across. Then hit Send to ServiceM8 on any estimate to push it across as a Quote. Your client is matched on first push or auto-created if they don't exist yet. Every line item lands with its quantity and rate, your scope of work is carried over into both the Job and Quote descriptions, and Contact First / Last populate from the Sammy client name.

Change something and need to re-push? Hit the button again — Sammy creates a fresh, updated Job. The old one stays put in ServiceM8 untouched so you've got history.

One quirk worth knowing: ServiceM8 sometimes flashes a cosmetic "Price of some items have changed — Apply Changes" banner after a push. Ignore it. Don't tap Apply Changes. Sammy's pricing is right; the banner is a ServiceM8 UI artefact that doesn't reflect any real difference.

Full setup walkthrough: ServiceM8 integration guide.

Ascora Integration

Same story for Ascora users. Paste your API key in Settings → Integrations, choose a default Job Type, and you're away.

Hit Push to Ascora on any estimate and it lands as a Sections-pricing Quotation. Every line item is included, GST is handled by Ascora, your scope of work goes in the Quote description, and the Sammy proposal PDF is attached to the Quotation automatically.

Status changes flow back to Sammy via webhook — when you mark a Quote as Sent to Customer inside Ascora, the chip on the Sammy estimate updates within seconds. No refresh button needed.

One thing to know: Ascora already syncs to Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks on its own. So if you've got Sammy → Xero turned on, Sammy will ask you to disconnect that first to avoid duplicate invoices landing in your accounting package. You can still use Ascora alongside ServiceM8 or Simpro without issue.

Full setup walkthrough: Ascora integration guide.

Pick how Sammy thinks: Auto, Quick, or Thorough

We rolled this one out gradually over the last week and it's now switched on for everyone. Next to the Create estimate button you'll see a new mode picker.

By default it sits on Auto — Sammy reads the brief, classifies the job, and picks the right approach. New builds, ground-floor and second-storey additions, full-house renovations, and commercial fit-outs / new builds automatically route through our heavier Thorough path: a short clarifying loop, a strategy you can approve before generating, and a phase-by-phase build so nothing falls through the cracks. Everything else stays on the fast, single-shot path.

Noticed certain jobs are coming in light? Flip the picker to Thorough on those briefs. You'll get the clarifying questions, the strategy approval step, and the per-phase decomposition — same treatment the big jobs get automatically. Right lever any time the Auto-mode quote feels under-cooked for the scope.

The opposite case: if Sammy's putting one of your jobs through Thorough and you'd rather stay on the quick path you've been pricing successfully, flip the picker to Quick. That forces the fast single-shot generator.

For the full breakdown — when to use what, what runs through each path — see Choosing a generation mode.

Improvements

• Long Thorough generations now persist as they go. A mid-flight network drop no longer torches your work — you pick up where Sammy was, with the phases that already succeeded still in place.
• "Not processed" badge on documents. If a document silently fails to process (corrupted PDF, format we can't handle yet), you'll now see a "Not processed" badge in the document tray instead of being left in the dark.
• Resolve risks from chat. Risks identified during Thorough-mode planning — things like "soil class unconfirmed" or "asbestos suspected" — can now be resolved straight from the chat panel without re-running the strategy step.

As always, hit us with a message if you've got feedback or ideas — I read every single one.

Cheers,

Krishna