Tracking what a job actually costs

When a client accepts your quote, Sammy keeps what your quote said the job would cost you as the job's budget. As you buy materials, pay subbies and put in hours on site, add them to the job. Sammy shows you what you've spent against what you quoted, line by line, so you can see early if a job is running over. This is what tradies call back costing.

What the top of the job shows#

Open the job from Projects. The Money out card shows the job's budget cost in large figures, with a bar under it.

• Budget cost is what your quote said the job would cost you: your materials, labour, subbies and other costs, before your markup. It's not the price the client pays.
• Spent is everything you've added to the job so far, with the percentage of the budget you've used. Left in budget is what's still to go.
• Once you're over, the extra shows in red as Over, with the amount.
• Under that, each type of cost (materials, labour, subbies, other) shows what you've spent against what you quoted for it, like $2,140 of $7,690. A type that's over shows in red. A cost your quote didn't plan for says not in the quote.

Tap Costs at the bottom of the card to jump to the job's costs.

All of these figures leave GST out, the same as the costs in your quote. If the client accepts a variation, its costs are added to the budget too. See Raising a variation when the job changes.

The Costs section#

Further down the job is Costs. It lists the sections from your quote, with three figures on each:

Tap a section to see its lines and the costs on each one. Sections that came from a variation start with the variation number, like V01 · Extra power points.

A line that's under budget isn't shown in green. Usually it just means that part of the job isn't finished yet.

Add a cost#

1. On the job, go to Costs, tap + Log costs and choose what kind of cost it is: Materials, Subbie or Other. Labour hire, or a casual who sends you an invoice, is Subbie. Your own crew's time is Labour (see Log hours on site), so the hours count against your quote. You can also tap Actions (on a computer it's in the bottom-right corner), then Log a cost, and pick the type in the form.
2. Under What was it?, type a short description, like "Tiles" or "Skip bin".
3. In Amount, type the figure from the docket. Sammy assumes it includes GST (that's what most dockets show). If it doesn't, tap ex GST. If there's no GST on it at all, tap GST-free. Sammy shows the amount without GST underneath, so you can check it.
4. Check the Date, and add the Supplier if you like.
5. To put the cost against part of your quote, tap Line and choose a line or a whole section. You can search the quote's lines. You can also leave it off.
6. Add a Note if there's anything worth remembering.
7. Tap Save cost.

The cost appears on its line, and the section and total update straight away. A message with Undo shows for a few seconds in case you tapped by mistake.

If the cost looks like one you've already added (the same amount from the same supplier within a week), Sammy says so. That's just a heads-up: if they're two separate dockets, keep both.

To add a cost straight onto one line, open its section in the Costs table, tap the line and choose its type. Tap a section's name to open or close it.

Log hours on site#

1. On the job, go to Costs, tap + Log costs and choose Labour (it's also under Actions as Log labour). To log hours against one line, tap the line in the Costs table and choose Labour.
2. Check the Date.
3. Under Hours, tap 4, 8 or 10, or type the hours.
4. Under Who, add who was on site, like "Dave and Mick". Sammy suggests names you've used before, and your team members.
5. Pick a Line or phase if you like, and add a note under What got done.
6. Tap Save hours.

The hours land under labour, with the hours and what they cost you.

If your crew logs their hours from the job card, you don't need to log them again here. See Costs from your crew.

The hourly rate Sammy uses#

The Rate row shows the hourly cost Sammy will use and where it came from, like $68/hr · from your quote's labour lines. Sammy works it out in this order:

1. A rate you've set on this job.
2. The labour lines in your quote.
3. Your default labour cost in Simpro or Ascora, if you're connected.

If there's nothing to work it out from, Sammy asks: "Sammy needs an hourly cost to work this out." Type your Hourly cost and it's saved on the job for next time.

To use a different rate, tap Change next to the rate. Older entries keep the rate they were saved with.

This is what the hours cost you (wages and on-costs), not what you charge the client. Log time in hours: for a full day, tap 8.

Upload a receipt#

1. On the job, go to Costs, tap + Log costs and choose Upload invoice or receipt (it's also under Actions).
2. On your phone, choose Take photo, Choose from library or Choose files. On a computer, pick the file. Sammy takes a photo (JPG or PNG) or a PDF, up to 20 MB.
3. Sammy reads the receipt. This takes about ten seconds.
4. Sammy shows Check the receipt with what he read: the supplier, the Date, the Total, the GST on the receipt and the Type. The total is set to inc GST when the receipt prints a total with GST in it. If it only prints a total without GST, it's set to ex GST, and a GST-free receipt is set to GST-free. GST on the receipt only shows while the total is inc GST. Fix anything that's wrong.
5. If you see By line and One cost at the top, choose one (see below for when they show).
6. With One cost, check What was it? and the Line Sammy thinks the receipt belongs to, or pick a different line. With By line, check where each item goes.
7. Tap Save cost, or Save 6 costs with By line (the button counts them).

Sammy copies the figures printed on the receipt. If you leave the GST blank, Sammy works it out as one eleventh of the total (in New Zealand, as 15% GST).

If the receipt mentions a different job number, Sammy warns you so you can check it's for this job.

If Sammy can't read the receipt (a blurry photo, say), the Add a cost form opens with the file attached. Fill in the details yourself, including the type, and save.

To put a receipt straight onto one line, tap the line in the Costs table and choose Upload invoice or receipt. Sammy keeps the whole receipt on that line as one cost, whatever he reads off it.

To look at a receipt later, tap its cost and choose Open receipt.

By line or one cost#

When a receipt has two or more items with a price, the job has a quote, and you didn't upload it from a line, you'll see two choices at the top of Check the receipt:

• By line adds each item on the receipt as its own cost, on its own line of your quote. This is where Sammy starts. Use it for a supplier invoice that covers several parts of the job, like the recorder, hard drive and brackets for the cameras and the sensors for the alarm.
• One cost adds the whole receipt as one cost on one line. Use it for a small docket you don't need broken up.

Either way, every cost keeps the receipt attached.

If the items add up to more than the total, the choices are greyed out and the receipt stays as one cost (see below).

Check where each item goes#

With By line, Where each line goes lists each item as it's printed on the receipt, with its amount and the line of your quote Sammy has picked for it.

• Sammy matches each item by its words and its price. When an item's price is within a cent of what your quote has for a line, and they share a word or two, he puts it on that line even if the supplier words it differently, like "NVR 8CH" for "8-Channel Network Video Recorder". You'll see Sammy's match and how sure he is.
• He looks at lines of the same type as the receipt first, so a materials receipt goes on your materials lines. If your quote has no lines of that type, he looks at all of them.
• To change one, tap its line and pick another line or a whole section. Leave it on Not on a line or section and it goes into Unallocated.
• Freight and delivery are added as costs too, but they usually aren't a line in your quote. Pick a line for them or leave them in Unallocated.
• Items at $0, like a serial number line, are left out.

A few cents either way is just rounding: Sammy allows about a cent for each item, plus one. Within that, the items count as adding up to the total.

If the items come to less than the receipt's total by more than that (Sammy couldn't read a line, say, or there's a surcharge at the bottom), you'll see a Rest of the receipt row for the difference, without GST. Pick a line for it, or leave it in Unallocated. It changes as you fix the total or the GST.

If the items add up to more than the total by more than that, there's usually a discount on the receipt. Sammy can't share a discount out between the items, so that receipt stays as one cost. A receipt with more than 50 items is one cost too, and the Rest of the receipt row counts as one of them.

After you save, the costs land on their lines and a message shows how much was added across how many costs, with Undo for a few seconds. Undo tries to take back every cost from that receipt. If one can't be removed, Sammy tells you, and the costs still in the table are the ones left. Remove those from their own menus.

From then on each cost is its own: edit or remove one and the others stay. They all open the same receipt. Costs from one receipt that sit on the same line can show in any order.

Save the prices to your suppliers#

When Sammy reads prices for the items on a receipt, a tick box sits above the save button:

• Save 6 prices to Harbour Trade Supplies in your suppliers, when you already have that supplier. It's ticked for you.
• Add Harbour Trade Supplies as a supplier and save 6 prices, when you don't. Tick it if you'd like Sammy to set the supplier up.

Sammy saves what you paid for one of each item, without GST, so your next quotes use your real prices. If the item's already in that supplier he updates its price, and if it isn't he adds it. Freight, delivery and discounts aren't saved as prices. The box follows the supplier name on the form: if you fix the name, the prices go to the supplier you typed.

The message after you save says how many prices were saved, and supplier added when Sammy set one up. If it says Couldn't save the prices to your suppliers, your costs are still saved, so don't add the receipt again. You can add the prices to the supplier yourself. See Adding suppliers.

This works the same with By line and One cost.

Costs from your crew#

Your crew can send what they did from the job card link: their hours, the parts they bought and photos of the dockets. When you approve their update on the job, its hours and materials are added here as costs. Tap one and the top of its menu says From a crew update. Check and fix them before you approve, the same as anything else. See Letting your crew log what they did.

What "Unallocated" means#

A cost you didn't put against a line or section shows at the bottom of the table as Unallocated, one row for each type, tagged like the lines (MATERIALS, LABOUR, SUBBIE or OTHER). It still counts in the job's total spent. It just isn't counted against any one line. To move it onto a line, edit the cost and pick the line. A receipt you send Sammy goes on the line it matches, and you see which on his card before you approve it.

Fix or remove a cost#

Tap a cost to see what the row leaves out (the hours and rate, the supplier, who added it and where it came from), and to:

• Edit it. The form opens with the amount as you entered it.
• Open receipt, if it has one.
• Remove it. You get an Undo for a few seconds.

When a job goes over budget#

Sammy lets you know when a job reaches 90% of its budget cost and again if it goes over. That's for the whole job and for each type of cost (like labour or materials). You also hear when a section of the job goes over. Each one comes once, in the app, by email and on your phone. Tap it to go straight to the job's costs.

To change how you get these, go to Settings, then Notifications, and look under Jobs.

Working in a team#

On a team account, anyone in the team who can open the job can see its costs and add to them. Tap a cost someone else added and it says Added by and their name. Over-budget alerts go to the person who owns the job.

A job without a quote#

If you logged a won job without a quote, there's no budget to compare against. Sammy just lists the costs you add, and each one shows its type. A do-and-charge job works the same way: you see what you've spent, and what you bill is on its work-done sheet. See Logging a do-and-charge job.

Good to know#

• The budget is the quote the client accepted. If you change the estimate afterwards, the job's budget doesn't move.
• Costs stay in Sammy. They're never shown to your client.

Related articles#

• Running a job: contract, plan and status
• Raising a variation when the job changes
• Payment schedules and progress claims
• Managing your notifications