Using SAM well

SAM is pinned to the bottom-right corner of every screen on Pro and Bespoke. It is given the project you are looking at — programme, tasks, snags, documents, diary, inspections — and answers from that rather than from the internet. Before your first project, it's there too, answering questions about SiteScope itself from these guides.

What it can see

Two sources, and the difference matters if you are wondering why an answer is what it is.

• A snapshot of the project sent with your question — the stages, recent tasks, snags, milestones, documents, inspections, certificates and messages. It is capped, newest first, and says so when it has left things out.
• Search tools that query the live database. These are the authority, and SAM uses them whenever it needs a specific record and always before proposing a change.

It also searches this documentation, so "how do I invite a client?" and "what goes in the handover pack?" get an answer with a link, not a guess. That makes it the first place to ask when you're stuck: if the guides don't cover it either, it says so and gives you our support address rather than making something up.

Where to find it

• The corner of every screen. It opens over whatever page you're on, already looking at that project.
• Ask SAM in the sidebar, or in the menu on a phone.
• The Help page, under the ? at the top: type a question there and SAM opens with the answer.
• A project's assistant page, for a longer conversation full-screen.

Questions worth asking

• "What's left before we can book the pre-plaster inspection?"
• "Which tasks are due in the next two weeks?"
• "Which snags are still open, and who is on them?"
• "What did we agree with the client about the kitchen worktops?"
• "What's blocked, and what's blocking it?"
• "Summarise the last fortnight for the client update."
• "How do I change my plan?" — or anything else about using SiteScope.

The pattern is: questions about this specific job that you would otherwise answer by opening four tabs. It is not a search engine and it is not a surveyor.

Making changes

Ask it to change something and you get a proposal, not a change. A card appears naming the record as the database has it — resolved from the id, not from what SAM thought you meant — and nothing happens until you tap Confirm.

What it can propose:

• Set a task's status, assign it, tick a checklist item, create a task
• Set a snag's status, create a snag
• Create a stage, set stage progress, tick a milestone
• Post a message to the project thread — you can edit the wording on the card first
• Raise a change for the client to approve, with your reply and a draft invoice, all on one card (account owners and admins)
• Issue the invoice for a change the client has approved (account owners and admins)

What it deliberately cannot do at all: delete anything, send invitations, change roles, change the plan, or approve documents. Those stay decisions a person makes in the interface.

When SAM offers to help

SAM doesn't only wait to be asked. For account owners and admins it reads what your clients post on the project thread and notices what needs doing, then offers — in a small card above the SAM button, wherever you are in the app, and as a button under the message itself:

1. 1

   Your client writes

   “Could we have a solid oak worktop instead of the laminate?” The card appears: “Chris asked for a change — wants a solid oak worktop instead of the laminate.”

2. 2

   Tap Price it for me

   SAM asks what you'd charge, before VAT, and whether it adds any days. Answer in your own words: “£850, adds a day”.

3. 3

   Check the card

   It lists everything it will do: raise the change at £850, send it to Chris to approve, post your reply with the link to approve it, and draft the invoice. Your reply is in a box — change any of it.

4. 4

   Confirm

   All four happen. Chris gets the change to approve in SiteScope and your reply, and the invoice waits as a draft, so you never bill for something that wasn't agreed.

5. 5

   When Chris approves

   SAM offers to issue the invoice. Confirm, and it goes out under your own invoice numbers.

Not now puts a card away until you next open SiteScope; the cross dismisses it for good. A question you've already answered on the thread stops being offered by itself. Reading messages for offers uses a small, cheap model and counts toward your monthly SAM allowance like everything else. Clients, employees and subcontractors never see offers — the changes they lead to are an owner's or admin's to make.

Getting better answers

• Name things as they appear in the project. "Order kitchen units" beats "the kitchen thing".
• One change per message. Ask for three and you will get the first, plus a note about the rest.
• Give it the detail you want used. It will not invent a due date or a priority, and an unset field is better than a wrong one.
• Clear the thread when you change subject. The conversation is context; a stale one costs tokens and can confuse an answer.
• If an answer fails, tap Try again. SAM says when it couldn't get an answer, and nothing was changed. The failed attempt isn't kept in the conversation.

What it costs, and what stops it

SAM is included in Pro and Bespoke. Underneath, usage is measured — not estimated — from what the model provider actually charges, and three things keep it bounded:

Settings → Plans shows the tokens used this month and how much of the allowance that is. It isn't something you set or pay extra for — if an account genuinely needs more, email support.

When it gets something wrong

It will, occasionally. Every reply carries a reminder that answers come from project data and can be wrong. Two habits make that manageable:

1. 1.Treat an answer as a pointer, not a fact, for anything you would act on without checking — dates a client is relying on, or anything with money attached.
2. 2.Read the proposal card rather than the sentence above it. The card is what will actually happen.

It is not giving structural, legal or building-regulations advice, and it is told to say so rather than have a go.