You didn't get into building
to do admin.

But here you are, buried in it. Sam is an admin hire that catches what slips and gets the work ready for you to approve. You get paid for all the work you do, and your nights back.

Sam

Projects

Kitchen Retrofit 3
Office Fit-out 2
Parkside Reno 1

Priority feed

6 items

Across 3 projects · Updated 2 min ago

Approval Marble benchtop quote — $14,200

Kitchen Retrofit · Stone & Surface Co · 25 min ago

Review
Overdue Electrician, no response 5 days

Office Fit-out · Sparks Electrical · Chased twice, still quiet

Chase
Variation Structural steel, est. $4,200

Kitchen Retrofit · Detected from engineer email

Reply needed Client re: tile selections

Parkside Reno · 2 hrs ago

Approval Plumber claim, $3,800

Office Fit-out · 4 hrs ago

Follow-up Cabinetry quote, 3 days overdue

Parkside Reno · Reminder set

Back to feed
Approval

Marble benchtop quote — $14,200

Stone & Surface Co · Kitchen Retrofit · Quote #Q-4821

Sam’s plan

1

Email Stone & Surface confirming approval

From your mailbox · Draft ready for review

2

Update budget tracker in Google Sheets

Kitchen Retrofit — Budget Tracker · Row 14

3

Log approval note in AroFlo

Job #KR-2024 · Supplier approval record

Approve all Edit plan

Sam is working

Marble benchtop — approval actions

3 actions across email, Google Sheets, and AroFlo

Email sent to Stone & Surface

Confirmation of $14,200 approval · Sent from your mailbox

RE: Quote #Q-4821 — Marble Benchtops — Approved
We’re happy to approve quote #Q-4821 for $14,200 for the Calacatta marble benchtops…

Budget tracker updated

Kitchen Retrofit — Google Sheets · Status: Approved, Amount: $14,200

Logging in AroFlo

Adding approval note to Job #KR-2024

All done

  • Email sent to Stone & Surface Co
  • Budget tracker updated in Google Sheets
  • Approval logged in AroFlo

Completed in 8 seconds · Next item: Electrician follow-up

HEY Sam

Or just ask Sam to start the work

Quote the Henderson slab, 400m² with mesh
Pulling supplier prices and your past jobs…
Henderson Slab · Quote
Reinforcement mesh ×40$2,240
Concrete 400m²$12,000
Pour + pump hire$4,200
Total$18,440
Drafted from live pricing. Send to AroFlo?

Ask anything

Answers from your own documents

What’s the concrete grade for the slab?

Sam

32 MPa at 28 days, 100mm slump, 20mm aggregate. The spec and the structural drawings agree.

Spec 03.30 · p.14 Drawing S-04 Head Contract · cl. 9.2
1 Feed 2 Review 3 Execute 4 Done 5 HEY Sam 6 Ask
Watch

Works with the tools you've already got.

AroFlo BuildXact Microsoft 365 Google Workspace Xero
The real cost

Software doesn't cost you.
The admin work around it does.

Some of the work goes into your tools. The rest lives in inboxes, spreadsheets, and someone's head. What costs you is the time, attention, and follow-through it takes to run admin across every job, every day. The stuff that slips usually falls between your tools, not inside any one of them.

Variations vanish

Variations land over email. Nobody jots them into the register. They get buried in the inbox, forgotten, never invoiced. Revenue disappears.

Emails bury what matters

10–20 actionable emails a day. A phone call interrupts and that quote request sits unanswered for a week. The only safeguard is someone's memory.

Subbies go quiet

You send a quote request. No response. Nobody chases. The job stalls. If there's no structured reminder, the request just dies.

The office can't keep up

Quotes go out late. Invoices sit unraised. The office burns its day reconciling status across five systems by hand instead of moving the work forward.

It's your word against theirs

The change came in over email, got a quick yes, then buried itself in a thread nobody logged. When the client says they never approved it, you're scrolling your inbox to prove it. You wear the cost.

Admin eats your nights

You finish on site, then start again at the kitchen table. The quotes, the invoices, the emails that didn't fit in the day. Hours every week, on top of a full day, that nobody pays you for.

What you're up against

Two halves of the admin job.
Both never stop.

Every day, two streams of admin run through your business. The work that comes at you, and the work you have to start. Every bit that slips costs you.

Reactive Responding to what's coming in
Responding to emails and requests Following up subcontractors Client requests for information Handling variations and change orders Council and compliance queries Scheduling conflicts and rescheduling trades Defect and warranty requests Supplier order issues Site access and safety incidents
Proactive Keeping jobs moving forward
Quoting Sending invoices Progress claims and payment schedules Scheduling trades and deliveries Ordering materials ahead of stage starts Sending progress updates to clients Chasing outstanding payments Preparing contracts and scope documents Booking inspections Licence and insurance renewal tracking End-of-stage documentation and sign-offs
Meet Sam

An admin teammate for
every person on the job.

Sam plugs into the email and tools you already use. Nothing to migrate, no install, and nothing sends without your okay. One platform, and everything below plugs into it.

Start your day

A morning brief, before you're on the tools

What landed overnight, what moved across the business, what got approved. Sam pulls it into one short brief each morning: what happened, and the few things that actually need you today. Your own personal view, not the whole company's.

Today
Monday brief3 to do

Morning Dave. The Henderson slab quote needs sign-off, the sparky confirmed for Monday, and a new variation came in on the Office Fit-out.

Top to-dos

Approve marble benchtop quote · $14,200
Call the building inspector back

New updates

Sparky confirmed for Monday
Approval

Marble benchtop quote · $14,200

Kitchen Retrofit · 25 min ago

Overdue

Electrician, no reply 5 days

Office Fit-out

Variation

Structural steel · est. $4,200

Detected from engineer email

Your daily list

Every email and issue that needs you, triaged across every project

Sam reads every email, job and supplier thread across all your projects and works out what actually needs you. Ranked by urgency, and by where each project sits in its stage. You see the short list, and you see where everything is up to.

Henderson Slab · Quote

Mesh ×40$2,240
Concrete 400m²$12,000
Total$18,440
ApproveEdit

Drafted, you just say yes

Replies, actions and smart quotes

Sam drafts the reply and builds the quote off real supplier and Bunnings pricing, every line costed. Approve it and Sam updates your systems for you, logging the variation in AroFlo and writing it into your spreadsheets. No copying it across by hand.

HEY Sam
Chase the slab quote from Stone & Surface
Found the thread · drafting

Re: Henderson slab quote

Hi team, just following up on the quote for the Henderson slab. Are you able to get that across this week?

Drafted and ready. Send it?

Say the word

Tell Sam what you need, by voice or text

"Chase the slab quote." "Book the framing inspection." Sam works across your email, jobs and suppliers to get it done, and shows you the draft before anything sends.

What's the concrete grade for the slab?

Sam

32 MPa at 28 days, 100mm slump, 20mm aggregate. The spec and the structural drawings agree.

Spec 03.30 · p.14 Drawing S-04 Head Contract · cl. 9.2

Knows your whole job

Ask anything across your project documents

Every email, plan, spec and contract, read and searchable, right down to scanned drawings. Ask Sam a question and get the answer with the exact document and page behind it.

Built around your business

Sam learns how your jobs
actually run, then pushes them through.

Sam knows your team and your process: who owns which projects, where each job sits, and the stages it moves through. Not a generic pipeline, yours. So nothing stalls between the people who have to move it.

Who owns what
YouBuilder / owner
MiaProject manager
DaveOffice admin
Where each job sits
Kitchen RetrofitYou · On site
Office Fit-outMia · Quote
Henderson SlabDave · Invoiced
Your stages, not a template
Lead
Quote
Won
On site
Invoiced
Closed

Sam moves each job to its next stage, and tells the right person the moment it needs them.

Everyone has a Sam

Every person on your team gets their own Sam

Sam isn't one shared assistant for the whole business. Each Sam plugs into one person's personal email, their calendar, the jobs on their plate. The personal admin assistant they've been needing. Two of you, two Sams. Thirty of you, thirty Sams.

The builder / owner

Your Sam runs the admin you don't have time for

Time you'd rather spend on the build.

  • Drafts replies from your inbox
  • Catches variations before they slip
  • Chases subbies who go quiet

The office admin / manager

Your Sam is the second pair of hands you've been asking for

The proactive work that never ends, handled.

  • Prepares invoices and progress claims
  • Sends client progress updates
  • Books inspections, tracks renewals

The project manager

Your Sam keeps every job from slipping

Multiple jobs in motion, nothing falls through.

  • Priority feed across your projects
  • Subcontractor follow-ups by job
  • Risk flagging before the day starts

The maths

One $5,000 variation caught. Sam pays for itself for the year.

And the part no invoice shows: your nights back.

FAQ

Questions people ask us

No. Sam plugs into the tools you're already using: AroFlo, BuildXact, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Xero. Nothing to migrate, no retraining. And if you don't have a job management platform yet (or want a free one), Footing comes free with every Sam subscription.

Those are systems of record. They store your jobs, quotes, and invoices, when you remember to log them. In reality most of the work lives in email, spreadsheets, drive, and someone's memory. Sam works with the data where it actually lives, not where it's supposed to be. It reads your inbox, drafts replies, updates the spreadsheets, chases subbies, and keeps the job software in sync. They hold the data; Sam does the coordination.

Because a chatbot starts from a blank box every time. Sam already knows your business: your jobs, your clients, your prices, your suppliers, and how you like things done. It works inside your real inbox and tools, watching what comes in and teeing up the next step on its own. You're not copying emails into a chat window and re-explaining your business every time you need something done.

No. Never. Sam drafts everything and waits. Nothing gets sent, updated, or logged without you tapping approve. Every action is logged, every approval is yours. If that ever changes, you'll be the one to change it.

No. Days, not months. Connect your email and tools, Sam starts building project context immediately. No data migration, no manual setup, no retraining your team. You'll see drafts the first week.

Gmail, Outlook, Google Sheets, Excel, AroFlo, Xero, and Google Drive. More integrations are added based on what our pilot builders use. Sam also pairs with Footing, our open-source job management platform, included free with every Sam subscription.

Sam works fine with AroFlo, BuildXact, Xero, and the tools you've got. But those platforms have their own limits on what an outside system can touch. On Footing, Sam runs the whole job: quoting, scheduling, invoicing, getting paid. No third-party platform sitting between Sam and the work. Footing is open-source and comes free with every Sam subscription when it launches. Not required. There if you want it.

All of you, in different ways. Builders log variations and chase trades on the go. Office managers keep emails, spreadsheets, and AroFlo in sync from the desk. Directors and project leads spot blockers before they cost a day on site. Same Sam, different jobs.

A fraction of what a part-time admin costs, scaled to your team size and active projects. Book a 15-min demo and we'll talk through what makes sense for you. No obligation.

Yes. Scoped permissions, short-lived credentials, and full audit logging, so every action Sam takes is recorded. That cuts both ways in your favour: you've always got a clean record of what was agreed and when, which is the difference between winning and losing a "he said, she said" dispute over a variation. Your data stays in your region.

Always. Email Kosta directly at kosta@folkware.com.au. No assistant, no chatbot. You'll hear back from the founder.

From the founder

There are plenty of tools for construction. You've probably got five of them. And things still slip through the cracks.

We spoke to builders who spend half their day on admin. Not because they're disorganised, but because the work is fragmented across five different systems and nobody's watching all of them at once.

Sam isn't another piece of construction software. It's a personal admin hire for every person on your team, at a fraction of the cost.

Sam doesn't replace your tools. Every Sam plugs into your inbox, your jobs, and the systems you already use, and runs the coordination work that currently depends on your memory. You review and approve. Sam handles the rest.

The point of all of it: you get paid for everything you do, you look reliable doing it, and you stop bringing admin home at night.

Got a question, a worry, or a workflow we haven't thought of? Email me directly at kosta@folkware.com.au. No assistant, no chatbot, no support queue. I read every one and I write back.

Kosta
Kosta Canatselis

Kosta Canatselis, kosta@folkware.com.au

Founder of Folkware, makers of Sam

Get paid for everything.
Get your nights back.

Book a 15-min demo. We'll look at your workflow and show you where Sam would help, for you and every person on your team. One Sam each.

No commitment. No sales deck. Just a conversation about your admin.