Setup and help guide

BuildScope for Xero

Build the Scope of Works in BuildScope, then send it to Xero as a draft quote with your line items, your GST and the PDF attached. This page covers the whole thing, start to finish.

It stops at draft, on purpose. BuildScope creates the quote and leaves it sitting in Xero for you to check. It never sends the quote, never emails your client and never raises an invoice. Nothing reaches your customer unless you send it yourself.

01 Connect Xero

In BuildScope go to Account, then the Integrations tab, and click Connect on the Xero card. You sign in on Xero's own site and approve the access there.

Only an owner or admin on the BuildScope side can do this, and you need the rights to authorise apps on the Xero side. If you run the business, that is you.

BuildScope never sees your Xero password. The whole handshake happens on Xero, and you can withdraw access at any time from either end.

02 Pick the right organisation

If your Xero login covers more than one organisation, BuildScope asks which one to quote into and waits until you choose. It will not guess.

Once it is set, the card tells you where quotes are going, for example "Quoting into Smith Building Pty Ltd". If that ever says Xero demo company, you have connected the sandbox rather than your real file.

03 Build the scope as normal

Nothing about scoping changes. Talk or type the job in, answer the questions, and BuildScope writes the Scope of Works: preliminaries first, then trade sections in build order, PC and PS allowances kept separate.

Check your quantities and rates, set your margin, choose whether GST is shown, and add your exclusions and clarifications.

04 Set the client

Once Xero is connected, a Client box appears next to the job number and site address. Start typing and it searches your real Xero contacts.

Pick the client from the list and the job is linked to that exact Xero contact. Not in there yet? Choose Create as a new Xero contact and BuildScope adds them when you send.

This matters more than it looks. Typing a near miss, "Smith Property" when Xero holds "Smith Property Group Pty Ltd", is how accounting files end up with two of the same client and a split history. Picking from the list makes that impossible.

If the client you picked has an address in Xero, you get a Site address same as client tick. Leave it off when the work is somewhere other than their office, which for most commercial clients it is.

05 Send it to Xero

Click Send to Xero. A draft quote appears in Xero carrying:

Every priced line, with your section headings kept as headings
GST at your own rate, posted to your own sales account
Your exclusions and clarifications, in the quote terms
The Scope of Works PDF, attached to the quote

BuildScope tells you the quote number so you can find it in Xero.

06 Check it and send it yourself

The quote is left as a draft, on purpose. BuildScope does not send it, does not email your client, does not approve it and never raises an invoice. You open it in Xero, look it over and send it when you are happy.

Changed something and want to send again? Go ahead. If that quote is still a draft, BuildScope updates it rather than making a second one. If you have already sent or accepted it, that quote is left exactly as it is and a fresh draft is raised beside it.

What moves between the two

What BuildScope reads from Xero, and only when you are sending or searching:

The name and country of the organisation you connected
Your sales tax rates, so GST is right
Your revenue account codes, so the lines post to the right account
Contacts matching what you type in the Client box
The status of a quote BuildScope raised earlier for that job

What BuildScope writes to Xero, and only when you press Send to Xero:

A draft quote, with your scope lines and section headings
Your exclusions and clarifications, into the quote terms
The Scope of Works PDF, attached to the quote
A new contact, but only when you ask for one

That is the lot. No invoices, no payments, no bank feeds, no payroll, no reports. The full detail, including how long anything is kept, is on the Xero Integration Privacy page.

Managing the connection

Everything lives in one place: Account, then the Integrations tab in BuildScope.

Connect links the two accounts. Owners and admins only.
The card names the organisation you are quoting into, so you can tell a real file from the Xero demo company at a glance.
Disconnect removes BuildScope's access straight away. Quotes already in Xero stay exactly as they are.

You can also remove BuildScope from Connected apps inside Xero. Either way, access ends immediately.

If something goes wrong

I cannot see the Client box

It only appears once Xero is connected. Check Account, then Integrations: the Xero card should say Connected. If you just connected, refresh the job screen.

Send to Xero says I need to pick a client

You have typed a name but not linked it. Either pick the client from the dropdown, or choose Create as a new Xero contact. BuildScope will not guess which client you meant.

The search says it cannot reach Xero

The connection has expired or been switched off at the Xero end. Open Account, then Integrations, and reconnect. Your scope is not lost.

The quote went across without the PDF

The PDF was too big for Xero to accept, so the quote was sent without it rather than failing. Every scope line is still there. Attach the PDF by hand in Xero if you want it on the quote.

The lines went in without GST

BuildScope could not find an active sales tax rate in that Xero organisation, and it will not invent one. Check your tax rates in Xero, then send again.

The quote is in the wrong Xero organisation

Disconnect on the Integrations card and connect again, choosing the right organisation. Quotes already created stay where they are, so delete any that went to the wrong file.

Still stuck? Email admin@buildscope.app and tell us the quote number. We answer every one.

Common questions

Does BuildScope send the quote to my client?

No. It leaves a draft in Xero. You review it and send it yourself, the same as any other quote. BuildScope never emails your clients.

Will it create invoices?

No. Quotes only. BuildScope does not create, read or change invoices, and it has no access to payments, bank feeds or payroll.

Can it see the rest of my accounting data?

No. It reads your tax rates, your revenue account codes and the contacts you search for. It cannot see your invoices, bills, bank transactions, reports or payroll, because it never asks for permission to.

What if I send the same job twice?

If the quote is still a draft, it gets updated instead of duplicated, so the quote number stays the same. If you have already sent or accepted it, that one is left alone and a new draft is raised beside it.

What if the same client is in Xero twice already?

Both show in the search with their email underneath so you can tell them apart. BuildScope quotes to the one you pick and does not merge or change either.

Do I need a separate BuildScope subscription?

Yes. BuildScope is a paid subscription billed at buildscope.app, separate from your Xero subscription. There is a free trial, and Xero never bills you for BuildScope.

Does it work with ServiceM8 at the same time?

Both can be connected, and they stay separate on purpose. A job that came from ServiceM8 goes back to ServiceM8; a quote goes to Xero. BuildScope does not pass anything between the two.

What happens if I disconnect?

BuildScope loses access to Xero immediately. Quotes, contacts and attachments already in Xero stay exactly as they are, and the scopes you built stay in BuildScope. Reconnecting later picks up the same drafts instead of duplicating them.