Kamberra: exceptional projects, finance operations to match

The challenge: bigger, more ambitious projects, and finances that stay accurate

At Kamberra, quality is in the detail: joinery fitted to the millimetre, each trade arriving at the right moment, a project finished on the planned day, spaces ready to welcome their occupants.

Such high standards come at a price: every project generates a heavy load of admin and finance work. On the supplier side, Kamberra works with hundreds of subcontractors, craftspeople and builders' merchants, whose invoices come in from everywhere: by email, on online portals, by post or in the delivery box. Five areas need particular care:

• Suppliers chosen from across Europe. To find the best material or the best craftsperson, Kamberra sources well beyond France. Their invoices follow each country's conventions, often in the local language.
• Tracking every purchase end to end. What is paid must match the invoice, and the invoice must match the supplier's quote. That is far from straightforward: a single purchase is often paid in several instalments, on a schedule specific to each supplier (on order, at the end of the contract, at the end of the month), and the invoice sometimes arrives after delivery, well after the payment.
• Tracking the margin on every project. In construction, up-to-date cost tracking is essential to manage each project. But suppliers don't always put the project code on their invoices, and a single invoice sometimes covers several projects.
• Turning quotes around quickly. Pricing inputs arrive as PDFs and Excel files, often split across several files that need combining.
• Invoicing each client on its own terms. Quotes must be highly detailed, extra work can be added mid-project, and invoicing follows progress: deposits, progress invoices, retentions, credit notes. On top of that, each client has its own requirements: a purchase order number on the invoice, a set file name for the PDF, upload to a dedicated platform.

In this business, the slightest slip on any of these shows up directly in the margin: a supplier paid beyond its quote, completed work that goes uninvoiced, a client payment that isn't followed up.

Kamberra's order book keeps growing, with ever more ambitious projects. The partners wanted finance operations that keep pace, as precise as their work on site, without taking up their time.

The solution: a custom-built AI, supervised by experts

Sanso built Kamberra a set of AI agents tailored to the way it works: its suppliers, its clients, its projects, its cost-tracking structure. The agents handle the bulk of the work, continuously.

Sanso's experts oversee their work every day. They check the results, handle the edge cases and step in whenever a situation calls for human judgement. Kamberra gets the speed of AI and the judgement of an experienced finance team.

On the supplier side: full control of purchasing, thanks to AI

Sanso's AI agents handle the whole purchasing chain: retrieving every invoice, analysing it, checking every payment and allocating every expense to the right project.

Retrieving every invoice, wherever it comes from

1. Emails. An AI agent reads the inbox, tells an invoice apart from a quote, a purchase order or a pro forma, checks that it isn't a duplicate and imports each invoice into Pennylane.
2. Supplier portals. For retailers and online stores (Leroy Merlin, ManoMano…), Sanso's AI agent logs in to the customer accounts, finds the invoices and downloads them: more than 20 websites a month.
3. Paper documents. An invoice received by post, slipped into a delivery box, or a till receipt: a photo sent on WhatsApp is all it takes. The AI agent extracts the amount, VAT and date, then sends it to Pennylane.
4. Missing documents. When a transfer goes out before the invoice, the AI agent spots the missing receipt and requests it from the supplier itself, follows up if needed and imports it as soon as it arrives: more than 30 exchanges a month.

Checking and classifying every expense

1. Payment tracking. The AI agents match every transfer to its invoice and to the supplier's quote, even when a purchase is paid in several instalments. They track the balance due supplier by supplier, and immediately flag the rare payments made twice or beyond the quote.
2. Smart, flexible cost allocation. Every expense is classified along Kamberra's own cost-tracking dimensions: type of purchase, project, activity. The AI agents don't stop at a code or a keyword: they read the invoice, and also the email that comes with it, which is often full of useful details (project name, address, contact), to identify the right dimensions.

The result: only 2% of receipts still need chasing.

On the client side: tailored invoicing for each client, driven by AI

Kamberra designs and prices each project, sets its invoicing rules and keeps control of its client relationships. Sanso handles the admin that follows, from quote to payment, in line with those rules.

1. Quotes. Kamberra sends its pricing inputs in whatever form suits it: a PDF, an Excel file, sometimes several files to combine. The AI agents read them and assemble them into a complete quote in Pennylane. A quote that used to take 2 to 3 hours of formatting is ready in 5 minutes.
2. Invoices. The AI agents prepare each invoice as the project progresses: deposits, progress invoices, retentions, credit notes. They apply each client's requirements on their own: purchase order attached, set file name, upload to a specific platform.
3. Payment tracking. The AI agents match each payment received on Qonto or the traditional banks to its invoice in Pennylane. Kamberra knows at any time what has been paid and what is still to come.
4. Due-date reminders. Once a due date has passed, the AI agents send a reminder on Kamberra's behalf and in its chosen tone, then follow the invoice through to payment. Kamberra stays in charge of its client relationships.

A real-time view of costs, project by project

Every supplier invoice is assigned to the right project, even when it carries no project code.

1. The agents know every new project. As soon as a client quote is signed, they record the contract: client, address, project name.
2. They find the project behind every invoice. Like a detective, the AI agent starts from the clues available: a delivery address, a project name close to the one on the quote, a detail tucked into the email that came with the invoice. It cross-checks these leads until it identifies the right project, even when no project code appears.
3. Expenses are allocated as they come in. Each expense is classified by project and activity in Pennylane, without waiting for suppliers to add Kamberra's project codes, and with no manual data entry.

Thanks to AI, cost tracking is no longer locked into a rigid grid of codes. Kamberra is free to choose its own dimensions: tracking expenses by project, by activity or from any other angle useful for running the business, and changing them as its needs evolve. The agents apply the new logic with no heavy configuration.

The partners can follow the margin on each project while it is still under way, not just once it has been delivered.

The results: the team on site, the admin up to date

• Time given back to projects. Receipts take 10 minutes a week instead of 4 hours, and a quote 5 minutes instead of 2 to 3 hours.
• Faster answers to clients. A quote goes out the same day, which matters when a client launches a tender.
• Invoicing that keeps pace with the project. Deposits, progress invoices and retentions go out on time, and every payment is matched to its invoice.
• Margins tracked project by project. Every expense is assigned to the right project and activity in real time, without depending on suppliers or on manual data entry.
• A complete file for the accountants, at all times. The accounting firm finds 98% of documents in Pennylane without having to ask for them.
• More peace of mind for the partners. Sacha and Dan see in real time what has been invoiced, paid and is still to come, without chasing information.