SAM — Your AI Home Assistant
What Is SAM?
SAM is Shipshape's AI home assistant. It watches over your home 24/7 — tracking equipment age, monitoring sensor data, analyzing maintenance history, and learning the patterns of your specific home. When something needs attention, SAM lets you know before it becomes an emergency. When action is required, it helps you reach your trusted service professional.
Think of SAM as the quiet, competent friend who actually remembers when your water heater was installed, notices when your HVAC is working harder than it should, and nudges you before a small issue turns into a flooded basement or a sweltering weekend. SAM does not bombard you with notifications. It only surfaces when something genuinely matters.
SAM stands for Shipshape Assisted Maintenance.
How SAM Works
SAM combines three sources of information to understand your home:
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Home Health Record — Every appliance, system, and piece of equipment in your home is logged with its make, model, age, and service history. This record grows more valuable with every visit from a service professional and every interaction you have with SAM.
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Monitoring Data — If you have Shipshape sensors installed, SAM receives real-time data from your HVAC, water, and electrical systems. This lets it detect problems — like a dehumidifier drawing much more power than normal or a water leak — as they happen.
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AI Assistant — When you chat with SAM, it uses AI (large language models) to answer your questions in the context of your home's data.
When SAM identifies something that needs attention, it:
- Sends you a clear, plain-language alert explaining what it found and why it matters
- Assigns a priority level so you know what is urgent and what can wait
- Shows the alert to the service company connected to your home too
- Lets you request a service pro from alerts that offer it
What SAM Can Help You With
SAM is the assistant inside the Shipshape app. Here is what you can ask it for.
Troubleshooting Around the Home
SAM can help right away with many household maintenance tasks. For example, you can ask:
- How do I change my dehumidifier filter?
- What filter does my dehumidifier use?
- What is the set point on my dehumidifier, and why would I change it?
- How do I bring my Shipshape sensor back online?
- How do I flood test my sump pump?
SAM's answers come from Shipshape's own help content and from your home's data.
Live Readings From Your Home
Ask SAM about your connected appliances and sensors to get their latest readings. For example:
- What is the humidity in my crawlspace right now?
- Is my sump pump running right now?
Your Home Health Record
SAM reads your Home Health Record: your appliances, their service history, your alerts, and your HomeHealth Scores. Ask it for recommendations for your home, or for tips to improve your scores.
Getting Service
When something needs a professional, SAM can fill in a service request for you. You review it and send it yourself.
Help From a Real Person
When your question needs a person, SAM can pass it on to the Shipshape team and gives you a reference for it.
Where to Find SAM
Tap the small otter icon in the bottom right corner of the Shipshape app. You can open SAM from anywhere in the app. You can also tap Get help with SAM on an alert, so SAM starts with that alert's details, or talk to SAM by voice.
The Value for Homeowners
Prevention Over Crisis
The most expensive home repairs are almost always emergencies — burst pipes, failed HVAC in August, roof leaks discovered during a storm. SAM shifts you from reactive to proactive. By catching aging equipment, efficiency drops, and early warning signs before they escalate, SAM helps you avoid the most costly and stressful failures.
Peace of Mind
Most homeowners have no idea how old their water heater is, when the HVAC was last serviced, or what that strange noise from the crawl space means. SAM keeps track of all of it so you do not have to. Your home's entire health profile lives in one place, always up to date, always accessible.
Cost Savings
Proactive maintenance extends equipment life, reduces energy waste, and avoids the premium pricing that comes with emergency service calls.
One Trusted Relationship
SAM connects you with a single trusted service professional — not a rotating marketplace of strangers. Your pro knows your home, has access to your equipment history, and can make informed recommendations. This relationship gets better over time as your Home Health Record deepens.
Who Is SAM For?
SAM is designed for any homeowner who wants their home to run smoothly without having to become a home maintenance expert. It is especially valuable for:
- Busy families who do not have time to track maintenance schedules
- New homeowners who inherited equipment they know nothing about
- Aging-in-place homeowners who want safety monitoring and proactive care
- Vacation or second-home owners who need remote awareness
- Anyone who has ever been surprised by an expensive home repair that could have been prevented