Why We Built This?
We know jobs don’t always go as planned. Sometimes you arrive on-site and realize the repair will cost more than the Not To Exceed (NTE) limit. For repairs that you believe can be done in the same day with some additional money. In the past, this meant calling Lula, and we would contact the Property Manager — a process that often delayed approvals and slowed you down.
Now, you can request NTE increases directly in the Lula app, making it faster to get approvals and keep jobs moving forward.
How It Works
🔹 Step 1: Start the NTE Request
Open the job in the Lula app.
Tap “Request NTE Increase.”
🔹 Step 2: Select the Amount of NTE Increase
1. Small Increases
Enter the new total amount needed.
Add a short description of why the increase is necessary. Lula has approval from the Property Managers it works with to directly approve increases up to a certain size which is why we don't require a full quote here.
Lula has 10 minutes to respond. A timer on the job will show you how long is remaining for them to respond.
You will be notified once your NTE increase is approved/denied via Push Notification/In App Message.
2. Larger Increases
For Large increases On Site, Property Managers require a full quote so that they can make easily assess the scope and whether they'd like to move forward quickly.
Submit a detailed quote with photos and explanation.
This will now show under "Quoted Jobs" alongside a timer indicating how long the PM has to respond.
The Property Manager has 20 minutes to respond.
You will be notified once your NTE increase is approved/denied via Push Notification/In App Message.
If the your quote is approved in the job will show under "Claimed Jobs" page indicating the scope of approved work.
There are two scenarios for submitting quotes for large NTE increases:
If you haven’t started work yet: If no response is received or you're denied, the request automatically converts to an offsite quote so there's no need to resubmit information, and you’ll receive a trip fee.
If you’ve already done initial work: Submit the work completed so far along with your increase request. If no response comes or you're denied, the job automatically becomes an offsite quote so there's no need to resubmit information — but no trip fee is paid since you’ve already billed for the work you completed.
🔹 Step 3: Get Updates in Real Time
You’ll receive a push notification and in-app update once the Property Manager makes a decision, you can click directly on the notification and be taken to the respective job.
If approved, you'll be able to finish the job at the new amount and it will show under the "Claimed Jobs" page.
If declined, you'll be paid out a trip fee for your time if you hadn't been able to complete any work.
If the PM requires more time to review the quote, you'll see the quote converted to an Off-Site quote that can be seen in your "Quoted Jobs" tab.
Best Practices for Providers
✅ Always include photos and a clear explanation when submitting large increase requests.
✅ Be precise — only request the amount you need to complete the repair.
✅ Watch for notifications so you don’t miss approvals.
The Big Win for Providers
With in-app NTE requests, you don’t need to wait on phone calls and will increase the amount of one trip resolutions you can complete. You can get faster approvals, complete more jobs the same day, and still receive compensation through trip fees or partial billing for work completed when a full approval isn’t given.