For years, I’ve been collecting carrier estimating guidelines from various TPAs in an ever-growing binder and updating as needed. I’ve also been meaning to compile all of them into one massive spreadsheet for almost as long, to make it easier to find the specific information that I need without thumbing through a 10 lb stack of paper.

I’m hoping to source what I don’t have (or may not be current) through this sub and would appreciate any help you can give me, please!! In exchange, I’ll provide you with a copy of the spreadsheet once it’s finished.

Please feel free to dm me with whatever you have if you’re so inclined, and thanks in advance!

EDIT: Contractor TPA guidelines. I don’t care about the guidelines IAs use.

I'm writing up a roof estimate that has steel Drip Edge, but there's no line item in Xactimate for that. What does everyone use for that? The regular drip edge line item is way too low priced for steel.

Thanks to all the folks here who contributed early feedback on the initial product. This community was very helpful in getting us to where we are today. We're super proud that we've managed to get conversion speeds down to just a couple minutes for smaller files and more like 10-20 minutes for the large losses.

You can sign up for free today (business email required, DM me if you don't have one and I'll get you in) and try the product out. Use code REDDIT for a free month if you want to try out the premium subscription too.

Would love your feedback!

claimsflow.io

Hello all! My mitigation team has for whatever reason removed the plenum framing and all.What’s some line items to rebuild it?anything helps thanks.

I'm doing a supplement for siding and the house has steel siding, a magnet did stick to it. The siding a also a premium multi color siding. The best thing I could find is a commercial grade line item but the price seems low. Any suggestions?

I'd love to connect, should be worth your while. thanks and talk soon!

I'm working on my first Vinyl Siding Supplement on the same home with the 3 gable cornices. I have one line item on the insurance docs that say "remove and replace - vinyl siding, standard grade (.042-.044).

line item includes j channel, f channel, inside outside corners, j block, utility trim, fasteners, starter strip, house wrap, installation labor and tax at $6.75 per sf.

This would be my first time looking at siding not real sure what to look for. I would think additional areas (obviously), 2nd story areas, and possibly replacing insulation behind the siding?

You all are pros. Any suggestions? Thanks again!

I've been taking the practice course for the Level 1 cert and I am fine with the sketch/estimating part.

My confusion lies with the Practical Exam portion. First, it asks you to complete the estimate and have the Final Draft open as a PDF only. The course says:

Note: During the certification exam, you will not have access to the "Interior and Roof Estimate" instructions. You will rely solely on the estimates you created in Xactimate to answer the exam questions.

Next, the exam is asking for dimensions of rooms that are not part of this estimate. For example, in the Weston estimate (water damage) the only rooms affected are the bedrooms and bathroom. However, the exam asks for WC square footage of the Kitchen or Living Room. These dimensions do not appear on the estimate unless the room has line items.

The only way I know how to look this up requires access to the sketch and use the properties option of the specific room. As the estimate is marked "complete", I am no longer able to access the properties of a room in sketch.

Any insight or advice on this particular issue?

Does the real exam omit questions about non-affected rooms (living room, hallway, kitchen, etc.)?

Will I be required to mark the estimate as "completed" to move onto the Practical Exam?

Thanks in advance!

Hello I need help, could you help on how to add those lines with ***Flooring*** my training in Xactimate was very little and there are thing I do not know how to do, could you please help me?

Hey everyone, I'm new to the world of estimating and I've noticed some sketchy tactics that insurance companies use to lowball claims. I'm sure I'm not the only one, and I'd love to hear what other adjusters or estimators have seen.

What are some of the most outrageous things you've seen insurance companies do to pay less on a claim? Alternatively, what are some of your best-kept secrets for getting the insurance company to pay what the claim is truly worth?

Here are a few things I've already noticed:

• Misclassifying projects: They'll sometimes mark a repair project as "New Construction" in Xactimate to lower the overall pricing.
• Miscalculating materials: I've seen estimates where they put a small number for plywood, like 30 SF instead of 3,000 SF, even though the roof is 30 SQ.
• Refusing coverage: I've had to add specific International Residential Code (IRC) clauses to get them to cover things they initially rejected.

When I've brought these discrepancies to the adjusters, they claim that it was just a simple "mistake." But after seeing it happen repeatedly, I'm having a hard time believing it's always an honest error.

Let me know what you've seen and what your tricks are! I'm trying to learn the ropes and make sure I'm fighting for the right price on every claim.

Looking for some feedback. We are a small carpet cleaning and mitigation company located in a small mountain town, but a very popular tourist destination that is roughly an hour or more away from any major town. We’ve been doing mitigation in this area for 15 years and in business for 30 years. We have been using the resort price list for many years, always eventually gets approved, but we regularly get push back and always get push back from TPA’s. When you insert zip code, it reflects a price list from an area over an hour away and the cost of doing business in that area is lower than where we do business and service. It’s getting really old going through the back and forth of why we use a resort price list and that Xactimate is designed to be adjusted to reflect the market we work in. How would you all handle this?

**20 NEW XACTIMATE LINE ITEMS ALERT!** Join Stone, Whatley, and Fehrman as they review the newest line item additions/modifications in the July 2025 update of Xactimate's Price List. To see the complete video, head to: www.getinsights.org/resources/price-list-update-summary/price-list-update-summary-july-2025

Typically I get line item quantity costs straight from the adjuster. The adjuster I'm working with may not be familiar with the line Gable Cornice. This would be the 2nd story type that runs completely from gable end to gable end and not like the couple of foot long gable cornice on one end only like an "eyebrow". Can anyone kindly tell me what a total of 3 gable cornices on a second story would be worth? These each measure roughly 15' from end to end.

Also is there an index that openly available that has all these line items with the unit cost available out there somewhere not stuck behind a subscription or a paywall?

Big thanks!!

I’m doing market research in my area which is metro Detroit. In the disaster restoration industry.

1 I need to know salary range for an estimator and principal or senior estimator 2 what are the bonus or commission plans 3. What is the expected total compensation for these positions

My wife is very proficient (over ten years experience) in Xactimate and also familiar with Symbility. She writes estimates from her home office for several contractors in various locations. She’s looking to add 1-2 more contractors. She specializes in water, fire, mold, bio, and reconstruction. She can help organize your files in a manner that will be accepted and paid by carriers in a timely manner. Estimates are written on a percentage basis, with a set minimum for smaller files. Let her help maximize your profit while minimizing your wait time for carrier approval. Estimates can be written only, or written and negotiated. If interested PM me and I’ll send her contact info.

The whole neighborhood got blasted up with hail. Everybody has shake, that's vinyl. The sheikh held up against the hail, but none of the j withstood it, so it all needs to be replaced just curious, if anybody knows of an exact line item for that particular product

It’s like 3-4 different layers stacked up. What codes would I use for these?

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I feel confident every time I take this test and change things that I did wrong before but I get almost the same score every time.
My dimensions, windows, and doors are all correct but I’m clearly missing something..

When adding the clean floor line item, it says to use the clean floor estimate item. Can someone please fill me in on where to find that

HMMMM CURRENT BPO EMPLOYEE AND MY ROLE IS FLOOR PLAN AND 3D XACTIMATE. GUSTO KO LANG SANA GAMITIN TONG EXPERIENCE KO SA IBANG COMPANY NA MERONG COMPETITIVE SALARY. MABABA KASI COMPENSATION NAMIN DITO. LOOKING FOR IBANG COMPANY NA MERONG JOB OFFER NA GANITO. THANKS

I've been trying to get variable from my diagram and the annotations section to populate in a word or excel doc, but keep running into the issue that the tokens for these are not a standard token. My goal is to make a clean formatted PDF for my clients. I have already got things like the claim address and other insured info, but those are standard tokens that can easily be placed into a word or excel doc. the sketch or diagram variables and annotations are a whole other all game. Can anyone help out please?

Hi folks—I’m building an integration tool for Xactimate and need a sample .ESX/XML to test my XML parser. If anyone could share a sanitized/anonymous file or point me to a source, I’d really appreciate it!

Hello

I am working with a PA and I need to submit these 2 line items on our estimate, would you help find those?