Yearly Archives: 2017

Xactimate is a standard estimating system used by insurance companies and contractors to financially settle insurance claims. I’ll try my best to break it down in layman’s terms:

Reasons for a Standard Estimating System

An insurance company’s job is to provide their customers fair compensation when something unexpected happens, in our case water damage. The customer chooses a contractor to complete the work and then the insurance company pays that contractor directly for their services. The problem is that there are literally hundreds of contractors performing the same service in any given area. (restoration, roofing, plumbing, ect.) Imagine the variation in pricing if each contractor had their own system for billing the insurance company. It would be very difficult for insurance adjusters (see link) to determine what was fair or fraud. Kind of like the wild wild west of estimating.

XACTIMATE allows Insurance and Contractor to Agree on Price

To combat this problem all major insurance companies have implemented Xactimate as their estimating and billing system. As a result, all legitimate contractors, who want to get paid for their services, have also adopted this system. I suppose if an illegitimate contractor doesn’t care about getting paid they can still just wing it. (Note: Don’t hire illegitimate contractors to work on your house.)

The way it works is Xactimate uses exact “items” (measurements, time, material, and labor) to come up with prices insurance companies and contractors can agree on. For example: Xactimate pays $0.41 per foot to “tear out baseboard.” If a contractor tears out 213 feet of baseboard on a job, Xactimate would compensate them $87.33. ($0.41 x 213 feet = $87.33) Insurance company agrees, contractor agrees. Life’s gravy.

That’s just one example of literally thousands of different “items” contractors can choose from to develop detailed estimates insurance companies can agree to. Think of it as adding a sheriff to that wild wild west town of estimating.

Xactimate creates pricing uniformity between the insurance company and contractors that previously didn’t exist. It helps make the insurance claims process go smoother, which creates a better overall experience for you the customer.

If you would like to read more about Xactimate and the company that created the software follow the link below.

Read more about Xactware and Xactimate.

NEED HELP WITH WATER DAMAGE? CALL (317) 315-5071

Tomato/tomato, potato/patato, insurance agent/insurance adjuster: What’s the difference, right? Well contrary to popular belief more than you may think.  A insurance agent and an insurance adjuster serve very different purposes with-in the insurance industry.

Insurance Agent

A insurance agent is involved before damage occurs. They write policies for customers to protect them against the unexpected events that happen in life. (Flooded basements, fender benders, alligator attacks, you get the picture…) They review an individual’s circumstances (health, car, house, financial status, ect.) and customize coverages based on those items. A good agent should include coverages that you are at risk for, and eliminate items that don’t apply to you. For example: if you live in a flood plain you should probably carry flood insurance in your policy, if you don’t, there’s no reason to pay extra for that coverage. Insurance agents are in place to help supply you with the coverages you need for a price that is practical.  An insurance agent typically will not be involved when a claim is placed; that is when the insurance adjuster comes into the picture.

Insurance Adjuster

A insurance adjuster gets involved once damage has occurred. They are assigned to settle claims with the property owner and a water damage restoration contractor. Insurance adjusters survey the damage, write estimates, and work with the contractor to return the property to pre-loss conditions. In addition, they are also responsible for providing compensation for personal items that were damaged during the occurrence. (If your basement floods I guarantee you are at least losing one Christmas tree, maybe more…) You will often, but not always, see adjusters visit the affected property. (see inside vs. outside adjusters)

To recap, the easiest way to separate the two; agents are there to help protect you from damage, while adjusters are there to help you get compensated to clean up the damage.

NEED HELP WITH WATER DAMAGE? CALL (317) 315-5071