Beat those Low Xactimate Prices

BEAT THOSE LOW XACTIMATE PRICING BLUES

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

It’s 2023 and we have learned ALOT in the last 8-10 years.
We have learned more and more about the lies we are fed about the use of Xactimates pricing as what you should charge. 

Xactimate Published Pricing is NOT your pricing

I hope that is not the first time you have heard that. If it is, you are welcome. Moreover….you have zero obligation to change your pricing based on anyone else’s input.

Xactimate is a tool. Think Excel, Google Sheets, or any software that serves as a calculator. It is intended to take your rates, combined with the real measurements and data onsite to build a cost of remediation and/or repairs. 

Pressure to Comply

That is real and happens daily. It is unlikely that anyone reading this has not been contacted by a TPA or some other insurance personnel to alter their price or be accused of not using Xactimate’s Price Data.

But what do you do to overcome that without seeming non-compliant and obtrusive to your customer?

Luckily, we have a simple solution for you on that. Not everything has to be difficult. 

Education is Power

Power is a funny thing. Too much and you feel like a bully. Too little and you feel helpless. So what is just enough power? When you have competent and re-enforceable answers and information that can provide a reasonable argument against the under-educated. 
Being humbly confident is a very powerful and endearing position and will likely earn the trust of your client during complex situations. 

Know your Tools

Two years after sadly watching restorers from all over discuss challenges around the pressure and tough position of making margins with the use of the stagnant Xactimate Pricing, we set out to create a simple and clear mini-course to provide direct and actual language and information about the PROPER use of the Xactimate/ Xactware suite.

Simply providing the already published Whitepapers and other resources, we are confident you will come out the other side in an excellent position to better defend your pricing and dismiss incorrect parties on your use of custom pricing.

This course IS NOT an Xactimate training course. We feel they provide more than enough training and support to help you set your own pricing.
But you cannot use software without knowing its capabilities as well as its conditions.
This course GRAB HERE is simple, short and provides downloadable documents to help you build a new system. 

What if I don’t know my own prices?

This shows up from time to time and is understandable. I strongly recommend you grab a copy of this book: Markup & Profit.

This is a steady go-to book for a better understanding of how to create a pricing structure for a sustainable organization. 

We also invite you to contact Restoration Advisers for mentorship, coaching, and business organization. Many people first check us out by Joining our Private Membership: Restoration Business Academy.
Needless to say, there are a lot of options out there to help you grow and move upwards.

Additional Objections and Circumstances

You might say these things;

•  “ I make great margins with the downloaded pricelist”. 

While this may be true currently, you can trust us when we tell you that as you grow, your overhead will as well. When          your general cost rise and the prices you charge do not, you will feel the cash flow pain. This is why developing habits on periodical (quarterly or bi-annually) reviews of costs and pricing ratio’s are a great habit.

•  “You have to know how to use the system”. 

This is almost certainly a strong contribution to success. But back to the first answer, your unit pricing will still be a contributing factor. You also need to consider that you (if you are the estimator) should not always be the one with the knowledge. You should have a steady plan to delegate all operations to others. When you do that, your process means more than individual skill. Not everyone will operate the same way. This causes inconsistency.

• “What about those jobs that are TPA’s?”

Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where you are bound to agreed-upon rates per your agreement.
That said, there is a method that you can directly contribute to the organic elevation of the regional pricing for labor. We discuss that in the Xactime course. 

Conclusion

Regardless of which path you take, just make sure you take action. The old saying is “Bad news doesn’t get better by ignoring it”. We see it causing much bigger issues that are harder to overcome than simply applying the correct rates that apply to your company and services.

Don’t waste money on one more project. The cost of the course we created is $99. You will likely make up for that not only on one job but within one line item on certain jobs.  

NEXT STEPS

• Head over to  https://www.restorationadvisers.com/xactimate-pricing and sign up. 

• Work with your team and your software to set up positive margin prices

• Contact Restoration Advisers when you grow so fast that you need help organizing. We know you can. 

Additional Resources

I wanted to give you two more options and resources to help you fro those conversations with your client and outside stakeholders.

1. We have this great pdf  eBook download 95 Adjuster Reponses

2.  Our BRAND NEW Client Onboarding course. Check it out here