What you aren’t told about Xactimate for contractors on non-program work

The restoration industry is plagued with a legacy philosophy that somehow insurance is in control of what you can and cannot charge, and how contractors must perform work to get paid. The thought process is that while you as the contractor have a contract with the mutual client (insured) that the insured is left out of the conversation and the contractor is obligated to work out the details with the insurance companies. 

This notion couldn’t be further from the truth. 

It should be noted that there are some cases where contractors have signed up for “program work”. As such, this conversation doesn’t apply. 

Here at Restoration Advisers, we urge contractors to keep program work to an absolute minimum. There are times when it makes sense to take this work to keep crews busy. It is generally low margin work. A good distribution of work from organic work vs program work is 90/10.

Xactware is a software company that collects data from multiple sources and compiles it in a way that allows contractors and other stakeholders to build estimates based on historical data. The key here is historical data.

Historical data is a lag metric. Very rarely is historical data reactive enough to provide an accurate representation of what is happening in real time. 

Xactware wasn’t intended to be a tool that dictates pricing (we have the proof... from the president of Xactware). It was not intended to be a tool that insurance companies force contractors to negotiate pricing and job scope. 

Don’t believe us? We have this conversation so much that we decided to make a e-course on the subject! Click: Xactimate Pricing: What you are NOT taught about pricing  

“Xactimate: What you are not told about pricing” is a e-course to pull back the curtain on the truth that is hiding in plain sight. It provides resources, downloads, and collaboration tools to help you understand the truth about Xactimate. The course also provides information on where the pricing comes from and how you can contribute to improving the pricing that is being reported from the tool. 

UPDATE: The course has been released and is extremely popular. It can be purchased here for under $100. Xactimate Pricing Course

There is a video that has made its way around the internet, but for a while was kept under wraps. It blows the lid off of the assertions that the insurance companies make. 

We help restorers every day that are making strides to improve their client onboarding process (another course… SOON!). Many are very very successful and they have learned how to avoid confrontation and conversation with adjusters, or anyone outside the scope of the contract they have signed by their client.