Over the past 15 years, the landscape of the estimating world has gone through many changes in the property restoration industry. Some experienced drastic change, going from handwritten estimates on a legal pad, to having to learn complicated estimating software. For others, the change may have been less serious, switching from already digital spreadsheets to industry-specific software. The major change for these contractors working in the property restoration industry was the demand to adhere to the software’s pricing structure, whether it was Simsol, MSB-incorporated-into-Symbility, or Xactimate. For both groups, it seems pricing has been the greatest change that has affected not only how they write estimates, but the bottom line of profit in their business.
As most contractors in the restoration industry know, Xactimate is the dominant estimating software in the restoration industry. According to Xactware’s “About” page, 22 of the top 25 property insurance companies in the U.S. and all of the top 10 Canadian insurers use Xactware property insurance claims tools. Due to Xactimate’s dominance of the market, many restoration contractors also use the software as their estimating platform. These contractors are either part of a managed repair program that requires Xactimate use or the contractor is trying to be on an even playing field with the adjuster in discussing the scope of property damage.