Xactimate includes over 20,000 line items, with more being added every month. With so many line items to manage, mistakes are common and can have significant consequences beyond wasting time. Every contractor understands that poorly written estimates lead to increased friction in approvals, underpayment for work, and in worst-case scenarios, business losses that can lead to bankruptcy.
We're not here to scare you, but to offer a reliable solution. Yes, you can avoid estimating mistakes and improve your scopes. How? The Actionable Profile.
What is the Actionable Profile?
The Actionable Profile is a profile within Xactimate that provides live estimating guidance to help you write accurate, well-justified, and simply better Xactimate estimates. Unfortunately, the lack of a standard for invoicing in the restoration and property insurance industry is a major cause of friction in the estimate approval process.
Despite the absence of standardized invoicing, estimating guidance does exist in the industry! The Actionable Profile offers guidance based on what activities and related line items are customary and reasonable in the industry for a certain mitigation or repair process. This alignment between adjusters and estimators reduces friction in the estimate approval process.
How does the Actionable Profile help you avoid
Xactimate mistakes?
The key is live estimating guidance. The Actionable Profile boasts over 3,500 rules tailored to a wide range of mitigation and repair activities.
For example, one of the most common activities is deploying an air mover. When you add this line item to your scope, the live estimating guidance will alert you to add lead protection line items as well, since this is a customary and reasonable charge.
The Actionable Profile alerts you to any issues with your scope, both potential mistakes and line items you have yet to include that might be warranted. Its primary goal is to ensure there are no mistakes and no missing line items in your estimates, providing thorough and accurate scopes every time.
Types of guidance in the Actionable Profile
Guidance in the Actionable Profile is provided in two primary ways: overages and omissions.
What are overages?
An overage alert is triggered by Xactimate mistakes such as duplicative line items or excessive quantities based on the rest of your line items.
For example:
If you add a line item for drywall that includes texture and then add a separate line item for texture, an alert will notify you of the potential duplication. You can then remove the redundant line item or add F9 notes to clarify.
What are omissions?
An omission alert occurs when warranted line items are missing or when you fail to charge for something based on your scope.
For example:
If you're working on drywall in a 20-foot-high room but charge for a standard height, an omission alert will remind you to include the appropriate line item for the additional effort. This ensures that you are charging for the difficulty of working at that height, aligning with industry standards.
Write Better Xactimate Scopes For Better Claims Outcomes
Getting paid fairly hinges on well-formatted and accurate estimates. No matter how thoroughly the work is completed, if your estimate doesn't reflect it, you won’t be compensated.
With the Actionable Profile, you can ensure your estimates are complete, accurate, and well-formatted. As illustrated in the examples above, the live estimating guidance helps you write better estimates and get paid fairly, which is the goal for both carriers and contractors.
Improve your Xactimate Skills with the Actionable Profile
Historically, knowledge in the restoration and property insurance industry has primarily been shared peer-to-peer. You either have to gradually learn from your mistakes, from your peers, or through extensive training. However, no matter how much you’ve trained in Xactimate, whether for a month or a decade, it’s easy to make mistakes in your estimates.
That’s where the Actionable Profile comes in. Built upon the expertise of seasoned estimators and adjusters, it offers you a guiding hand as you write your scopes. With this tool, you can not only improve your Xactimate skills but also ensure accurate and complete estimates every time.
Interesting, right? Now that you know how the Actionable Profile can help you avoid Xactimate mistakes and write better estimates, we have exciting news!
You can try the Actionable Profile with a 99% discount for the first month- almost free! Don't miss this chance to enhance your estimating skills and ensure accuracy in your work.
About Actionable
We're a 501(c)(6) educational non-profit that builds tools and resources to help the property insurance industry thrive.
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