What Xactimate is
Xactimate is an estimating platform owned by CoreLogic (formerly Verisk). It's used by:
- Virtually every major U.S. insurance carrier
- Most Florida public adjusters
- Restoration contractors
- Catastrophe-response adjusters
- Commercial and specialty property estimators
It's the industry-standard platform for property-damage estimating in the United States.
How it works
Xactimate generates estimates based on:
- Regional price lists: updated quarterly, zip-code specific
- Line items: discrete units of work (per sqft, LF, each)
- Sketch: to-scale floor plan with measurements
- Pricing database: labor + material + equipment, trended
Each estimate is built by entering measurements, selecting line items room-by-room, and letting the software apply regional pricing.
Why it matters for your claim
The carrier's Xactimate estimate reflects specific choices:
Price list version
Outdated lists produce lower pricing. Check that the current quarterly update is used.
Zip code
Wrong zip = wrong regional pricing. Verify loss-address zip is used.
Line item selection
Basic items vs. specialty items. Wrong grade = wrong price.
Quantity and measurement
Sketch accuracy drives line-item quantities. Underscoped sketch = underpriced estimate.
Supplements
Overhead and profit (O&P), permits, general conditions: often omitted.
Manual overrides
Xactimate allows estimators to override pricing. Overrides should be documented and justified.
Where carriers manipulate it
- Using outdated price lists (missing inflation)
- Applying manual price reductions without documentation
- Measuring rooms short
- Selecting basic items where specialty is appropriate
- Omitting O&P on jobs that qualify
- Missing code-upgrade line items
How to audit a carrier Xactimate estimate
- Request the native Xactimate file (PDF isn't enough: the XML contains metadata)
- Verify price list date and zip code
- Compare sketch to as-built
- Check line-item selection against contractor scope
- Identify manual overrides
- Check O&P, permits, general conditions
- Check matching-statute scope
- Check code-upgrade inclusions
The side-by-side
The most effective dispute tool is a side-by-side comparison:
- Carrier's estimate vs. your Xactimate
- Line-item-by-line-item delta
- Documented basis for each addition
- Total delta presented clearly
This makes the underpayment quantifiable. Carriers respond to quantified disputes.