Estimating Tips & Tricks - Where is the 18%?

[Sentry]

At the 2007 Executive Leadership Conference we learned that the average restoration estimate is as much as 18% short of what it could be. Share with the group your best estimating tricks & tips. What works to give you the most profitable (legitimate) estimate possible?

[Lee]

One thing we have been neglecting to do is have every estimate reviewed. It is amazing what items are left out as you copy and paste from room to room. In our case, I am convienced that it is the little things like; resetting doorknobs, lights, doorstops, etc. Items are included in the start and then are dropped as you go along.

[Sentry]

I agree. It is the little things, and they add up big time. It is hard to be consistent with the details. It's also hard to fight that "end of the estimate" lethargy that comes on about the 30th page of a big estimate. I don't have much luck with copy/paste, though. I have found that by the time you clean up the copy/paste differences from room to room you could have entered individual scope items & been done with it, & not taken a chance on errors. Macros help a lot for consistency & thoroughness as well. I have been concentrating on making sure my item qualities are right as well.

[Lee]

We are now in the process of making up macros. Saves alot of time! Another thing we just ran into a bad pricelist download from Xactimate. The pricing from this list was reduced by roughly 15-20% off. The price list before and the one downloaded after were both higher. Don't know what happened, unfortunately, estimator didn't catch it till 2 projects were signed on. Ever run into this before?

[Sentry]

Never! But I will be on the look out. Is there a way to print out your top 100 estimate items? If so, maybe we could write an estimate with 1 unit of each, no tax or O&P, then simply reprice it with each new list. That would reveal in an instant wheter the list went up down or stayed the same.
Did you download another list that was better?
I remember when Xactimate for Windows first came out, our copy had a math error in it. Wouldn't add the estimate up right.

[Lee]

We are now setting in-place a check of unit prices for new price list downloads. Can't afford to get hit by a bad price list on a large loss. By the way, how did you catch the math error?

[Lee]

Another thought; check out the thread running for the 2007 Exec. Leadersip Conference.

[Sentry]

The math error wasn't hard, it was in the figuring of O&P.

[Lee]

Just heard this week that Xactimate 25 is coming this summer. Don't know what all will be updated but it was suggested to us to invest in training.
Chris, when you get a chance can you post the name of the Xactimate trainer that was at the conference. Appreciate it

[High Desert]

I've been beta testing xact 25 for the last month. It will be released later this month.

There are some big changes, but no more so than when you switched to xact 24.

The main screen is completely different, but once you get used to it, it is much better. They combined xactimate and xactcental, so sending and receiving assignments and price lists is more steamlined.

The summary matrix screen has expanded functionality, and I am very pleased with it. Most of the complaints I had about the old summary matrix have been fixed.

Sketch has much better annotation abilities, but I've requested some changes to this area. Hopefully, they will be included in the final release.

If you do any of your estimating in the sketch screen, there are some new features. In xact 24, you could have sketch automatically place outlets and switches for a complete rewire. They added a similar feature where you can have it calculate HVAC and plumbing as well. I'm not sure this feature will be used much and I'm afraid it may be used incorrectly by adjusters who don't understand it well.

I only use the sketch screen to calculate roofing, flooring and sometimes framing, but I always double check the numbers and line items it uses.