Xactimate Estimate vs Contractor Estimate: What's the Difference?

One of the most common misconceptions among roofing contractors new to insurance work is that their normal contractor estimate will work for an insurance claim. It won't. Insurance carriers have a specific language — Xactimate — and if your estimate isn't in that language, carriers will reject it, ignore it, or use it against you. Understanding the difference between these two types of estimates is foundational to running a successful insurance restoration business.

What Is a Contractor Estimate?

A contractor estimate is a pricing document you create to tell a homeowner what a job will cost. It typically includes material costs (shingles, underlayment, fasteners), labor costs, disposal fees, and your margin. It's formatted in whatever way works for your business — a spreadsheet, a PDF, a proposal document, a page from your estimating software.

Contractor estimates are perfectly appropriate for retail (non-insurance) jobs where you're pricing directly to a homeowner who will pay out of pocket. For insurance claims, however, they create problems. Carriers look at a contractor estimate and see unverifiable numbers — they have no way to confirm whether your labor pricing is reasonable, your material quantities are correct, or whether your scope is consistent with what their adjuster found. The result is friction, disputes, and delayed payments.

What Is an Xactimate Estimate?

Xactimate is a software platform built specifically for insurance claims. Every line item in Xactimate has a unique code that describes a specific scope of work (e.g., RFG SHG = remove and replace shingles). Each line item has a unit price that's updated quarterly by market region using labor and material cost data, making it defensible as a market-rate reference.

When a carrier receives an Xactimate estimate, they can compare it line by line against their own adjuster's Xactimate estimate — same software, same line item codes, same pricing database. Disputes become specific: "You included 12 squares of ice and water shield but we only see 4 warranted." That's a resolvable conversation. A contractor estimate doesn't give carriers that framework — and they use that lack of framework to justify paying less.

When You Need an Xactimate Estimate-Only

Our estimate-only service is for contractors who need to present an Xactimate scope to the carrier but haven't received a carrier estimate yet — or whose carrier estimate is so far off that they need an independent scope to stand behind. You provide the inspection documentation, and we produce a complete, market-priced Xactimate estimate that reflects what the job actually requires.

This is also useful for public adjusters working on behalf of homeowners, attorneys handling bad faith cases, and contractors who want to establish a baseline before submitting to the carrier.

The Bottom Line

Your contractor estimate tells you what you need to make money on a job. Your Xactimate estimate is what gets you paid by the insurance company. For insurance restoration work, you need both — and the Xactimate version needs to be thorough, accurate, and written by someone who understands the carrier review process.

That's exactly what The Estimate Company provides. Whether you need a standalone Xactimate estimate or a supplement to a carrier's underpaid scope, we deliver within 24 hours with full documentation.