Services
Roofing Estimating
Consulting & Team Training
Consulting and team training means we come alongside your existing estimating team and teach them to write supplements the way a dedicated desk does: Xactimate line-item discipline, code and manufacturer citation habits, and a documentation process that holds up when a carrier pushes back. This isn't a generic Xactimate course. It's built around how claims actually get denied and approved in practice.
By Kyle Hamrick, Founder
Why Train Your Team Instead of Just Outsourcing Every File
Some contractors want every file handled for them; that's what our residential supplement desk and monthly retainer desk are for. Other contractors want the opposite: a team that can write strong supplements in house, with us building that capability rather than handling the ongoing work ourselves. Both are legitimate paths, and which one fits depends on how your company is structured and how much you want the skill to live inside your own walls versus with a partner desk.
Training makes the most sense for companies with an existing estimating function that needs to get sharper, or a growing company that wants supplement writing to be a core internal competency rather than something it always outsources. It doesn't make sense as a one-time fix if there's no ongoing internal team to apply what's taught; in that case, an outsourced desk is the better fit.
What the Training Covers
Xactimate Line-Item Fundamentals for Roofing Claims
How carriers structure their estimates, which line items get missed most often on residential and commercial roofs, and how to build a supplement that reads clean against the carrier's own file structure.
Code and Manufacturer Citation Discipline
How to identify when a code requirement or manufacturer installation spec justifies a line item, and how to cite it in a way that gives an adjuster what they need to approve it without a phone call.
Documentation Habits That Prevent Denials
What to photograph, measure, and record at the inspection stage so a supplement (or a denial response, if it comes to that) has what it needs from day one. This directly mirrors what's in our roof claim inspection checklist, taught as a team habit rather than a one-off reference sheet.
Carrier-Specific Behavior Patterns
Different carriers process supplements differently: some desks respond fast to well-documented files, others need a specific submission format or contact point. We teach what we've learned about navigating that instead of treating every carrier the same.
Denial Response Strategy
How to read a denial letter for its actual stated reason and build a targeted response instead of a generic appeal. This connects directly to the denial categories covered in our denial response guide.
What We Actually Walk Through
This is the full arc of a claim, start to finish, in the order it happens. We work it in that order because that is how the money gets lost: a photo your crew missed at intake becomes a line item nobody can defend at negotiation.
The Documents Your Team Keeps
Photo Guidelines
The shot list we run on every roof: what to capture, from what angle, and what a carrier needs to see before they will approve a line item without a phone call.
Roofing Scope Sheet
The field capture sheet that turns an inspection into a writable scope, so nothing gets reconstructed from memory once the crew is back at the desk.
Inspection Checklist
The same checklist our desk runs on, plus the XM8 macros we run on live files, already built with the notes attached.
The Process, In Order
- Intake, and what you need before you write. The documents to collect up front, what to request from the homeowner and the carrier, and how a thin intake guarantees a weak supplement downstream.
- How to build the supplement. Reading the carrier's estimate for what is missing, structuring line items against their file, and sequencing the scope so it reads clean to an adjuster.
- Code and manufacturer items. Identifying when a code requirement or a manufacturer installation spec justifies a line, and citing it so the adjuster has what they need to approve it.
- F9 notes. What belongs in the note versus the line description, how much justification is enough, and how to write them so a reviewer does not have to call.
- Submission. Where the file goes, in what format, to which contact, and how submission habits differ carrier to carrier.
- Follow-up. The cadence that moves a file without burning the relationship, what to do at each interval, and when to escalate.
- Negotiation and wording. How to answer a partial approval or a denial on its actual stated reason, and the specific language that gets a reversal instead of a form response.
- Closing out: COC and price list updates. Certificate of completion, final invoicing, and handling price list updates on the back end so the last dollars on the file do not get left there.
How the Engagement Works
Here's how it runs. Session one, I get your crew on a video call, up to five seats, and install the system: what to photograph on every roof, how to document it so it holds up when the carrier pushes back, how to build the line items, and how to talk to the insurance company in their own language, because we come from that side of the desk. Then your team runs real jobs on it for two or three weeks. Session two, we pull up your actual files and I show you what stuck and what got skipped. I'll be straight about the goal: I'm trying to work myself out of the file-by-file job. A team that writes its own supplements right is the whole point, and plenty of companies still send us the complex ones after. That's fine too.
What We Need From You to Scope This
The two-session structure is fixed. What changes is what we spend the time on. Tell us your team size, your crew's current estimating experience, and your typical claim volume and mix (residential, commercial, or both). A team that already runs Xactimate but keeps losing the same line items needs a different emphasis than a team building the skill from scratch, and knowing that up front is what makes session one land.
Pricing
Team Training Install
$9,500 flat
What you get:
- The complete TEC field system, as materials your team keeps: the inspection checklist, the roofing scope sheet, the photo protocol, and our XM8 macros with the notes already built in. These are the same materials our desk runs on, not a summarized version.
- Two live remote video sessions, 60 to 90 minutes each, capped at 5 seats. The first is the install: we walk your team through the system and how each piece feeds the next. The second is a field review 2 to 3 weeks later, after your team has run real jobs on it, so we are correcting actual files instead of hypotheticals.
- 30 days of email follow-up after the install, so questions that surface on live claims get answered while they still matter.
Delivered remotely, nationwide. There is no travel component and no travel cost, which is why a company in Montana pays the same as a company twenty minutes from us.
Additional sessions or seats beyond the five are quoted separately. Ask and we will scope it. If you are a single estimator rather than a team, the one-on-one training engagement is the right fit at $4,500.
Anyone can hand your crew a checklist. The field review two or three weeks later is where I find out what they actually did with it, which photos they're still skipping, which line items they're still leaving on the table, and correcting that on your real files is what changes your numbers.
Who This Is For
Roofing companies with an internal estimating function that wants to get more consistent, contractors scaling up and bringing supplement writing in house for the first time, and production managers who currently write supplements themselves and want a sharper, more repeatable process. This is not the right fit for a company that wants every file handled without building internal capability; for that, see our desk services instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a certification course?
No. This is practical, claims-focused training built around real supplement writing and denial response, not a generic software certification.
Can this be done remotely?
It is remote by design. Both sessions run over video, nationwide, with no travel component or cost, so a crew in Montana pays the same as one down the road.
Do you train on our actual claim files?
Yes, where possible. Training on live files tends to make the material land faster than working through generic examples.
How is this different from your desk services?
Desk services mean we write and submit files for you. Training means we teach your team to do it. Some use both: training for skill, a desk for overflow.
Related Reading
See roofing supplements and Xactimate supplement services for what a well-built supplement actually contains. For teams that decide outsourcing fits better than training, see our residential supplement desk and monthly retainer desk. Read more on about or reach out through order.
Ready to build a team that writes its own supplements?
Tell us your team size, experience level, and claim mix. We'll scope the two sessions around what your team actually needs.