Services
Xactimate Supplement
Services
A Xactimate supplement is written inside the carrier's own pricing software, coded with the carrier's own selectors, against the carrier's own current price list. That is what makes it harder to wave off than a letter or a contractor invoice. We write it, code it, and stay on the file until the carrier pays it.
By Kyle Hamrick, Founder
The Estimate Company is run by a licensed independent insurance adjuster, with claims experience across many states, writing for contractors nationwide. What we bring to your file is Xactimate fluency: correct codes, correct pricing, correct documentation, confirmed against your job rather than assumed from a template.
Licensed independent adjuster in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Alabama, writing Xactimate supplements for contractors nationwide. More about Kyle.
Why the Software Is the Argument
Every major carrier in the country prices roofing claims in Xactimate. It is not a contractor tool that carriers tolerate, it is the carrier's own pricing language. When a supplement is written inside that same software, using the same line-item structure, the same selectors, and the same monthly price list the carrier's adjuster already used, the desk reviewing it is not being asked to accept an outside opinion. It is being asked to reconcile its own file against a more complete version of the same document.
That is the entire reason Xactimate-native work outperforms a written appeal or a contractor invoice. A letter can be read and set aside. An invoice can be called padded. A correctly coded Xactimate line item sits next to the carrier's own line item, in the carrier's own format, and either matches the job or it doesn't. There is very little room for a desk adjuster to wave it off as opinion.
The six queries that lead here, Xactimate writing, Xactimate estimating, Xactimate scope writing, and Xactimate claim services among them, are all the same underlying need: get the software-native document right, because the software-native document is what actually moves a carrier.
Retail Estimate vs. Supplement: Not the Same Document
Some of the intent behind this page is retail estimating, some of it is supplementing an existing carrier file. They are related documents but they are not interchangeable, and writing the wrong one wastes the turnaround.
Retail Estimate
A standalone Xactimate scope for the job itself: material, labor, disposal, and overhead priced against current data, with no existing carrier file to correct. Used before a claim is filed, for cash jobs, or when a contractor needs a defensible number independent of any insurer's estimate.
Supplement
A corrective document written against the carrier's own existing estimate. It adds missed line items and fixes underpriced ones, coded the same way the carrier's original file is coded, so the two documents can be compared item by item instead of argued about in general terms.
Line-Item Coding: Why the Selector Matters as Much as the Number
Xactimate prices thousands of individual selectors, and the wrong selector on the right dollar figure still reads as a wrong claim to a carrier reviewer. A cap coded as field shingle, a steep charge missing its pitch basis, a penetration count that doesn't match the sketch: each one gives a desk adjuster a clean reason to deny the whole line instead of just the number. These are examples of the coding discipline we apply, not an exhaustive list, and every job gets its own review against its own sketch and photos.
Price List Currency: The Date on the File Matters
Xactimate price lists are published monthly and vary by region. Material costs move between cycles, and labor rates in a given area can move sharply after a large storm pulls contractor demand into that market faster than the price list catches up. An estimate written against last quarter's price list, or against the wrong region's list entirely, underprices the job even when every selector and every quantity on it is otherwise correct.
We confirm the price list date and the correct regional code before a supplement goes out. That is a small step to describe and an easy one to skip, and skipping it is one of the most common reasons a technically correct-looking estimate still comes in light.
The Sketch Is the Scope's Foundation, Not Decoration
Every quantity on a Xactimate estimate traces back to the sketch: roof area drives tear-off and shingle quantities, facet count and pitch drive the steep charge, perimeter length drives drip edge and gutter lines, valley and eave footage drives ice and water shield. If the sketch is off, every downstream quantity built on top of it is off in the same direction, and no amount of correct pricing on a wrong quantity fixes the total.
That is why we treat the sketch as the foundation of the document, not a diagram attached after the fact. A supplement built on an accurate sketch and accurate photos holds up to review because every number on it can be traced back to something a carrier reviewer can independently check.
ESX Delivery
The deliverable is a PDF. The ESX file, the importable Xactimate file itself, is free any time you ask for it, and retail estimate work with no supplement attached delivers the ESX. An ESX matters whenever the document needs to land in someone else's Xactimate platform rather than just be read: your own back office, a public adjuster, or the carrier's own reviewing desk. A static PDF can be read and set aside. An importable file can be opened, checked line by line, and reconciled against the carrier's own estimate inside the same software both sides already use.
Macros, Used Correctly
Macros speed up the genuinely repeatable parts of a scope: standard tear-off and disposal sequences, for example. What a macro cannot do is stand in for the sketch. Every roof carries a different pitch, a different facet count, a different penetration layout, and a scope built by running one macro over the whole job reads as generic because it is generic, a template that could belong to any roof rather than a document built for this one. We use macros where they save time without costing accuracy, and hand-check everything the sketch and photos actually determine.
Overhead and Profit: A Trade-Count Question
Overhead and profit is not a percentage a carrier volunteers because a claim is large or because a contractor asks nicely. It is owed when a loss reasonably requires coordinating three or more trades, and the question a carrier reviewer is actually checking is how many distinct trades the job requires, not how many dollars the estimate totals. A roof-only claim can still clear that bar when it also touches gutters, siding, or an interior repair tied to the same water intrusion.
We document the trade count on the file itself, not just in a cover note, so the O&P line has a basis a carrier desk can check against the same estimate rather than a number we're asking them to take on faith.
How We Work Your File
File Received
You send the carrier's Xactimate estimate, or the job details for a retail scope, plus photos and any sketch on hand.
Sketch and Codes Verified
We confirm the sketch, the price list date, and the correct region before a single line item is written.
Xactimate Written
The estimate or supplement is written and coded, selector by selector, against current pricing. Delivered as a PDF, ESX free on request.
Submitted to Carrier
For supplements, we submit to the correct carrier desk with documentation and photos attached to the file.
Followed Until Resolved
We follow up on open supplements until the carrier answers. Response runs roughly three weeks as a general expectation, and the file stays open on our side even when it goes quiet on theirs.
Before you send a file, our roof claim inspection checklist covers exactly what documentation makes a supplement land faster, sketch and photo notes included.
On claims where the roof is already approved for full replacement, our closed files show a median recovery of about $4,000, with half landing between roughly $1,800 and $9,500. Claims that start denied or repair-only run far higher, and we do not attach a number to that outcome because the range is too wide to be honest about in a single figure.
Two Promises, Stated Separately
The Fee
Our standard fee is 15 percent of supplemental recovery. If a file produces no additional approved recovery, you pay nothing on that claim. That is the entire fee structure, and it applies claim by claim.
The Guarantee
Send us an average of 2 claims per week for 12 months. If that volume doesn't produce a minimum of six figures in additional margin for your business, we write you a $5,000 check at the end of the 12 months. The volume, the term, the threshold, and the figure are one set of terms, and they travel together.
These are two different promises. The fee describes what a single claim costs. The guarantee describes what a year of steady volume is worth. Neither one changes the other.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a Xactimate supplement different from a regular supplement?
A Xactimate supplement is written inside the same software and against the same monthly price list the carrier's own adjuster used to write the original estimate. It is not a letter arguing for more money. It is a line-item document, coded with the correct selectors and activity codes, priced against current data for the correct region, that the carrier's desk adjuster can compare directly to their own file. That format is why it gets approved faster than a narrative appeal.
Do you write both retail estimates and supplements?
Yes, and they are different documents. A retail estimate is a standalone Xactimate scope written before or outside of a carrier claim: what the job costs, full stop. A supplement is written against an existing carrier estimate to correct it: it adds what was missed and fixes what was underpriced, item by item, against the same file the carrier already opened. We write both, and we tell you up front which one your job needs.
Why does the price list date matter?
Xactimate price lists update monthly by region, and material and labor costs move every cycle, sometimes sharply after a large regional storm pulls contractor demand into an area. An estimate written against a stale price list underprices the job even when every line item is otherwise correct. We confirm the price list date and the correct regional code before a supplement goes out, not after a carrier flags it.
Do you use macros to write the supplement?
We use macros to move faster on the parts of a scope that are genuinely repeatable, tear-off and disposal on a standard gable roof, for example. We do not run a generic macro over an entire scope and call it a supplement. Every roof has a different pitch, a different number of facets, different penetrations, and a different sketch, and a macro that ignores that produces a generic document a carrier can dismiss as generic. The sketch and the photos drive the final line items, not the macro.
Will I get an ESX file, or just a PDF?
The deliverable is a PDF. The ESX file is free any time you ask for it, and if the job is retail estimate work with no supplement attached, the ESX is the deliverable. An ESX matters when the person on the other end, a carrier desk adjuster, a public adjuster, or your own back office, needs to open the file in their own Xactimate platform rather than read a static document.
How is overhead and profit handled on a Xactimate supplement?
O&P eligibility in Xactimate is a trade-count question, not a dollar-amount question. Carriers owe O&P when a loss reasonably requires the coordination of three or more trades, and a roof-only claim can clear that bar when it also touches gutters, siding, or interior drywall from a leak. We document the trade count on the file itself so the O&P line has a basis the carrier can check, not just a total we're asking them to accept.
Send the estimate. We'll tell you what the codes actually owe.
Carrier estimate, sketch if you have it, photos either way. We'll come back with a correctly coded Xactimate document, next-day.