What Is Xactimate? (And Why It Matters for Your Insurance Claim)

Xactimate — at a glance

What it is: the pricing software insurance carriers use to value restoration claims across the U.S.
Who uses it: virtually every national insurance adjuster and most legitimate restoration companies.
Why it matters: if your contractor doesn’t scope in Xactimate, your insurance claim will have translation disputes, delays, and possibly denial.
How Vault uses it: we scope every insurance job in Xactimate, submit directly to your adjuster, and bill the carrier.
Local vs regional pricing: Xactimate adjusts prices by ZIP code. Utah County pricing is in the system.

What Xactimate actually is

Xactimate is a software product made by Verisk Analytics (formerly ISO) that catalogs standardized labor and material prices for construction and restoration work, organized by task code and geographic ZIP code. Each item (hang 1/2″ drywall, remove and reset vanity, apply paint) has a code with a base cost, a labor minute, and a tax/overhead/profit calculation.

Insurance carriers and legitimate restoration companies both use the same Xactimate pricing. When both sides scope in the same system, the numbers match or come close — removing the back-and-forth that plagues claims where contractor and adjuster use different pricing.

Why it matters for your claim

Three scenarios:

Your contractor scopes in Xactimate. The scope lands on the adjuster’s desk in the same format they already use. Review is fast; approval is quick; no translation disputes.
Your contractor uses their own pricing (no Xactimate). The adjuster re-prices in Xactimate anyway, which usually comes out lower than the contractor’s number. The gap becomes the homeowner’s problem — pay the difference out of pocket, or renegotiate the scope.
Your contractor doesn’t know Xactimate exists. You end up as the translator between the contractor’s bill and the adjuster’s scope. Claims drag on for weeks. Partial approvals are common.

The first scenario is what you want. Ask any restoration contractor: “Do you scope in Xactimate?” If the answer is no or unclear, call someone else.

What’s in an Xactimate scope

Line items with task codes (DRY DRY1, PAINT TPAINT1F, etc.), quantities, unit prices.
Labor + materials broken out per line.
Overhead and profit (O&P) — typically 10% + 10% applied when 3+ trades are involved.
Tax calculated per ZIP code.
Sketch — floor plan diagram of affected rooms with dimensions.
Photos embedded with GPS and timestamp.
Moisture logs embedded for water damage jobs.

A full Xactimate scope for a mid-size water damage claim is often 15-30 pages. Looks intimidating but every page is standard carrier format.

What Xactimate does NOT do

It’s not a bidding system. It’s a pricing system. Three contractors scoping the same job in Xactimate should land within 5-10% of each other.
It doesn’t guarantee payment. Your coverage, deductible, policy limits, and exclusions still apply.
It doesn’t negotiate for you. If the carrier disputes a line item, that still has to be worked out between contractor and adjuster.
It doesn’t handle policy interpretation. If your mold coverage is capped at $5,000 and the Xactimate scope is $7,500, the gap is yours.

Red flag: contractors who dismiss Xactimate

Watch for lines like:

“Xactimate pricing is too low; we use our own.”
“Xactimate is for big companies, we’re more flexible.”
“We don’t need Xactimate — we have a relationship with the adjuster.”
“Just sign and we’ll figure out the insurance later.”

These are warning signs. Legitimate restoration companies use Xactimate because it’s what insurance uses. Contractors avoiding it are often planning to upcharge above approved scope, which becomes your problem when the carrier disputes.

How Vault uses Xactimate on your job

On arrival: we photograph and measure. Moisture readings go on the work order.
Within 24 hours: initial Xactimate scope sent to your adjuster.
During mitigation: daily moisture logs added to the file.
Before reconstruction: rebuild scope added, submitted for approval.
After approval: we work the approved scope.
Billing: we bill the carrier directly for the approved amount.

You pay your deductible. If the policy excludes something that’s part of the scope (mold cap, specific items), we show you the gap in writing before any work on that part starts.