Methodology

What actually happens to your claim.

Eight stages, in order. Each one takes a defined input and produces a defined output, and the seventh is a person deciding what survives.

Estimate ingestion

Every document in the file is read in full — the carrier estimate, the roof report, the photos, the policy pages.

Xactimate ESX line items are read as written, not re-keyed from a PDF render
PDF estimates are decomposed to line level: selector, description, quantity, unit, unit price, RCV and ACV
Roof reports (EagleView, Hover, or your own measurements) are read for facet areas, pitch, ridge, hip, valley, rake and eave lengths
Photos are indexed by filename so a finding can point at a specific frame later

OutputA structured representation of the claim, not a summary of it.

Scope decomposition

The estimate is broken into the work it actually authorises, separated from the work it merely implies.

Each line is resolved to the operation it pays for — remove, replace, or both
Bundled lines are split into their component operations
Overhead, profit, and steep/high charges are separated from scope so they can't mask a missing item
The result is a scope inventory that can be compared against the property rather than against another estimate

OutputWhat the carrier has agreed to pay for, stated as operations.

Missing-scope detection

The scope inventory is compared against what the repair actually requires, and the gaps are proposed as candidate findings.

Operations required by an assembly but absent from the estimate — sidewall step flashing where the report shows sidewall, valley lining where it shows open valley
Quantities recalculated from the roof report rather than accepted as written
Waste factors re-derived against measured facet geometry and pitch
Accessories and terminations implied by a priced line but not themselves priced

OutputCandidate findings. Nothing here is a finding yet.

Code & specification analysis

Each candidate is tested against the requirement that would actually govern it at this property — not the model code.

The governing authority for the address is identified: city, county, or state
The adopting ordinance is read for the edition it names and its effective date
Local amendments are read for the chapters the claim touches
The edition in force at the date of loss is the one cited — not the current one
Manufacturer requirements are read from the published installation instructions for the assembly in question

OutputCandidates that survive, each attached to a specific citation.

Evidence review

A requirement alone doesn't carry a line. The file has to show the condition that triggers it.

Each surviving candidate is matched to the photo, measurement, or report page that evidences it
Candidates with a requirement but no evidence are separated rather than assumed
Every candidate is assigned a confidence tier that travels with it into the delivered package
Where evidence is missing, the exact shot or measurement needed is written down as a numbered request

OutputFindings with evidence, findings needing evidence, and flagged ambiguities.

Documentation generation

The surviving findings are written up as something an adjuster can act on without a phone call.

A supplement narrative, written to be sent from you, stating each item and the requirement behind it
A line schedule in Xactimate's own vocabulary — selector codes, quantities, unit basis
A citation appendix carrying the text of every code section and specification relied on, with its adopted edition
A photo exhibit with each supporting image labelled and tied to the line it supports

OutputA complete package, not yet cleared to send.

Quality validation

An experienced estimator reads the package and decides what stays. Nothing goes out on an algorithm's say-so.

Every proposed line is opened and checked against the edition actually in force
Citations are verified to exist, to be adopted at this property, and to say what the finding claims they say
Quantities are re-checked against the measurement they were derived from
Anything that cannot be defended in writing is removed — not downgraded, removed
Ambiguous items are flagged with the ambiguity stated plainly, and are never counted in a total

OutputA package where every remaining line is defensible on paper.

Contractor delivery

The package goes to you. It does not go to your carrier.

You receive the narrative, the line schedule, the citation appendix, and the photo exhibit
Any numbered evidence requests arrive with it, so you know what would strengthen the file
You decide what to submit, what to cut, and how to frame it to an adjuster you already know
You submit it under your own name and keep the carrier relationship

OutputA documented supplement, in your hands, ready to send.

Stage 05 · the scale

Three tiers, and the bottom one is the point.

Every candidate lands in exactly one of these before a person looks at it, and the tier travels with the line into the delivered package. A finding that can’t be supported stays labelled — it does not get quietly upgraded to make a total look better.

High confidence

A requirement that applies at this property, a scope gap that is visible in the file, and evidence that shows it.

Goes into the package as a documented line, with the citation, the quantity basis, and the photo reference printed next to it.

Needs documentation

The requirement and the gap both hold, but the file doesn't yet contain the photo or measurement that proves the condition.

Goes to you as a numbered request — the exact shot or measurement needed — and moves up a tier the moment it arrives.

Review

Something looks light, but the adopted code edition, the policy language, or the scope itself is ambiguous in the file.

Flagged for you with the ambiguity stated plainly. It is not counted in any total and it is never presented as a finding.

We would rather flag something for review than invent support for it.

Stage 04 · the hard part

Anyone can quote the IRC. The work is knowing it was adopted, in that edition, at that address, on the date of loss.

A jurisdiction on the 2015 IRC does not owe a 2021 requirement, and citing one is how a supplement gets dismissed whole. Stage 04 is the reason the guarantee on this site is writable at all.

How a jurisdiction gets verified

Where the process stops

The limits are part of the design.

An experienced estimator reads every package before it leaves. What that person will not do is as defined as what they will.

We don't contact your carrier

Not by phone, not by email, not once. The package goes to you and stops there.

We don't negotiate or represent

No settlement discussions, no policyholder representation, no appearance on your claim.

We don't guarantee approval

What a carrier approves is the carrier's decision. What we guarantee is the citation.

We don't invent a finding to fill a package

A line that shouldn't be there earns nothing under this pricing and costs credibility on the next claim.

The full legal boundaries

Run it on a real estimate.

Your first claim is free. The same eight stages, on a file of your choosing.

Submit your first claim free