What Is Xactimate?

An Xactimate estimate is built from line items. Each line names one task or material, such as tear-off, underlayment, shingles, or pipe flashing, and carries a quantity, a unit, and a unit price taken from a regional price list that the software publisher refreshes on a regular schedule. The estimate then totals the work, applies depreciation where the policy calls for it, and subtracts the deductible to reach the payment amount.

On a storm job the adjuster’s estimate is often written in Xactimate, and it is the document the homeowner receives after the inspection and the first thing a roofing rep should ask to see. Reading it shows which items are included, how many squares were counted, and what was left out. Contractors often build their own estimate in the same format so that a supplement request lines up with the carrier’s file row by row instead of arriving as a letter.

Two people can open the same program and reach different totals, because quantities, included items, and price-list settings all move the result. The software prices a scope; it does not decide what a policy owes. Its unit prices are regional averages that a local crew’s real costs can beat or miss, and a contractor’s Xactimate figure is a documented request, not an amount the carrier has agreed to pay.