Xactimate Roofing Software Explained: What It Does and What It Does Not

Xactimate is estimating software widely used by insurance carriers and by contractors who work insurance claims. It organizes repair work into line items with quantities, units and regional price lists, so an adjuster and a contractor can compare two estimates line by line.

The important idea is the shared format. When both sides are looking at the same structure, a disagreement becomes a specific question about one line, not a vague argument about the whole job.

Xactimate is made by Verisk. Check their product page for current features and pricing, because both change over time.

Adjusters typically build the original estimate in Xactimate. That means the original is already in a format with set item names, units and prices. When you send a supplement, the adjuster compares it against that original.

That is the reason supplements are easier to review when they follow the same structure. It is also the reason mistakes in units, quantities or price lists stand out quickly.

You do not always need to build a native Xactimate file. Many contractors submit a clear document that mirrors the line items. Requirements differ by carrier, so confirm what your adjuster accepts.

Those strengths make it the standard place to build and price an estimate. They are not the same as capturing proof on the roof.

Pricing the work is one job. Proving the work is needed is another. The photos, measurements and written reasons behind each supplement item usually live somewhere else: a phone camera roll, a general photo app, a notes app and an email thread.

That gap is where supplements slow down. The office has to match photos to findings, rewrite the crew's notes into something an adjuster can follow and build a package from scratch each time.

The table below compares the two jobs. It describes categories, not specific products, so check each vendor's current features.

A documentation tool sits next to your estimating software. It does not replace it. A simple workflow looks like this:

Supplement Snap is built for that workflow. Its export is a starting list, not a finished estimate. You still decide what goes out. See an example layout and the sample report to see the output.

Use the same questions on every product you try:

Then run one real job through it. Time the path from the first photo to a finished package and show the result to someone who was not on the roof. The tool that makes the clearest package fastest is usually the right one for you.

A few terms come up on almost every claim. Definitions here are general, and carriers and policies handle them differently, so check your own claim documents.

Understanding these helps you read the adjuster's estimate correctly, which is the first step to a supplement that lines up with it.

These show up often when contractors start submitting supplements:

A short, factual note with each item, plus labeled photos, does more than extra formatting. See how to write a roofing supplement for the full workflow.