Xactware Xactimate

Xactimate is described by its own vendor as the industry standard for property claims estimation, sitting alongside XactAnalysis for assignment, workflow and quality assurance across the claims network. Xactware is part of Verisk, which supplies data services to the insurance industry broadly.

Industry standard is an unusually literal claim here rather than marketing. Insurers require estimates in Xactimate format, so a restoration contractor who wants to be paid by an insurer learns Xactimate, and that requirement rather than any feature comparison is what determines the purchase.

The pricing data behind it is the actual asset. An estimate is built from line items with regional prices for labour and materials, updated as costs move, and both contractor and insurer accepting the same price list is what makes an estimate negotiable rather than an argument about what things cost.

That position raises a fair concern about concentration. One company effectively sets the prices both sides of a claim negotiate from, and while the alternative of every party using its own figures would be worse, a contractor should understand that the terms of the negotiation are set somewhere other than the table they are sitting at. Pricing was not captured from the Verisk page.