[927-ROOf]

I have been doing a lot of insurance jobs lately and for the roofing part I'm doing fine, but for things like tree damage to umm everything, and water damage to inside the home (ceiling texture, drywall repair, paint, ceramic floor tile poped up from freezing water, fraiming, splitrail fence ---) It's a lot of stuff to just guess. Any help would be really great! I know I could spend a day trying to price it all but heck it doesn't mean i'll get the bid and i've got things to do.

 

[Teetorbilt]

If you have been doing this for any amount of time, your guess should be good. Pad it to take care of any unforseens and submit. I haven't done breakouts for years, too time consuming.
Ya wins some and ya loses some but that is going to happen anyway, why waste time over it?

 

[lpsonbuilders]

Insurance Estimates!!

Take a look at Craftsman Books, they have an Insurance cost books thats powered by National Estimator Software. It's user friendly and can export over to Quikbooks and maybe Excel ? It's not that expensive and your able to change cost, markup and overhead ect...
Another note is Craftsman has worked with Home Depot to put out their own pro book. Setup the same similar format as the rest of there cost books. But you down load current pricing from your local Home Depot store Inventory very handy in finding out current pricing of any thing they sell! All so you can upload your order to the store for pick-up. Take a look! I'm always willing to try out something new! But this is not new, I think they have been doing this for three or more years! :Thumbs:

 

[Grumpy]

There are some programs out there with database connectivity to national databases of actual insurance rates. Expect to pay $150 monthly for the service, but you will price jobs exactly the same as the insurance companies do, and use their set prices as well.

 

[927-ROOf]

There are some programs out there with database connectivity to national databases of actual insurance rates. Expect to pay $150 monthly for the service, but you will price jobs exactly the same as the insurance companies do, and use their set prices as well.

Thanks guys!
I have a freind that is an estimator for different insurance companies and I can't keep bugging him with this stuff. Some of the prices the insurance companies pay is pretty darn good and they pay for things I would forget, or not charge for, like moving furniture per room. (around $300 each) Access to project being a burden X amount and so fourth.

 

[DecksEtc]

they pay for things I would forget, or not charge for, like moving furniture per room. (around $300 each) Access to project being a burden X amount and so fourth.

Doesn't that just point out one of the insane problems with insurance companies and one of the reasons insurance rates are ridiculously high!

$300/room to move furniture!!!! That would be like me charging someone to move their patio set or picnic table because it's sitting where the deck is going. Can you imagine saying "the total for you deck is $30,300" and then "What's that? You want to know what the $300 will be for? Well, that's because we're going to have to move those lawn chairs and BBQ out of the way while we work. Now, if you want us to put it back on the deck after we're done, that will be another $300.00"

And people wonder why their insurance rates go up when they don't make any claims.

 

[trekr]

http://www.xactimate.com

Alot of the insurance carriers (SF) use this program to do estimates. So, you can definately get close to where they'll come in...