Reading the Adjuster's Estimate: What to Check Before You Start Demo

The 30-minute estimate review process

Before you start demo, before you schedule subs, before you order materials, sit down with the adjuster's estimate and your own field notes. This review takes 30 minutes and it is the highest-ROI activity in your business. Start at the top of the estimate and read every line item.

For each one, ask three questions. First, is the measurement correct? Second, is the scope description accurate?

Third, is the unit price reasonable for your market? Then, when you reach the end, ask the most important question: what is missing? Compare the line items against your field notes and photos from the inspection.

Every trade that will touch the job should be represented. Every room with damage should have line items. Every code upgrade, every content manipulation charge, every appliance disconnect and reconnect should be accounted for.

The gaps you find during this review become your pre-demo supplement, which is the easiest supplement to get approved because you're catching items the adjuster simply overlooked, not items hidden behind walls.

Spotting incorrect measurements

Adjusters use Xactimate sketching tools to calculate quantities, and those measurements are only as accurate as the sketch. Common measurement errors include: room dimensions that don't match the actual space, drywall quantities calculated from room area without accounting for the full perimeter (walls are calculated by linear foot times height, not room square footage), flooring quantities that miss closets or pantries, and painting quantities that don't include door and window trim. Bring a laser measure to every job.

Verify the room dimensions in the estimate against your own measurements. A kitchen that the adjuster measured at 10x12 (120 SF) but actually measures 11x13 (143 SF) has a 19% measurement discrepancy that affects every square-footage-based line item in that room, including flooring, subfloor, drywall, painting, and base trim. That 23-square-foot difference can add $500-$1,500 to the claim depending on the scope.

Check perimeter measurements too. Baseboard, base trim, and wall base all use linear feet, and a missed wall or a wrong dimension compounds across multiple line items.

Identifying missing trades and line items

List every trade that will touch the project and verify each one has line items in the estimate. On a kitchen water damage restoration, the typical trade list is: demolition, plumbing, electrical, insulationFiberglass, Blown-In, or Spray Foam: What R-Value Means for Your ClaimInsulation is rated by R-value: resistance to heat transfer. Higher R-values mean better insulation. When your repair opens wall or attic cavities,...
Read more →, drywall hanging, drywall finishing and texture, flooring, painting, cabinetry or millwork, countertops, and final cleaning. If any of those trades is missing from the estimate, it is either missing scope or the adjuster assumed the work isn't needed.

Within each trade, look for the support items that adjusters frequently skip. Electrical disconnect and reconnect for appliances, $75-$200 per appliance. Contents manipulation for moving items out of the work area, $150-$500 per room.

Temporary protection of adjacent surfaces during demo, $100-$300 per area. Appliance removal and reset (pulling out the refrigerator, dishwasher, and range so flooring can be installed underneath), $50-$150 per appliance. These items individually are small, but on a kitchen job they commonly add up to $800-$2,000 in missing scope.

Check for painting scope specifically. Adjusters often scope painting at one coat when industry standard for restoration work is primer plus two coats, especially when new drywall is involved. The difference between one-coat and two-coat painting on a kitchen can be $400-$800.

Checking waste factors

Xactimate applies waste factors to materials like drywall, flooring, and insulation to account for cuts, fitting around obstacles, and unusable off-cuts. The default waste factor varies by material, but adjusters sometimes reduce or remove waste factors to bring the estimate total down. Standard waste factors in Xactimate are typically 10% for drywall in standard rectangular rooms and 15-20% in rooms with multiple windows, doors, and irregular layouts.

Flooring waste depends on the material and layout pattern. Straight-lay LVP or laminate runs 10%, while diagonal patterns run 15% and tile can run 10-15% depending on the tile size and room shape. Hardwood waste is typically 10-15% but can go higher for random-width plank or complex room shapes.

If the estimate shows 0% waste or unusually low waste factors, that's an immediate red flag. No flooring installer orders exactly the square footage of the room. It's physically impossible to install sheet goods without cutting and waste.

Check the waste factor on every material line item and compare it against Xactimate defaults. If it has been reduced below the default, ask the adjuster to explain why.

Verifying O&P inclusion

Scroll to the bottom of the estimate and look for overhead and profitOverhead & Profit: The 20% Most People Leave on the TableOn my own claim, I didn't know O&P existed until a contractor looked at my estimate and said, 'Where's the O&P line?' That missing line item was wo...
Read more → line items. They should appear as two separate percentage-based calculations, typically 10% overhead and 10% profit, applied to the total repair cost. If they are missing, count the trades on the project.

Three or more distinct trades means O&P is warranted under standard industry practice. If the project involves licensed trades (plumbing, electrical), required permits, or a reconstruction timeline exceeding two weeks, the argument for O&P is even stronger regardless of trade count. Some adjusters include O&P on the reconstruction scope but exclude it from the mitigation scope.

If your company handled both mitigation and reconstruction, and the coordination between those phases required general contractorGC or Handyman: How to Know Which One Your Repair NeedsThe line between a handyman job and a general contractor job isn't about the size of the repair. It's about the number of trades. One trade, a hand...
Read more → management, O&P on the full project value is justified. Check whether O&P is calculated on the full scope or just a subset. Some adjusters apply O&P only to the "GC-coordinated" portion and exclude items like cleaning, temporary protection, or content manipulation.

Those items are part of the project scope and should be included in the O&P base calculation. A $50,000 claim with O&P calculated on only $35,000 of the scope is leaving $3,150 on the table.

Comparing unit pricing to local market rates

Xactimate pricing is updated monthly based on regional labor and material surveys, but adjusters can manually override unit prices. Compare the unit prices in the estimate against current Xactimate pricing for your zip code. If you have an Xactimate license, run the same line items in a new estimate to see what the current database price is.

If the adjuster's price is lower, ask why. Common pricing discrepancies include: labor rates that don't reflect current market conditions (especially in markets with high demand after storm events), material prices that haven't been updated to reflect supply chain increases, and "program pricing" that some carriers negotiate below standard Xactimate rates. You don't have to accept program pricing unless you're on that carrier's preferred contractor program.

If you're not on their program, you're entitled to standard Xactimate pricing for your region. Pricing discrepancies of 5-15% on individual line items are common and can add up to thousands of dollars across a full estimate. A $4.

50 per square foot line item priced at $3. 80 on 500 square feet of flooring is a $350 difference on a single line item.

Red flags that signal supplement opportunities

Certain patterns in the adjuster's estimate almost always indicate supplement opportunities. If the estimate includes drywall replacement but no insulation replacement, check the wall cavities during demo because exposed cavities in exterior walls always have insulation that may be damaged. If flooring replacement is scoped but subfloor is not mentioned, the subfloor will need evaluation during demo.

If painting is scoped for the affected room but not for the adjacent room where new drywall meets existing, you'll likely need to supplement matching paint in the adjacent area. If cabinet toe kicks are not listed on a kitchen water loss, they are almost certainly damaged and will need supplementing. If there's no content manipulation charge, that's missing scope.

If there's no appliance disconnect and reconnect, that's missing scope. If there's no temporary protection for adjacent areas during demo, that's missing scope. Train yourself to read the estimate not just for what is there, but for what is absent.

The gaps in the adjuster's estimate are your supplement roadmap. Document every gap during your pre-demo review and revisit the list after demo to add the hidden conditions you discover.