So many of us are looking for the best training schools, unfortunately with so little work out there our pockets are getting very lean and can't afford those $500.00 classes.   I recently purchased what I think is the best self study Xactimate 25 manual I have ever seen. This book has 377 pages and I was able to teach myself the software.  I just wanted to let everyone know that there is a cheaper alternative out there. The web site is www.learnxactimate.com 

Good Luck, 

Keith

the best trainning book if have ever reviewed for xactimate 24 and 25 is produced by richard beckner it tops the sf staff material

I wrote the largest checks in Ft. Lauderdale during Rita, closing 420 homeowner and commercial claims.  Closed 400 claims the following year in Madison WI and St Louis MO.  I thought I had all the training and on the job experience that could be had.  I was wrong I learned more from Richard in 2 days than any Cat adjuster provider company or company trainer could offer in weeks of training.  The material teaches you what you need to know and all the tricks to make you efficient, accurate and effective.  The best money I have spent since starting this profession, well maybe my gps was as good.  It is obvious: "been there done that" applies to Richard.

This is the real deal. I purchased the Xactimate24 manual because I was assigned to a hail storm where the carrier required the use of Xactimate. So there I was scope notes in one hand and this manual in the other. After the first minute it became obvious that Richard knows what he was talking about. The manual was easy to understand, diagrams and pictures in the right places to make it easy. I learned Xactimate24 in a very, very short time and to this day I have it with me as a reference. The best thing is I just received Xactimate25 which is better than Xactimate24. Finally, a useful tool for the field. 

I have reviewed Rich's Xactimate 24 manual cover to cover and I can attest that it is the most effective and thorough guide as a hands-on practical reference of this popular estimate program.  His use of easy to read graphic screen captures and notations along with step by step instructions makes this book the definitive source for learning Xactimate.  This manual is not just for those learning the software, but is also a quick reference to experienced adjusters that need to brush up before a storm.  With this manual, you will be able to keep writing your estimate into the wee hours of night when your tech support specialist is not available.  I highly recommend Rich's books.  They should be in every adjuster's took kit of reference guides.

I am technically soft on Exactimate. Are the companies requiring the use of 25 or 24. If I learned 25, would I be wasting my time, I assume you have to buy both programs if one company wants 25 and another wants 24. Good lord, that sounds ridiculous.

Just co-incidence.

Yep.

Tom I have been using Xactimate since 1993 and the changes have been fairly gradual. There was a major change when it went to a Windows based interface around 1997, and when Sketch got debugged enough not to crash daily a couple years later that was a change, now it has been some refinements - but not like serious changes if you had learned the previous version.

There is a tutorial within the "help" section of the program that has demonstrations with sound, and you can navigate to the early basics of the program and do separate chapters including how to make a staircase with landing, roofs, etc. That is the basic knowledge that needs to be known before any "macros" or "speed secrets" would have meaning. And there is a DVD that Xactimate will send out for about $30 that has good tutorials.

Once the basics are established, further training is always good - but I find the best bang for the buck to be actual use of the product on a paying claim file. And I like to do the Xactimate Sketch ON-SITE whenever possible, because if you scribble a bunch of notes and then try to put the floor plan together the next day, you may find things that don't line up like they did in the real world. It doesn't take that much longer to do it on-site, even if you enter the repair steps later - the diagram is vital with Xactimate and the sketch part is no longer a novelty. People pretty much expect you to use Sketch if you are using Xactimate.

You are shifting gears from MSB - and that is going to be the largest single change, using Sketch.  MSB has that little place where you can draw a diagram, but it is very limited compared to the diagramming features in Xactimate.  And the way you find the repairs steps in Xactimate is going to be a change for you - the trades are "grouped" in a way that makes sense but won't be familiar to an MSB user.  The doors are in a category of doors, but the knobs-locksets-hinges are in a different Finish Hardware category.

If you use the "search" feature to look up your repair items, it will put you where you want to be.  And as you are looking within the doors, or drywall or whatever there are so many items it can be like a needle in a haystack - so you hit F2 and search within that category.  I prefer it to MSB because the database is better, and I don't feel as constrained by the limits of the program as I do with MSB.