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Gale Hawkins
PowerClaim.com
Posts:327
 | | 03/15/2008 1:57 AM |
| | Thanks John. While I am pleased to have lived to 57 it is a stark reminder of earning years left and the nest egg required to retire without having to downsize expenses to meet what a lower income will support. :) | | | |
| John Blakesmith
Posts:18
| | 03/25/2008 8:59 PM |
| If I may ask a simple question in regards to MSB and Xactware pricing. I am a contractor that uses software estimating and have for years. I started working storm damaged properties back in 95 and have been in 6 hurricanes,12 hailstorms and 3 windstorms.I've developed a mutual respect and even have a few close friends that are in the adjusting community that know I write very accurate and honest estimates. I have NEVER had a serious problem coming to agreement with an adjuster until this week. It was a 23 yr old pilot adjuster using MSB while I am using Xactware25...The boy and I had the roof measured within 20 sq ft of each other and the valley metal is within inches of each other. The roof is 22 sq. He had 4400.00 and I had 6500.00 I have been using Xactware for several years and all line items in each of our estimates are identical twins. I've rad here, claimsjournal,insurancejournal,30 to 35 web articles on Pilot, Allstate and MSB trying to uncover pricing strategy,etc and read negative and positive slants of opinion. Allstate and Pilot have always presented somewhat of a challenge tht seemed to get progressively more of a challenge to get into agreement (particularly Charlie,Fran,jeanne,Wilma) but always ended in a close to reasonable result. How can they be that far apart.
John B | | | |
| John Blakesmith
Posts:18
| | 03/25/2008 9:07 PM |
| Correction: 24.42 sq with 9 sq 2 story. Job is in Seattle WA THX...John B Ps. I pulled 17 xactware claims from 8 different claims from 6 different adjusters / carriers and they are all with 250.00 of mine | | | |
| Larry Hardin
Adjuster
Oklahoma City, OK
Posts:279
| | 03/25/2008 10:00 PM |
| I would bet it's an Allstate claim.
Any takers? | |
Larry D Hardin | |
| John Blakesmith
Posts:18
| | 03/26/2008 12:25 AM |
| Larry, it is an Allstate claim. The issue is I've always worked it out to within reason. The homeowner gave me the MSB/Pilot/Allstate scope/estimate and it's 44.00 for mat'l and 45 for labor. + 11% O&P. Where do they get their numbers. The cost of shingles themselves is 43.25 w/o tax and labor is 50.00 without burdens or labor tax ( Wash State loves taxes- they tax labor in addition to sales tax on the contract. Any solutions shy of suggesting me becoming a nasty jerk would be appreciated. I like to keep things civil /professional with all parties involved.
THX..John E Blakesmith
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| Bob Harvey
Gold Member
California, Central Coast
Posts:318
| | 03/26/2008 1:16 AM |
| Posted By John Blakesmith on 03/26/2008 12:25 AM
The cost of shingles themselves is 43.25 ...Any solutions shy of suggesting me becoming a nasty jerk would be appreciated. Explain that you need him to share with you some of the other "descriptions" for roofing material, as your software and his software may not be describing the same thing. Get him to tell you what MSB would allow for 25 year laminated, 30 year, etc, because you folks have the same measurements but something is off. So far you haven't told us what the roof is made of - but obviously you and the adjuster just looked at it. He must be calling it the wrong thing if the materials are that far off.
Some software includes the drip edge, etc and some you have to call it out, ditto for pipe jacks, et. He can drill down to the "info" thing on MSB and see what is included. Do you have the same description of removal, is he allowing 10% waste for Gable on the put-back, 15% if it's a hip roof or cut-up roof, etc.? | | | |
| John Blakesmith
Posts:18
| | 03/26/2008 2:47 AM |
| Hello Bob Harvey, I appreciate the reply. Its a 20/25 yr 3 tab walkable,all metal measurements match.Access are the same but the pricing is way off. When the kid couldn't answer my questions he referred it to his manager at pilot and the manager appears to have a poor opinion of all contractors (can't blame him to an extent) and refuses to answer my questions also. I just got the actual Pilot estimate papers this afternoon.However the kid gave me the verbal amount 2 hours after we met. The only difference is price allowance. His dump and clean up totalled 490 and mine was 279 because I supply my own dump trailers and don't have the cost associated with dumpsters hanging over my head.I don't charge what I don't incur.I am befuddled because MSB/Allstate can't be that far off or the entire contracting community would be up in arms. Waste is proper,jacks are proper,valley metal is proper,box vents are low but not an issue,no drip edge. I showed the homeowner 17 different estimates from other claims to show him mine are to the penny in line with all the other carriers, the kid asked me for me to fax him comparables and I did with the private info blacked out(claim#.name,street address,etc).Does Allstate have proprietary pricing because other MSB generated estimates have been low but the adjuster and I met somewhere in the middle. I had an Allstate claim 2 weeks ago and I was 27.00 lower than the adjuster and we both had a laugh at the price difference (lack of).
Again,THX for your time to reply
John B
PS.I'm an Arcadia CA native
John B
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| Bob Harvey
Gold Member
California, Central Coast
Posts:318
| | 03/26/2008 3:33 AM |
| Gotcha. Something is whacked out, like he is using "repair by homeowner" instead of contractor - something is way off on the pricing.
I had to switch to MSB for one account after using Xactimate for 15 years and it was really strange... but if you roll up your sleeves it is possible to find the repair items and do a fair estimate. I am kinda buried in work right now or I would offer to write the 2 roofs up on different software and see what happens. Maybe someone else can volunteer. Or see if an Allstate Agent can share with you some claim settlement examples from other people in this storm because I cannot believe they are all coming out that way. The guy has to be doing something (unintentionally) that is pulling the price down and it likely remains a mystery because we don't see it on the printed page. Like it's the wrong zip code, or something is way off and we aren't at his computer screen to get into the guts of his estimate.
It's to his benefit to figure this out too, so he can close some files and get paid. | | | |
| John Blakesmith
Posts:18
| | 03/26/2008 3:53 AM |
| Bob ,Thank You for your reply. I was beginning to assume as much about his estimate. I ordered an MSB demo disk a few months ago but found it overwhelming as compared to xactware. I met a Crawford adjuster in Indianapolis that taught Sketch and gave me several shortcuts and some intellectual nuggets after I helped him on a commercial claim. I also appreciate you mentioning running t on 2 systems to see what happens. I can understand overoaded with work. Washington state had several wind events in the past year or so.Have a good evening and again THX..
John E Blakesmith | | | |
| Bob Harvey
Gold Member
California, Central Coast
Posts:318
| | 03/26/2008 4:02 AM |
| Coolness. In my short experience with MSB, I just have to say that the software DOES NOT SAVE YOUR WORK until you exit the estimate. I learned that the hard way and tech support confirmed it for me. There is no "save" or "save as". It just saves when you close the estimate.
With Xactimate you can insert a repair item anywhere in the estimate by selecting a place in the estimate and pressing the "insert" key. I did that with MSB and got a "divide by zero" error and the system froze. Had to pull the plug and lost a large estimate. I use battery back ups and take precautions, so that one surprised me.
I liked DDS when it came out, but MSB needs a major modernization if it is going to approach the other choices out there. | | | |
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