Xactimate for Water Damage Restoration: A Beginner's Guide

Xactimate is the estimating platform virtually every insurance carrier in North America uses to approve restoration invoices. If you can't build a clean Xactimate estimate — or at least read one — you're going to lose money on every job. Here's the beginner's orientation we wish someone had given us.

WTR: The Water Category

Water damage line items in Xactimate all begin with the prefix WTR. Common ones you'll use daily:

• WTR EMR — Emergency service call (trip charge, one time per event)
• WTR EQAM — Air mover, per day
• WTR EQDH — Dehumidifier (refrigerant), per day
• WTR EQDL — Dehumidifier (LGR), per day. Read when to use each.
• WTR EQAF — Air scrubber / AFD, per day
• WTR EXTRACT — Water extraction, per SF of affected floor
• WTR ANTI — Antimicrobial application, per SF
• WTR CON — Containment barrier, per LF
• WTR MON — Post-setup monitoring visit

Sketch First, Line Items Second

The Xactimate sketch is the source of truth for square footage, wall length, and floor perimeter. Bad measurements make every line item wrong. Use a laser distance meter and sketch every affected room, including closets and hallways adjacent to the loss.

The Documentation That Justifies Each Line

Adjusters approve line items when the file supports them:

• Equipment days — justified by your daily monitoring log
• Antimicrobial — justified by product SDS + Cat 2/3 declaration
• Content manipulation — justified by inventory list + photos
• Demo line items — justified by pre-demo moisture map

See our documentation guide for the full package.

Rebuild vs Mitigation Estimates

Water losses generate two estimates: the mitigation estimate (extraction, drying, controlled demo) and the rebuild estimate (drywall reinstall, paint, flooring). Most restoration shops only bid mitigation; if you're bidding both, know that the two files travel separately and are often assigned to different adjusters.

Common Mistakes That Get Kicked Back

• Charging LGR rates when only refrigerant dehus were on site (adjusters check serial numbers)
• Billing air movers past the day your log shows dry standard was met
• Missing the "double time" or "detach & reset" modifiers on cabinet removal
• Not applying regional pricing — Xactimate pricing is ZIP-specific

Learn the Software Deliberately

Verisk (Xactimate's owner) offers Xactimate Fundamentals — a paid online course that pays for itself on your first correctly-coded job. For water-specific line items, shadow an experienced estimator at your shop and study invoices they've had approved.

Great estimates come from great documentation, which comes from great S500 discipline. Sharpen the discipline with our Documentation topic quiz.