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They have done away with the little blue book. It is a drop down search tab to look up items if needed in the estimating screen

I have been out of the industry for awhile but used simsol when it first came out. I have tried other estimating programs recently and agree that simsol is a far superior product.

Thanks for all the kind words of support. Even though X/ISO is required by many of the top carriers who assign the bulk of cat and everyday losses, Simsol continues to grow. Not a week goes by that a contractor or adjusting firm gets fed up with X/ISO and switches at least some of their estimating needs to our software. We currently have over 5,000 paying users who love the program and use it on every claim when X/ISO is not required. Here at simsol we very much appreciate the support and are doing everything in our power to knock out X/ISO whenever we can. We are winning the small battles but have a ways to go to win the war. X/ISO just put out a press release that they are now going to monthly price database "increases". This means the unknowledgeble insurance carriers blindly using X/ISO will be paying more for claims every month. Who in their right mind thinks construction costs go up every month. I have been in this business for 30 years and it just isn't so. X/ISO companies are paying unbelievable dollars for just using X/ISO software. Now they will be paying more every month in their estimates. IMHO, any company that contunues to use X/ISO in 2009 needs a reality check and should do some serious due dilignece before renewing their X/ISO contract.

I have had Simsol for 7 years and really like it. I used a carrier laptop loaded with Xactimate for Hurricane Katrina. I found it to be pretty archaic. Using codes or searches to locate items is a real bore and time consuming. Sketch is also time consuming. Good luck to Simsol in getting more carrier acceptance. As for pricing, let's face it, Xactimate markets to Contractors. Although, I will admit, Simsol can be a little "skimpy" on some items.

Posted By Joe Black on 30 Dec 2008

...Mr. Postava, A question for you: If the exact same scope of repairs were written in the current version of Xactimate and Simsol, are you saying that Simsol will be lower in all, or most all, cases? Just curious if any actual comparisons have been made? Thanks.

Posted By Jeffrey Finley on 21 Dec 2008 
...As for pricing, let's face it, Xactimate markets to Contractors. Although, I will admit, Simsol can be a little "skimpy" on some items.

Re construction contractors use Xactimate as the carriers require it to be used to be on the guaranteed programs , such as State Farm, USAA, CSAA or Contractor Connection and now Safco's Innovation program. Etc. When the 80 % of carriers who use Xact now decide to use another program such as Simsol or MS/B and the contractors follow, will those be considered a contractor program??? .... Xact has been around a long time now and however it started either as a contractor based program or whatever it has become this 800 pound gorilla that the 80 % like for whatever reason.....

Xactimate and Simsol are two very different animals. Xactimate has a residential construction pedigree, while Simsol has a residential flood pedigree. Xactimate is code based while Simsol is mouse based. Xactimate develops pricing internally and Simsol uses the Craftsman books.

Simsol is the residential flood program and can be used for residential/hail wind. Xactimate is the residential wind/hail program and can be used for flood. Neither are particularly good for writing large commercial estimates. Xactimate is backed by the largest US residential carrier, which assists in developing the price database as do contractors that use the contractor version.

I expect that both will be updated as the move from 32 bit to 64 bit operating systems moves with the introduction of Window 7 and the new I7 chip.

Posted By Tom Toll on 01 Jan 2009 
...I had always heard the Xactimate had a good commercial database, not true.

Thanks, Bob. Almost my thoughts to a T. Xactimate is clearly the best program for the general commercial adjuster and the adjuster on that odd piece of property.

At the moment I am doing some litigation support for a defense firm which involves commercial claims from Katrina. I would like to put my observations down in writing here, but it is hard to provide a view of what got the claim into suit. None of the adjusters used Xactimate, all of the hired estimators did. Generally speaking the hired estimators researched commercial pricing for specialty items, to quote Bob, "Of course there is always the unique item that you have to research and add yourself." and none of the adjusters appeared to have done much research. Simsol, Powerclaim and MSB are the three estimating programs used by the several adjusters involved. And please don't take my observation as any negative comment, it is what it is a personal observation.

At the moment I am following 2 other adjusters and a contractor on a metal roofing claim.We all know that seemingly minor things like the gauge of the metal, profile and coatings change the price of the materials and labor. 29 gauge metal with Weather-X top coat and a primer backing in a residential profile is cheaper and easier to install than 26 gauge with Kyanr 500 or Hylar 500 coat and a resin backing in a commercial profile, but none of the estimating programs adequately describe the line item. As far as I know Xactimate is the only estimating program that allows me to write a line item and save it for future use.

I am going to buy a copy of Xactimate contractor just to see the differences. Surely Xactimate contractor allows the contractor to install specialty items and prices and to retain them. Maybe Simsol contractor would also. I have never seen any mention of an MSB/Integraclaim contractor version.

My whole plan is to move away from utilizing a laptop to write estimates and move to a workstation with virtually unlimited RAM and at least 4 screens. Then run Xactimate contractor, Photo Adjuster with Microsoft Word for reports and abstracts of coverage and Microsoft Excel for the Statement of Loss. I also want to be able to run wave files so that I can listen to my dictated scope notes. Is there a pure 64 bit estimating program available?

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