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Thanks Ray, you really put up some helpfull posts for newbies!

I am trying to reach Bob Ashcroft from TX. He last worked the Florida Inspection Program for one year.I have a GOOD job for him.

Posted By Ray Hall on 22 Sep 2008 08:49 PM

. . . Can estimate your own house in some program. Assume the roof was blown off, all ceilings are wet, 2 windows are blown out of bedroom # 2 and the entire room is gutted. Take photos and label them(like the damage I described exist) draw a diagram of the roof, show all measurements on the diagram, drawn a foot print of the foundation. Always show north and the direction the house faces.

Ray, thank you for the excellent information. I will be taking the Xactimate class in a couple of weeks and had concerns about losing the knowledge that was taught to me before I have a chance to put it to use (use it or lose it!). Your suggestion will be a big help in retaining what we were taught and in becoming more proficient in the use of the software as well. However, I'm not sure how my wife is going to react when I start breaking out the windows and destroying the room!

Just tell her it could be worse, because my next post will be remove the large tree from the master bedroom that crushed grandmaws antigue 4 poster bed and dresser set. The sleep set was a new $2500.00 set. Velvet sheets, custom sham and spread and your Rolex on the dresser top.

Way to go, Ray. I agree. If you have been waiting for a chance to adjust some claims and gain some experience, this is the time. I will add a few things (before I get back to work).

You may only get this one chance to impress the vendor for whom you are working. Make it count. Be prepared to work 15 to 18 hour days seven days a week to keep up with some of your competition. Forget about taking the afternoon off to watch the football game and down some brewskis. Avoid getting into extended conversations with the Applebee's parking lot guy. Don't spend your nights partying and expect to be able to keep up. There will be months of downtime to party when the storm work settles down. Right now you have two priorities -- work and sleep. Don't try to figure out when you can wrap up and go home. Do try to figure out how you can stay as long as possible. Don't go out and inspect every loss you have before writing anything up. It will only generate phone calls and dissatisfaction. Leave yourself enough time to write the claims up and not confuse the claims with each other. Do answer the phone calls. If the call becomes a complaint call, you will have to answer phone calls from the insured, their agent, the claim examiner and your supervisor (4 calls back instead of one). Remember that a claim doesn't count until you close it. It doesn't matter if you've inspected 60 roofs if none of the claims are closed, so (did I say?) leave yourself enough time to write the claims up.

And........

Use sunscreen, for God's sake! You're in Houston and the sun can be wicked!

Clay,
Someone else asked a similar question a while back on one of the forums here. The best advice I heard in response was the suggestion to try to get the record expunged. You would probably need to consult Legal Counsel. I don't know the outcome of the other persons efforts, but it may be worth a shot. Our business is of a fiduciary nature and felonies are very much frowned upon.

The signature line below this post appears on all of my posts here, it is not directed at anyone in particular.

Clay,

I recently completed an employment bio and it did ask if I had any prior felony or misdemeanor convictions. It also asked to provide details and location. The second question leads me to believe that there may be some exceptions that they are willing/able to make. Good luck to you.

Steve

I have a few suggestions.  Get hold of a price guide.  Doesn't really matter if it's outdated when you are doing a practice estimate.  It may be possible to print one from an electronic program, but if you use Xactimate the price guide printout could be hundreds of pages.  You may only want to print out a couple of trades such as roofing, drywall, insulation and painting.  Then look at one of your friend's Xactimate estimates and work backwards.  Pull out the dimensions, scope, etc.  Then use your price guide and a calculator to put the estimate back together manually.

Or, get hold of a book such as the National Construction Estimator or the National Building Cost Manual for the pricing, go up on your own roof and measure it, pretend it has hail damage on both slopes, then on one slope only.  Include the gutters, maybe fascia and siding.  Then try an interior room or three.  Be sure to include waste and debris removal and all that good stuff.  The Mitchell Manuals can help you do the same thing for an auto estimate.  Again, they don't have to be current copies of these books so you might find old versions of these manuals at the library.

Back in the day, the State Farm IDC used to give you some practice at hand writing an estimate.  So did Vale.  They probably still do.  If you can hand write, that translates easily into being able to use Xactimate.  It may not work as easily the other way around.

Or, finally, you could go down to Texas and work with Ray Hall who has probably written more hand estimates than electronic ones.  Very few people can make that claim anymore and the number is becoming increasingly fewer.