| 10/13/2009 8:02 AM |
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Two current questions:
1. I recently did a practice estimate on a Wind/Hail with a concurrent Grease Fire in Kitchen with heavy smoke damage throughout the dwelling. In scoping the loss I took about 80 photos. When I started the claim I imported allof the photos into the claim. I have yet to find a way to remove the unused photos from the claim. Does anyone know how to do this?? In the future I will know to only put in those photos that I THINK I may use in the claim,but I will bet that this will happen to me again, on a smaller scale.
2. Being the first fire/smoke claim that I have done, it took me HOURS to pick through all of the price lists to do the cleaning, packing, painting, etc.etc. I have some templets and macros made, BUT they were almost as slow to use as the price list. Has anyone got any system for setting up macros/templets by Room, Activity, or What? Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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| 10/13/2009 11:08 AM |
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Has anyone tried this? I was doing a roof sketch the other day. When i put a HIP jut-out roof onto the main roof I had a straight line extending onto the main roof. I took this line and made a vertex. I tilted the vertex back to the ridge of the main roof and got a valley that is dimensioned on the sketch. Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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claims_ray Member Posts:293  
| 10/13/2009 11:18 AM |
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Jim, you sound like a kid that got a new action figure and has discovered a new trick that he can do with it. Good going.
I don't know which estimating system that you are working with however if you are using Xactimate.
1. When you open the photos Highlight the photos that you do not want and there is a selection to the right under the larger photo to remove.
2. I have a decent memory and find that I am faster without using macros.
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| 10/13/2009 11:35 AM |
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Jim:
If you are using X-mate, you go to Windows, Images (or ctrl shift g), and then you can add or remove images also.
I dump photos into a subdirectory of an individual claim. I have a "data" directory set up on my C drive to accommodate everything I need to back up, and the photo level is pretty far down as a subdirectory of a claim.
Here is a program that was recommended by Tim Johnson on CADO several years ago to bulk reduce many photos in size. You can use this before importing into anything, though Xmate does photo reduction as well:
www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/
I have used the program. It works well, and it is free.
Someone once sold a library of macros (K-squared?). Not sure if they still do. I don't use them, but people with more experience may have a different opinion on this.
RJ |
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ChuckDeatonLife Member  Senior Member Posts:1110 
| 10/13/2009 1:56 PM |
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When you scope an interior fire claim, a useful trick is to start in the room fartherest from the fire, use a piece of white tissue paper to wipe the top of the doors, the top of the door facing and the top of the fan blades, if you get a gray color that is dust, if you get greasy looking black that is smoke damage. Take a photo of the tissue paper and identify it for your file.
"Prattling on and on about being an ass with experience doesn't make someone experienced. It just makes you an ass." Rod Buvens, Pilot grunt
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| 10/13/2009 2:04 PM |
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Reply to all, yes I have a new toy and am having a ball. I am fairly competent with the overall operation of the application, but as a beginner I still fumble looking up the codes, the reason for my question on macros. Since I asked that question I have set up a dozen macros dedicated to each room, or specific activity such as paint. I just finished a smoke claim on an efficiency from start to finish. I will fine tune the macros more and speed this up.
Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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| 10/13/2009 10:33 PM |
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I use macros all the time, and they are very helpful. But the thing I use the most is the "retrieve scope" function, which allows you to copy the scope of one room to other rooms in the same estimate.
I use the macro feature to write the damage in the first room of the estimate, and then use "retrieve scope" to write the damage in the other rooms.
A procedure that works for me is to start the estimate in the room with the most damage. Then I copy that scope into the next room, which usually has a little less damage, so I remove the unwanted scope items from the second room. And so on to the last room. The first room may have 10 or 15 scope items in it, while the last room may only have 2 or 3 scope items. I find that it is easier to remove items from a scope than it is to add items. Hope that makes sense.
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Ray HallSenior Member Posts:2443
| 10/14/2009 1:21 AM |
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I think all the old timers will say they can handwrite a roof claim on the old State Farm form with the roof fiagram and be gone, before you can input all the info in the puter. I agree on a 3-4 line total roof claim for straight down hail. BUT if you can not one shot the claim for any reason this were the puter gets good, all your areas are in ,measured, scoped and estimated and you feel you have a handle on the loss. You do. Now ehen the contractors, homeowners, attorneys, PA come after you, you use your adjusting skills...... "they all have to be closed, it might as well be me who gets paid for it" we are betting back to no cure no pay and investigate and make a recomendation, I still work for the pay.
Hey you old flood adjusters , do you still have a calus on your middle finger from those 40 page estimates with adding machine tapes. It still have mine, but it's nicotine stained any longer.
Oop,s macro's good on drywall dwellins and comp roofs.
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| 10/14/2009 4:30 AM |
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Thank you Joeblack,
I had not gotten around to retrieve yet. Probably would have found it later rather than sooner without your post. Am in the process now of editing my Macros. When I built them I put every possible thing in the bedroom macro for example that could be found in a bedroom. When I put the macro into the estimate I was then having to delete 80% of what I just put in. Live and Learn!!
Have you done any work with sketch macros? I am thinking of building a few standard roofs that can be edited in sketch to save time.
Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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| 10/14/2009 10:27 AM |
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Just so you know. Do not OVER RELY on the miracle of the macro. Once apon a time the lead adjuster for Sakansky & Assoc. fired up his macros to Remove & Reset the toilet in every room in the house. USAA fired him on the spot, and this was one of the straws that loaded down the camel for losing the account.
Ol' Ghost
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Ray HallSenior Member Posts:2443
| 10/14/2009 12:00 PM |
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I do not use macro's any longer as the edit-delete takes longer that the scope for THIS loss. The exception is a large loss area to area and then dump the whole macro when the loss is closed and build a new one next time you need it. Thats just me.
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Ray HallSenior Member Posts:2443
| 10/14/2009 12:08 PM |
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This is kinda in the ballpark. About 3 years ago 05 06 a firm with lots of promised condo losses in Florida wanted xmate scopers to start at the top floor, decend with a rolling desk laptop, photo and delete what was not damaged and then turn in to the GA who would finalized the report and loss on a disk. Any feed back, but I dont think Florida had but one cane in 05 and non in 06,07, 08 or 09. Thats storm work WOW.
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| 10/14/2009 12:56 PM |
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Reply to all, I can not disagree with over reliance on macros. I have done 2 more smoke estimates this AM and a wind/roof replacement. All of these were in the 1600sq ft area. On of the things I noticed with the macros is you have to be careful about duplicationof items in the same room. I found my duplicates by sort the item list by sorting in the estimate pane the items by description.
As a question, when am doing a smoke or water damage claim I am averaging 30-50 line items by room. Using either a macro or picking the items from the price list is TIME consuming. Is there a way to shortcut this, am I putting too much detail , or what????
Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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BobH Veteran Member Posts:759 
| 10/14/2009 1:03 PM |
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You are not going to want to hear what I am saying, but I will say it anyway.
Put your attention on simply observing, finding the repair items for the damages you see, and write the estimate.
Ignore macro's for a year, maybe more.
Bob H
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ChuckDeatonLife Member Senior Member Posts:1110
| 10/14/2009 1:34 PM |
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We have Bluetooth Distos and Bluetooth cameras that work on a laptop stand on casters, we use a janitors cart we bought at Harbor Freight, with a lead acid battery, trickle charger and inverter that can be moved from room to room in a large building. Macros work very well in handling claims on large commercial buildings with lots of rooms with similar damage and finish.
Very few newbies are going to be in a claims situation where macros will speed up estimate writing. Most likely macros will speed up mistake making.
I have a similar setup that I use to catalog head stones in cemeteries.
"Prattling on and on about being an ass with experience doesn't make someone experienced. It just makes you an ass." Rod Buvens, Pilot grunt
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Leland Advanced Member Posts:741
| 10/14/2009 6:51 PM |
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when the file examiner discovers a toilet seat replacement inside the kitchen and shag carpeting in the bathroom you might feel bad that you used macros.
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| 10/14/2009 7:38 PM |
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Bob, I hear you and the others. I have been playing with macros as my posts indicate, and have not yet put shag carpet in the bathroom, since my first post on this subject. I do think one of the values in a rookie such as me building these templetes is repetition, repition, and repition in finding price codes. I am already starting to get more familiar with the price lists and which ones for some of the more common items. As was mentioned in earlier posts I have spent some time in the edit and/or rebuild of my macros to help eliminate this problem. Most of mine are room specific for furniture, or kitchen fixtures, or bath fixtures so I do not have the problem of replacing the toliet seat in the kitchen. Flooring is broken into the major types, carpet, tile, wood, vinyl. so far in the 1/2 dozen practice claims that I have done since the rework I have found no major errors YET. Ray Hall is reviewing those claims and I do not have his comments back yet. Jim Acree
Stupidity is the art of not trying to learn
Ignorance is the lack of opportunity to learn
I am ignorant
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Ray HallSenior Member Posts:2443
| 10/14/2009 8:45 PM |
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50 items in one room-too many , drywall damaged by water may have 4 lines. |
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LelandAdvanced Member Posts:741
| 10/15/2009 1:39 AM |
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one way you can do it is only leave in the items that are common to every room: drywall, electrical rewire, baseboard, paint. Then ADD what's missing.
Instead of throwing EVERYTHING in every room and then having to delete so many items.
A contractor I know does it this way:
he uses a bathroom macro, kitchen macro, etc.
everybody has their own way.
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| 10/15/2009 11:15 PM |
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The most common loss I see is minor water damage due to a leaking roof or plumbing leak, which has damaged the ceiling. So I have a very simple macro for minimum drywall repair, minimum insulation, sealing the ceiling, texturing the ceiling, covering and protecting walls and floor, contents moving, detach and reset light fixture, and debris removal. Thats it. Very simple. Use it all the time.
I have another macro with the above items in it, plus sealing and painting the walls, openings, doors, windows, and other trim.
And another one with all of the above, plus carpet and pad.
I just use the one thats right for the claim, and it makes it easy to add or subtract as needed for that particular claim.
Another macro I use all the time is a roof macro. I have some macros for fire damage also.
My macros are geared toward the type of damage that is involved, rather than by type of room. To me, a macro would not save time if it contained every possible item in a particular room, and then you had to remove a lot of unwanted items.
Other than maybe a kitchen with very extensive damage, it seems that most of my rooms have about 10 or 12 scope items in them at the most. I don't think I have ever written an estimate with more than 20 scope items in one ordinary room.
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