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Not sure if I completely understand your question but couldn't you submit more than one xactimate estimate? I have claims where I need to have a separate estimate for the dwelling, detached structures, sometimes code upgrades etc. I make a duplicate estimate (to keep all the contact info etc) and make a separate printout for each estimate. These have to be separate estimates anyway, because they are separate lines of coverage. I also always make the photos a separate PDF file for every carrier I work with, so it doesn't really matter which estimate the photos are attached to in the computer because they are submitted as a separate PDF document. I never make a combined estimate/photo document although if a contractor gives it to me that way I will submit it that way. This is how four adjusters in my company have done it for may years with many different carriers.

So I don't see why if you set up two or more estimates that you couldn't have two or more people working on the claim at the same time. Each computer would have to have Xactimate of course.

Let's say if you were in Metaire Louisiana and your assistant was in the French Quarter. You start an XM8 estimate and upload photos. The estimate is named SMITH. Then you duplicate that estimate and call it SMITH-CONTENTS. Then you send it ESX to your assitant's email. Your assistant can see all the photos which are a mix of building property and contents. Your assistant completes the contents estimate and prints it to file (without the photos) and then emails it to you. For your claim file you submit an XM8 dwelling estimate; a separate PDF XM8 document with just photos; and a separate XM8 pdf for contents only.

There are many variations on this of course. Your assistant could send you an ESX instead of a PDF so that you could make any final changes or corrections. Another option is you could have each person work with their own photos so you could have a contents estimate with photos combined into one PDF and also a dwelling estimate combined with a different group of contents only photos. So after you duplicate the estimate you would delete all the contents photos and your assistant would delete all the building photos.

If insist on having one giant Xactimate estimate combined into one big document then just have the assistant do their estimate, ESX it to you, open it, and then copy it into your estimate.

Thanks Leland. I think I can make this work.

Thanks Leland. I think I can make this work.

A piece of considered, sage advice, never, ever, put the same caption on more than one image. Never, ever label two images the same.

Thanks, all of you, for the great advice. I'm putting it to use right now! Caught up now, writing as we go.

A piece of considered, sage advice, never, ever, put the same caption on more than one image. Never, ever label two images the same.

On a large claim, such as a fire, or any claim with say 50+ photos, I use the Image Name to identify where the photo is taken, or in what room, such as Den, Kitchen, etc. I then put all the Den photos together and I use the Description to describe the individual photo. If this is wrong (and if it is wrong, why is it wrong), then what is the acceptable method to label photos?

My humble opinion, identify where the image was made, i.e. kitchen, living room, etc. Then describe what is being shown in the image.

50+ images, is an adequate number of images on a residential fire.

I would suggest that you not label 50+ images, "fire damage"," theft damage", "vandalism damage".

Carrier we are working for wants pics of all damaged screens. Damage goes into a tree folder called, "SCREENS_R1." Xm8 allows limited characters for label. We used to label "SCREENS" for the folder, then where and what in the description. After Chuck's advice, we started labeling, "SCREENS_A" or "SCREENS_B." Now we just implemented, "SCREENS_R1" and "SCREENS_R2." R=right elevation. For interior, we can use "CARPET_L" for living room and "CARPET_D for dining room.

This way if someone calls about "SCREEN_R2." photo we will both be on the same page.

Thanks Chuck

To carry this to line of thought to an extreme, I am working on a litigated claim where hundreds of images, images because very few of us take photographs, hundreds because it was an extensive commercial loss, were given the same two word caption. The caption is at odds with the actual cause of loss. The insured hired an attorney and filed suit. The suit is now moving though the courts.

If what you took was a photograph, fine, call it a photograph, but if you took digital images then call them, images. Minor point but if you want to receive interrogatories asking for "photographs" then call "images" photos.

Are you saying if one side in litigation asked for photos in discovery but the other side only had "digital images" they wouldn't have to deliver them?

I always thought if it was taken with a camera and the image was recorded on light sensitive surface or electronic imager, it was a photo.

I remember watching Patriot missiles taking out Scud missiles during Desert Storm. It was plain as day on regular video, but after the war was over and we saw high speed scientific video, it was a totally different story. The Patriot missed the Scud altogether and only the glare of the Patriot self-destructing before it came back to earth filled the screen to envelop the trail of the long gone Scud.

It is important to know the kind of image we are looking at.

Not necessarily that they would not have to deliver, but that calling a digital image a photographic image could create the idea that you possess something that you actually don't possess.

I think that you are probably right, a photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. My point is that a digital image is a specific kind of photograph as are tintypes, Daguerreotypes, Polaroids, etc.

As I noted above this is an extreme, my point was and is to correctly label "images".

Good point! It is always better to be precise than general.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the world has changed, communications, the longevity and the availability of communications has become much longer and much less difficult. I post digital scans of photographs on Facebook and those scans are available to virtually anyone. Images that I posted on this forum and the words that I write are available.

A letter, written in Word, on letter head, is attached to an email and forwarded. The letter can then be forwarded, to a an unknown third party,easily, without my permission or control.

A point that we, as licensed professionals, need to be aware of.

Posted By RandyC on 16 Jun 2010 05:09 PM
Most of our claims this storm have >30 contents with 4 or more being in the over $250 range requiring documentation and price searches.  Writing is falling behind scoping.  Is there some way I can label photos in another version and profile of XM8 and data transfer them to the carrier profile without losing the work on a different computer to help speed up the writing of these claims. I can draw the sketches while the claim is being written on the other computer...but that only takes seconds.  I need to expedite the writing of these claims somehow!  Anyone want to share a secret?

Randy - I share your frustration re photos.
Was wondering if you figured a system out and if you'd be interested in sharing it.
Thx,
Jim Teer