The Xactimate Sessions from The DYOJO Podcast 
File 003 - Fake it until you Xactimate it 
The DYOJO Podcast Season 3, Episode 68 
Guest: Nick Sharp, Consulting Specialist at Reets Drying Academy  

If you can't estimate, you become a trainer. Right? Nick Sharp joins us on The DYOJO Podcast to share his experiences from cleaning carpets to learning to fake it until he made it as a reconstruction estimator. Nick shares how his positive mindset and consistent work ethic helped him to progress in his property restoration career. As Nick says, "I never went into anything thinking that I can't do this."   

This week, on The Xactimate Sessions from The DYOJO Podcast, we sit down to discuss Xactimate with a restorer-turned estimator who transformed into a restoration industry trainer. Nick shares a few tips for aspiring professionals and growth-minded estimators, including:   

1. Don't be under-informed. Know your IICRC S500 (and other industry standards related documents) 
2. Don't limit yourself. Always be adapting.  
3. Don't be stagnant. It's ok to make mistakes. Learn the basics and keep expanding your knowledge base.  
4. Don't be just data input. Understand the items that lead to a thorough and accurate estimate so that you can be profitable.   

PODCAST SPONSOR:

The DYOJO Podcast is sponsored by Advocate Claim Service (ACS), "Where you can find solutions to claims that are causing you anxiety." David Princeton and his team are ready to help you navigate doubtful and disputed insurance claims.   

If you are a business owner, manager, or intentional restorer, you will appreciate Nick's insights as well as this key question, "Why are we teaching estimators the program (IE Xactimate) instead of what is going to be profitable?" We supplement our discussion with Nick with clips and comments from many sources including 

• Ben Justesen of Enlightened Restoration Solutions 
• Brian Austin (File 002), Director of Instructional Design at Verisk 
• IICRC Triple Master Restorer Robert More 
• Jon Isaacson's mediocre appearance on the stellar IAQ Radio Ep 633 (the OG's of restoration podcasting) 
• The Founding Father's of Restoration with Pete "The Global Watchdog" Consigli  

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT:

As this series develops, Gabriel J. Jones and I are transforming content from The Xactimate Sessions into a book that will release shortly after the podcast episodes are all released. This will be a great compliment to our first book, Be Intentional: Estimating.  Please RSVP your copy today. 

This book is intended for:

• Restoration professionals who seek to grow their career opportunities such as project management and estimating through developing the right mindset and habits around Xactimate.  
• New managers and intentional leaders who are looking for some assistance in guiding their team members to develop in their roles and responsibilities that directly intersect with utilizing Xactimate. 
• Business owners who are working to bring their expectations into alignment with their norms (build a winning culture), especially in the areas of estimating and project management.

DEALS FROM THE DYOJO:

The DYOJO collaboration with DocuSketch offering a $200 discount on the initial hardware package to members of The DYOJO Nation who use the custom code "DS-DYOJO1".   
The DYOJO Podcast, the official home of the DYOJO Nation as so declared by The Global Watchdog, Pete Consigli, exists to help intentional restorers to shorten their DANG learning curve for personal and professional development.

We are doing something different for The DYOJO Podcast Episode 67. This week, Eric "The Tech Whisperer" Sprague and Larry "Pineapple Man" Wilberton, invited Gerrett Stier of GMS Podcast and myself to join them for what they called The Podcast Summit of Blue Collar Nation (BCN).

Blue Collar Nation Podcast + GMS Podcast + The DYOJO Podcast = Restoration Podcastalypse Megazord 2021.

Eric, Larry, and Gerrett were onsite in Charleston, South Carolina for The Experience, where GMS Podcast unveiled their mobile podcasting booth. You can listen to the results of these escapades on Blue Collar Nation Podcast and GMS Podcast. We hope that this Podcastalypse will be the first of many continued video, audio, and physical collaborations. GMS and BCN will be in Las Vegas for The Experience in September 2021, back at it with their live shenanigans. We hope to assemble the team for our first combined live event at Restoration Industry Association (RIA) in Reno on April 13-17, 2022.

Most of you know that following the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) 75th Annual Convention and Expo this year in Florida, Pete "The Global Watchdog" Consigli and I took a road trip further South. We discussed restoration history and meet some amazing people along our journey. We share a clip of Pete bestowing to me something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. We had a lot of fun, ate really well, and shared some great moments together. As Pete says, quoting Jimmy V, "We laughed, we thought, we cried, today was a heck of a day," and we had many heckin good days on the road together.

Michelle Blevins, the new owner of C & R Magazine also dropped by to share her exciting news. We will be releasing more content related to my trip with Pete as well as my conversation with Michelle. This was a fun break from our current series, The Xactimate Sessions. We have released File 001 Learning Xactimate from Scratch (TDP 65) and File 002 Learning to XM8 with all the Resources from Xactimate (TDP 66). More to come from Blue Collar Nation, GMS Podcast, and The DYOJO Podcast. ​

The Advocacy and Government Affairs (AGA) Committee of the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) was able to bring Mike Fulton, President of Xactware on for a industry briefing on Facebook Live, June 18, 2021. It appears that this video may no longer be available but portions can be seen via THIS LINK. Ed Cross, The Restoration Advocate, reminds contractors that Section 9 "Limited Warranties" of the Xactware licensing agreement reads, "You are responsible to ensure the estimate includes pricing consistent with components including, but not limited to, actual materials, equipment, and labor pricing...You agree to not inhibit or preclude deviations from the Price Data where contractor requirements, market conditions, demand, or any other factor warrants the use of a different line item price in the specific situation." 

The Xactimate Sessions​ from The DYOJO Podcast
File 002 - Learning to XM8 with all the resources from Xactimate 
The DYOJO Podcast Season 3, Episode 66
Guest: Brian Austin, Director of Instructional Design at Verisk

Brian shares many of the tools available to all Xactimate users including many that are included with your annual Xactware subscription:

• Self-paced online training for Xactimate
• Training courses for Xactimate with certified trainers
• A YouTube channel with Xpert Tips Xactware Training 
• ILX Construction Training - 50 courses that take students through the complete building process—from selecting a building lot all the way to the final inspection

If you didn't catch this from the previous paragraph, Xactware offers ILX Construction Training which is included in your annual Xactware license and is designed to help take an employees through the complete building process. In addition to these resources, Brian shares three tips for elevating your Xactimate game as well as your personal and professional development:

1. ​Embrace the change, or as Brian says, "The suck." Most of us are resistant to change but the rate of change is always accelerating and if you want to remain competitive you must embrace it. 
2. We are all very busy, yet you must set aside time to work on your personal and professional development. If you recognize the truth of the first point, you understand that making time, even if its thirty to sixty minutes a week, is critical to your growth as a leader, manager, and restoration professional. 
3. Participate in the discussion. Brian outlines how Xactware had built in feedback from contractors and encourages professionals to reach out to him directly if they are in need of assistance. 
4. Listen to The DYOJO Podcast. Brian literally says it is, "Terrific." 

​
The DYOJO collaboration with DocuSketch offering a $200 discount on the initial hardware package to members of The DYOJO Nation who use the custom code "DS-DYOJO1".

The DYOJO Podcast, the official home of the DYOJO Nation as so declared by The Global Watchdog, Pete Consigli, exists to help intentional restorers to shorten their DANG learning curve for personal and professional development. WATCH on YouTube or LISTEN on Spotify, Thursday at 9 am PST.

Property restoration technicians, project managers, and estimators work in a variety of property damage scenarios including water damage, fire damage, mold removal, and insurance claim reconstruction. The most common tool for constructing estimates and/or agreed-upon scopes of work in the property insurance claims realm is an estimating software called Xactimate.

As Jon Isaacson discusses in his book, Be Intentional: Estimating, every insurance claims estimate, especially those composed in Xactimate, need two key things:

1. 1) Photos - lots and lots of photos. Photos of the source of the damage, the extent of damages, room by room, all four corners of each room, continuous surfaces and materials, contents, building materials removed, etc. You can never have too many photos.
2. 
   
3. 2) A sketch or diagram - a dimensional drawing of the structure so that all parties, the homeowner, the insurance carrier, and the contractor can work from the same "blueprint" to assess damages, develop an agreed-upon scope of work, and assign values to the work that needs to be done.

​Many restoration contractors, business owners, and managers struggle to train their teams to clearly and consistently document the story of the loss. This video from The DYOJO Podcast is an excerpt from their latest podcast episode (Season 3, Episode 65). This episode serves as the launch of their NEW season as well as their NEW series The Xactimate Sessions.

The Xactimate Sessions - File 001
Learning Xactimate from Scratch
Guest: Greg Power (Tacoma, WA)

Jon Isaacson made an appearance on AdjusterTV with host Mathew Allen to discuss advice for new adjusters on how to deal with contractors - from a contractor. The relationship between an independent adjuster and a restoration contractor can be beneficial to all parties working on an insurance claim. While these parties may be on opposite sides of the issue, there are many aspects of their roles and responsibilities that overlap. In addition to learning Xactimate for claims estimating and negotiation skills with contractors, Jon shares how success in the claims process relates to the development of our mindset and habits.

Many of the principles that Jon shared are included the article Jon wrote for ClaimsPages titled, The Mindset and Habits for Estimating Success as a New Independent Adjuster. Some of those items to shorten your DANG learning curve include:

• Develop a process to help you consistently capture thorough data relevant to the claim.
• Create and/or refer to a database of carrier guidelines (most adjusting firms have these resources).
• Internal review can help you to get ahead of rejections. Especially for larger or higher end claims, have people in your network that you can utilize to get a second set of eyes on your estimate.
• There are third party services that can provide you with an instant review and suggestions for items you may have missed, and may also provide carrier profiles which help you identify common items specific to that organization.

For further reading, contractors and adjusters alike will find value in Jon's book Be Intentional: Estimating.