Introduction to Water Damage Estimating

The estimate you hand to an insurer is only as good as the walk-through that produced it. If you miss the wet insulation in the wall cavity during assessment, it will not appear in the scope, and you will either eat the cost or fight for a supplement later. Neither option is good for your business. Before you touch your estimating software, your job is to capture every single data point the scope will need: room dimensions, ceiling heights, material types, finishes, age and condition of materials, and the actual extent of damage. Not an approximation. Not a guess based on what you saw in the hallway. Every room, every surface, every affected cavity. Walk the job as if the insurer's assessor is standing right behind you asking why each line item is there, because eventually someone will be.

Start with the basics and be methodical. Measure length, width, and ceiling height for every affected space. These three numbers are the foundation of every area calculation you will do, whether you are pricing plasterboard removal, paint, floor coverings, or insulation. Write them down on a sketch or floor plan as you go, not from memory when you get back to the office. Identify the material on every surface: is that a painted plasterboard wall or a painted fibre cement sheet? Is the floor covering a glue-down vinyl plank, a floating laminate, or a direct-stick carpet? The material type and its condition before the loss determines which unit rate you apply in Xactimate or Symbility, and getting that wrong means your scope either overreaches or undersells. Photograph every measurement you take. A tape measure held against a wall with a readable number visible is worth more than a written note when an insurer's auditor questions a quantity six weeks after the job is done.

Here is a scenario that plays out regularly. You are assessing a kitchen and laundry loss where a washing machine hose failed overnight. The customer meets you at the door and says, "It's just the laundry, the water didn't really go anywhere else." You do your walk-through and find wet readings under the kitchen cabinetry, moisture in the wall shared with the garage, and the subfloor under the vinyl is saturated across two rooms. The scope is nothing like what the customer described. This is not the customer's fault, they are not a restoration technician, but it is your responsibility to document what is actually there. Take your moisture readings, photograph the meter face against the surface, note the material, and record the extent. That documented evidence is what justifies the scope to the insurer, and it protects you if the claim is reviewed.

As you move through the property, sort what you are finding into cost categories in real time. Structural items go in one column: demolition, framing, plasterboard, insulation. Finishes go in another: paint, floor coverings, tiling. Then mechanical, electrical, contents, and professional services like hygienist reports or engineering assessments if they are needed. Doing this categorisation during the walk-through, not afterwards at the desk, means nothing falls into a gap between trades. A common miss is electrical: if water has reached a power point, a light fitting, or a switchboard, that is a separate cost category and potentially a safety issue that needs a licensed electrician before your drying equipment goes in. Capture it at assessment, note it in your photos, and flag it in the scope. The assessment is where the estimate is won or lost. Everything after it is just data entry.