The short answer
Restoration estimating in the United States mostly runs through Xactimate, priced from regional lists refreshed monthly. Disputes usually turn on scope and on overhead and profit rather than on unit prices, which both sides read from the same list.
Estimating is where a correctly performed job becomes a correctly paid one, or does not. It is also the most under-covered topic in this trade: the most-read industry article on how Xactimate prices work runs about a thousand words with no tables, and has not been substantively revised in over a year.
The practical skills are narrow and learnable. Select the right price list for the region and the month. Choose line items whose defined scope matches the work performed. Document the conditions that justify overhead and profit at the time you write the estimate rather than arguing them afterwards.
In this section
How Xactimate pricing works
Regional price lists, monthly refreshes, what is inside a line item, and why overhead and profit is the real argument.
What is happening in this area
Price lists are refreshed monthly, which means supplements written against the list an estimate started on can diverge from the current list even when scope has not changed. This is the most common self-inflicted estimating error we see described.
Overhead and profit remains the live dispute in this trade. It is a judgement about trade coordination rather than an automatic entitlement, and files that document trade count and supervision up front fare better than those that argue it later.
This section summary is maintained rather than written once. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us.