Adjuster keeps calling for invoice

[amygeorge]

Finished a job last week and the adjuster said he’s getting grief because I haven’t sent in my bill. I told him I’m underwater and today was my office day, but I got a flood call and have one waiting for me to get to 60 miles away… He told me he understood because he’s from here and knows how busy we’ve been and that I’m a very small owner \ operator. He said just get an estimate to him and we’ll finalize it later.

So, how long do you have to bill about a job? I’ve never had pressure like this before. I use a third party biller - net claims now and it takes a 24 hr turn around after I get the info into them.

Thanks!

Amy

 

[hogjowl]

I have no idea.
Just saying.

 

[Hoody]

Amy - Have you considered purchasing and learning to use Xactimate ? The program has a nice feature called macros, that allow you to set up a pre-made 'forms' with all of the line items you need. You can make one for cat 1, cat 2, cat 3, fire, mold, ect ect. It takes a little time to set up, but once you do, you can bust out estimates in 20-30 minutes or less. Once the macros are made its just filling in quantities and deleting line items you do not need.

 

[amygeorge]

well, yes, I have. however, i like using net claims now because it basically does the same thing and it is less than the cost of using Xactimate. I need to revisit the software and see if i’m better off using it. The reality is - I would like to see someone using it…

 

[Desk Jockey]

Normally a few days after completion BUT if we're backed up it could take up to a week.

 

[Hoody]

well, yes, I have. however, i like using net claims now because it basically does the same thing and it is less than the cost of using Xactimate. I need to revisit the software and see if i’m better off using it. The reality is - I would like to see someone using it…

I'm looking at their site and see their pricing. Does that mean, say for the gold package - you pay $99 a month and $69.95 per residential invoice ? I've never looked at their service until now. What happens if you have to amend a claim, do you have to pay the fee again?

 

[KevinL]

Amy - Have you considered purchasing and learning to use Xactimate ? The program has a nice feature called macros, that allow you to set up a pre-made 'forms' with all of the line items you need. You can make one for cat 1, cat 2, cat 3, fire, mold, ect ect. It takes a little time to set up, but once you do, you can bust out estimates in 20-30 minutes or less. Once the macros are made its just filling in quantities and deleting line items you do not need.

Hoody, have you thought about teaching some of us how to use xactimate? How about your own service to do billing for some of us. I'd be interested as I'm sure others would be too. I've tried getting help from Chavez but he doesn't know what the fook he's doing. hehe.

 

[amygeorge]

yes, it’s 99\month and a claim costs 69 but that gets billed into the invoice. there can be fees if a bill is changed, but it’s minimal. I have had no problems using them.

i got home at 3.30 this morning and it’s time to start again. gotta make hay while the sunshines.

billing will be late and adjusters will hate.

amy

 

[Hoody]

Hoody, have you thought about teaching some of us how to use xactimate? How about your own service to do billing for some of us. I'd be interested as I'm sure others would be too. I've tried getting help from Chavez but he doesn't know what the fook he's doing. hehe.

Funny you asked that, I just got two emails from people asking if I wanted to do their xactimate billing for a pre-set fees. It is pretty tempting as I miss doing things in the industry since I went web and internet marketing full time, not so sure I want to add estimates on top of it.

I did the private estimating gig for a few companies when the hurricanes were hitting. However, I could certainly entertain doing a conference call and using a desktop sharing program, and teaching how to set some things up. I haven't used Xactimate since version 25 or maybe it was 26 came out. I'm not sure how much it has changed since then so there may be slight learning curve on my end.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I've tried getting help from Chavez but he doesn't know what the fook he's doing. hehe.

and I WAS going to buy you a steak dinner at MF10....and a NEW Car!
Yea that's it. Kevin I was going to buy you a shiny new Corvette....WAS!

I suck at it. I just go off the macros we built and delete what doesn't apply. I let the guys do it, they are much faster and know the codes better.

 

[Jack May]

Amy, do what ever you need to do to get that account out asap. Normally, we want to strangle the assessor for delays his end, or for not going into bat for us, if you have one on your side wanting to process the claim, get onto it!

It will help a few things, firstly YOUR cashflow, but consider that he might be wanting the claim closed so he can get paid too, nothing worse than a grumpy assessor!!

Next, I often found that the time to calculate an accurate estimate (I always worked to the +/- 10% golden rule) is not much short of actually producing an invoice.

Finally, look into your file system. How clear, clean and readable is your daily log notes. (Do they make sense to anyone but you?) I HAD to change this 10 years ago, I relied way too much on my memory etc, then got swamped with local 100 year flooding, and I personally handled some 60 claims over a 3-4 month period. It got to the stage where I had to re design my daily log notes into marginally more info so that ANYONE could pick up my file, and write up either an estimate or invoice, I then only had to devote 5 mins reviewing it before printing and sending. This put me in good stead for growth, and once I have two vans and extra techs and admin, the systems were already in place and only needed tweaking to perform better. I also designed my daily log files to be as much tick and flick as possible, with only brief notes, but the full picture was there in the details.

John

 

[Beeks]

Good to hear someone recommends NetClaims, my local distributor told me about them since I am just starting out. It looked like a good idea, but almost $200 a month, i figured xactimate would be cheaper. Then yesterday I heard it was about $250...True story?

 

[tmdry]

$250 a month is cheap considering how much $ you "can" make w/ it.

Also the adjusters won't be all up on you asking questions about your invoice...just talk to them like you work for them...in their own terminology and tell them you've been swamped and need to take a night off just for Xactimates...99% of the time they'll laugh and not give you a hard time anymore.

I highly recommend going to a Xactimate class, contact your local distributors to see when the next one will be and sign up, will be $ well spent.

I'll be attending my 2nd one in a few weeks....I can't wait.

 

[dealtimeman]

While I am always up to continuing education through what ever channels possible, I would wait on the xactimate class and xactimate overall until your water side needs it. If you do 6-12 losses a year, you will not be doing yourself a favor spending the time, money, and overall learning curve frustration of xactimate.

Now if you are in full swing doing a Job a week, then yes start learning the program. Other wise focus on return on investment, and spend accordingly.

 

[amygeorge]

I pay $99\month for NCN. I would give them a call.