Estimators: How to Ensure Field Technicians Hand Off High-Quality Documentation

Are you an office-based property restoration estimator? Then you probably know all too well how inadequate damage-assessment documentation makes your job considerably harder and can cause some serious problems. On the other hand, high-quality documentation will make a world of difference in a number of ways! When a field technician hands off excellent documentation to you, it can help you produce more accurate, more thorough and more timely insurance claim estimate documents – which are crucial for clinching project approvals and helping ensure positive outcomes.

What Is Considered High-Quality Damage-Assessment Documentation?

Answer: It is initial job-site documentation that meets the seven key criteria listed below.

1. Scope Visualization

The documentation should include 2D digital sketches of damaged areas, along with 360-degree panoramas and a sufficient number and variety of sharp photos. These visuals should identify the cause of loss and related damages, as well as any preexisting damages. All of this visualization allows the estimator to see and comprehend the full extent of claim-related damage (structural issues, water intrusion, mold growth, etc.) without needing to visit and view the job site in person.

2. Comprehensive Content

In addition to the visuals mentioned above, the documentation should also contain an adequate amount of other helpful details. These can include photo labels and captions, instrument readings, observational notes, instructions for restoration work that needs to be completed – i.e., any particulars that provide important context. This comprehensive approach reduces the chance of underestimating or overestimating required work. (By the way, If the technician follows a job-site assessment form or checklist that provides step-by-step instructions, critical details are much less likely to be overlooked.)

3. Data Accuracy

Effective estimating relies on receiving accurate data – which means manual measurements and hand-drawn sketches just won’t cut it. Technicians must use more precise, technology-aided methods to collect precise dimensions of affected areas. This allows estimators to calculate appropriate material quantities and labor costs for needed repairs.

4. Quick Turnaround

The faster field technicians can capture and complete initial documentation, the faster each project can be estimated, approved and started. That’s good for contractors and good for their clients – and it’s best achieved by automating aspects of the damage-assessment workflow (e.g., automated room sketching and automated photo time-stamping). With the help of technology automation, technicians spend less time and effort completing tedious manual tasks. Also, they reduce the risk of making human errors that often result from manual measuring, sketching and logging.

5. Clear-cut Organization

The documentation needs to be well-organized (not just a bunch of random facts) and presented as a polished report, so that it tells a clear narrative of property loss and is easy to comprehend. This helps the estimator fully understand every aspect of the job site without having to be there and witness it in person. Good organization also minimizes the need to ask follow-up questions or request more information for clarification.

6. Instant Accessibility

Office-based estimators need swift access to damage-assessment documentation in order to complete timely estimates. This means field technicians must be able to share documentation in real time, as soon as it is completed. Using a digital tool with access to secure cloud storage is the fastest way to do this because it allows instant uploading and downloading of files while maintaining data integrity.

7. Estimating-Software Compatibility

Ideally, estimators need field-collected documentation that can be integrated instantly with Xactimate estimate software or Symbility estimate software. This helps flow the data to exactly where it’s needed.

How Can Field Technicians Collect High-Quality Documentation? 

The answer is simple: They absolutely MUST use field-ready mobile documentation software, such as magicplan, that empowers them to meet the seven criteria listed above. Without this type of software, proper documentation is just not doable.

The Right Mobile Software Will Check All the Boxes

For example, here is how magicplan – a leading sketch app software tool – helps field technicians meet the seven key criteria for documentation:

✓ Scope Visualization: Enables field technicians to create detailed floor plans, immediately capture and integrate photos, and record and include 360-degree panoramas without the need for additional hardware.

✓ Comprehensive Content: Allows users to collect critical details with custom site-assessment forms, easily label and caption photos, and modify sketches with instrument readings, observational notes, and directives for restoration work.

✓ Data Accuracy: Employs state-of-the-art AR and LiDAR technologies to produce room sketches with high accuracy.

✓ Quick Turnaround: Speeds up the capture and completion of documentation, so it can be handed off promptly to an estimator.

✓ Clear-cut Organization: Enables creation of structured field reports that are easy to understand.

✓ Instant Accessibility: Empowers users to share any field report instantly with an estimator, for seamless communication and data sharing that speeds up the entire estimation process.

✓ Estimating-Software Compatibility: Allows users to create and provide ESX files for Xactimate estimating software, or FML files for Symbility estimating software.

Conclusion: Here’s What You Can Do to Ensure You Get the Information You Need

Require all damage assessments to be documented with an advanced, mobile field app – one that meets the seven key criteria outlined in this article.

 Shout it to the mountaintops. Put it in writing. Make your needs known. And accept nothing less. Because any field documentation that doesn’t meet the seven key criteria is to be avoided at all costs. It will make your job infinitely harder, more time-intensive, unprecise and less effective.

Bottom line: Documentation done right enables easier, faster, better estimating. And mobile-optimization in the field is what makes that possible.

RELATED CASE STUDY: 

See How ASA-MMP Construction Transformed Their Estimating Process with magicplan to Help Their Office-based Estimator