Before using the flooring tool, it’s important to check the “flooring properties” (defaults) under preferences from the Control Center. You can specify the maximum amount of fill cuts, minimum fill cut width and length, use scrap carpet, etc. This will get the waste calculation closer to the actual drops and fills being used on site. Thanks for the great videos.
This is a great pointer Tom - thanks for posting! I don't estimate carpet all that often anymore, so this is a good reminder to get your properties set up correctly when using this tool. I appreciate the comment!
Just a quick FYI.. usually maximum fill pieces for each individual room, in carpet, is 3, for professional installation, & if a berber/looped pile, 2 is really preferred (must cut thru loops for the perpendicular/ smaller seam to be performed).. also make note of the entrance/ traffic pattern/ main light source, when choosing seam placement.. best to double check with flooring professional & customer prior to ordering, due to soft quantity changes with each decision
i have used the drop method in sketch for about 20yrs. USAA required it on our preferred vendor program. Soooo many people still don't know how to do this and most adjusters just use the 10-15% waste factor which the majority of the time short changes the insured.
Thank you for this video. I just applied it to one of my estimates. However, I observed that the waste percentage increased so much as opposed to using the old manual method. I fear that the estimate might get bounced.
Thanks for the great videos Aleena. I am taking Xactimate level 3 certification, and I have 2 questions...1) "Flooring overlay" appears in "view" but it's unclickable. And 2) when I use sketch to add carpet into a room the "replacement" of the carpet with formula FLR_RPL gives me 0 SF.
First time using your tool. What a life saver! Up until Nov 2020, I had been using old method. Your explanation was great! I was able to follow along using a practice sketch. Now I am a subscriber! Thanks for your help and all you do and are doing!
What if you are using this drag and drop method, but then you are alerts stating that the amount of carpet the drag and drop uses exceeds the area of the floor plus waste?
FYI it's difficult to know what you're clicking on when you're mouse cursor is invisible haha thank you for making these videos! How do I display "flooring cut waste calculations"? You said there's a button but I didn't see where you clicked. Thank you
So if the quiz for Level 1 cert is asking to set a 15% waste using the waste tool, how would you adjust in the tool, versus in the estimates window? This was great information that I didn't get exposure to in the prep course I took.
Hello, there are situations where I specifically require no waste be added to carpet. How can I stop xactimate from automatically doing so? I use Xactime X1 which seems to have a lot loss preference options available. Thanks for your time! Shawn
Great question Shawn! I would recommend adding the carpet in the Estimate Items tab rather than adding it graphically in Sketch. When you ad the item, look for a small, blue waste bin icon located near the calc field in the Quick Entry screen. This is where the waste is added and you can turn it to 0% in the waste tool. Let me know if that helps!
@@EstimateMastery Thank you for the quick response! The blue 'waste bin' in Xactimate X1, only provides options to set the carpet width, style and pattern offset and SKU. Value defaults are zero except width which is 12'. Changing 12' to zero causes an auto update to the field of 2' minimum. It still doesn't change the 15% from applying. So i figured out a work around: Change calc to F*1, this prevents default from applying, then in the print screen, select "Exclude system notes", as they still want to print. This seems to work now for my purposes. Too bad they just can't give better control of options. Thank you, Shawn
Carpet waste will never truly be 0%, unless you have a 1 room estimate, & room is 11'11" wide x 20' long, which will be 1% of estimates in reality.. but average width is always 12ft, with some special at 15ft & less coming 13.5ft wide.. Also note any pattern match size, which will raise waste due to match needing to be ordered on each adjoining room (so if pattern is 2ft long, then each cut besides 1st, will need extra 2ft waste included, in order for shifting to match pattern repeat).. Otherwise I would recommend adding 3 inches to every cut in job, which usually allows for slight measurement mistakes, uneven walls, & potential damage at ends of roll (especially uneven ends from manufacturing & end of roll crush marks left from the cardboard pole on inside of every roll from the mill, used to preserve Carpet from hi-lo which loads the trucks).. I acknowledge the extra 1-2ft, but remember that if 1 room/ hall short due to issue, you may need to reorder entire roll if mill does not have matching dye lot, which will make it look like 2 different colors when adjoining (dye lot is usually only 1000ft or less).. Seam placement is also of great importance, & will most certainly change the waste %, even if just switching the direction from n/s to e/w.. the quick tips are: away from entries/ doors/ & traffic pattern, perpendicular to main light source, & eliminate most/ all from hallway & great rooms.. a good source for all this information is CRI handbook or CFIinstallers.org (Carpet & rug institute, certified flooring installers).. these 2 sources are considered to be the most accredited/ accepted by the manufacturer and installer of all carpets, & unless you have that 12x20 room job, all these details will dictate the necessary steps to take to be within manufacturer specifications, as well explain the cost vs quality for your customers to decide what is best for them.. Just for example of install & estimates for 20+ years, you will get yourself in trouble by ordering the minimal amount of waste and installing it, without any input from your customers. 80% of them will usually choose extra waste to eliminate seams, or switch direction of goods (must run same way on each floor in all areas), in order to get a better finished project. Whether it's zero seams in hall with 4 kids, or so the pattern/ or even pile direction while vacuuming, or less seams in traffic areas/ furniture layout -- you will be surprised by how many people are willing to pay you more for labor also, & choose your bid which explained the difference, & provides a choice that the competitors didn't, which is always the friend of installers & satisfied customer.. It's a great idea for the software to include the tool, but maybe learn it & then always use a flooring professional of some sort, to be your prescription glasses, & provide vision that only experience can account for. If you have any quick questions or thoughts, feel free to contact me at this yt account & I'll try to help, or at the least, give you the right source material to use for addressing your specific needs.. but though extra work, giving additional seam/ waste layouts will help you stand out vs your competitors, & avoid any customer calls after it's too late to make a change, & material is already on the floor. Flooring is on average the 3rd to 5th most expensive purchase a family makes, & not getting a job they're happy living with/ paying off for years to come, makes it a point to take the extra steps not to let word of mouth be your downfall, even if it's not your own main criteria for success..
Although roofing is my work we are looking at have the rug replaced & one estimator was showing me how he calculated the amount of square footage needed based upon the orientation of rug to the room as I didn’t k ow about this before, very interesting. Unfortunately his sq footage was much larger than our two floors are with simple design so the bids will make this interesting.
Thanks for the comment - makes me aware that I need to show the mouse more!But it's hard to please the masses Ace - I used to have a yellow highlighter following the mouse and it annoyed people so I got rid of it. I try to "ping" my mouse at important areas, but may need to ping more.
Yes sir....unfortunately this kind of verbiage change happens on various line items throughout the year....it's good to review the click for detail on items often to be in front of these types of changes. I advocate thinking outside of the box to perhaps get some extra CLN LAB hours for a final cleaning of the property or RFG LAB for access issues, etc. We've gotta stay creative in this biz!
XM8 Mastery Thank you! I never thought to use CLN LAB I have only used ladder jacks and planks and labor hours. Until recently I didn't use renail of sheathing either, they are thing that we do but didn't account for them in xactimate.
Before using the flooring tool, it’s important to check the “flooring properties” (defaults) under preferences from the Control Center. You can specify the maximum amount of fill cuts, minimum fill cut width and length, use scrap carpet, etc. This will get the waste calculation closer to the actual drops and fills being used on site. Thanks for the great videos.
This is a great pointer Tom - thanks for posting! I don't estimate carpet all that often anymore, so this is a good reminder to get your properties set up correctly when using this tool. I appreciate the comment!
Just a quick FYI.. usually maximum fill pieces for each individual room, in carpet, is 3, for professional installation, & if a berber/looped pile, 2 is really preferred (must cut thru loops for the perpendicular/ smaller seam to be performed).. also make note of the entrance/ traffic pattern/ main light source, when choosing seam placement.. best to double check with flooring professional & customer prior to ordering, due to soft quantity changes with each decision
i have used the drop method in sketch for about 20yrs. USAA required it on our preferred vendor program. Soooo many people still don't know how to do this and most adjusters just use the 10-15% waste factor which the majority of the time short changes the insured.
Thanks for the video - I can always find answers to my "How do you do this in Xactimate?" questions on your channel.
Thanks Janet! I love that you find my videos helpful. 😊
Thank you for this video. I just applied it to one of my estimates. However, I observed that the waste percentage increased so much as opposed to using the old manual method. I fear that the estimate might get bounced.
Thank you for sharing these videos. They are concise and helpful
So glad they're helping!
Thanks for the great videos Aleena. I am taking Xactimate level 3 certification, and I have 2 questions...1) "Flooring overlay" appears in "view" but it's unclickable. And 2) when I use sketch to add carpet into a room the "replacement" of the carpet with formula FLR_RPL gives me 0 SF.
3:36 View>Flooring Overlay
4:30 Icon next to View bottom right for "Waste Calculation"
5:18 Flooring Orientation to change direction of the roll
First time using your tool. What a life saver! Up until Nov 2020, I had been using old method. Your explanation was great! I was able to follow along using a practice sketch. Now I am a subscriber! Thanks for your help and all you do and are doing!
You're welcome, Carmen! I'm so glad it was helpful! 😊
Great information!
Glad it was helpful!
What if you are using this drag and drop method, but then you are alerts stating that the amount of carpet the drag and drop uses exceeds the area of the floor plus waste?
I am nit quite sure on this one you can contact tech support at eservice.com and they can answer this question.
FYI it's difficult to know what you're clicking on when you're mouse cursor is invisible haha thank you for making these videos! How do I display "flooring cut waste calculations"? You said there's a button but I didn't see where you clicked.
Thank you
So if the quiz for Level 1 cert is asking to set a 15% waste using the waste tool, how would you adjust in the tool, versus in the estimates window?
This was great information that I didn't get exposure to in the prep course I took.
cc of
Where can I download the software? I go to the website listed in the description and it is for training
Hey Katy. I'm actually not affiliated with Xactware. You'll need to go to their website to download Xactimate at www.xactware.com
Hello, there are situations where I specifically require no waste be added to carpet. How can I stop xactimate from automatically doing so? I use Xactime X1 which seems to have a lot loss preference options available.
Thanks for your time!
Shawn
Great question Shawn! I would recommend adding the carpet in the Estimate Items tab rather than adding it graphically in Sketch. When you ad the item, look for a small, blue waste bin icon located near the calc field in the Quick Entry screen. This is where the waste is added and you can turn it to 0% in the waste tool. Let me know if that helps!
@@EstimateMastery Thank you for the quick response!
The blue 'waste bin' in Xactimate X1, only provides options to set the carpet width, style and pattern offset and SKU. Value defaults are zero except width which is 12'. Changing 12' to zero causes an auto update to the field of 2' minimum. It still doesn't change the 15% from applying.
So i figured out a work around:
Change calc to F*1, this prevents default from applying, then in the print screen, select "Exclude system notes", as they still want to print. This seems to work now for my purposes.
Too bad they just can't give better control of options.
Thank you,
Shawn
Great work around Shawn - the calc field gives you the most flexibility with the waste so I'm glad you figured that out!
Carpet waste will never truly be 0%, unless you have a 1 room estimate, & room is 11'11" wide x 20' long, which will be 1% of estimates in reality.. but average width is always 12ft, with some special at 15ft & less coming 13.5ft wide..
Also note any pattern match size, which will raise waste due to match needing to be ordered on each adjoining room (so if pattern is 2ft long, then each cut besides 1st, will need extra 2ft waste included, in order for shifting to match pattern repeat)..
Otherwise I would recommend adding 3 inches to every cut in job, which usually allows for slight measurement mistakes, uneven walls, & potential damage at ends of roll (especially uneven ends from manufacturing & end of roll crush marks left from the cardboard pole on inside of every roll from the mill, used to preserve Carpet from hi-lo which loads the trucks)..
I acknowledge the extra 1-2ft, but remember that if 1 room/ hall short due to issue, you may need to reorder entire roll if mill does not have matching dye lot, which will make it look like 2 different colors when adjoining (dye lot is usually only 1000ft or less)..
Seam placement is also of great importance, & will most certainly change the waste %, even if just switching the direction from n/s to e/w.. the quick tips are: away from entries/ doors/ & traffic pattern, perpendicular to main light source, & eliminate most/ all from hallway & great rooms.. a good source for all this information is CRI handbook or CFIinstallers.org (Carpet & rug institute, certified flooring installers).. these 2 sources are considered to be the most accredited/ accepted by the manufacturer and installer of all carpets, & unless you have that 12x20 room job, all these details will dictate the necessary steps to take to be within manufacturer specifications, as well explain the cost vs quality for your customers to decide what is best for them..
Just for example of install & estimates for 20+ years, you will get yourself in trouble by ordering the minimal amount of waste and installing it, without any input from your customers. 80% of them will usually choose extra waste to eliminate seams, or switch direction of goods (must run same way on each floor in all areas), in order to get a better finished project. Whether it's zero seams in hall with 4 kids, or so the pattern/ or even pile direction while vacuuming, or less seams in traffic areas/ furniture layout -- you will be surprised by how many people are willing to pay you more for labor also, & choose your bid which explained the difference, & provides a choice that the competitors didn't, which is always the friend of installers & satisfied customer..
It's a great idea for the software to include the tool, but maybe learn it & then always use a flooring professional of some sort, to be your prescription glasses, & provide vision that only experience can account for. If you have any quick questions or thoughts, feel free to contact me at this yt account & I'll try to help, or at the least, give you the right source material to use for addressing your specific needs.. but though extra work, giving additional seam/ waste layouts will help you stand out vs your competitors, & avoid any customer calls after it's too late to make a change, & material is already on the floor. Flooring is on average the 3rd to 5th most expensive purchase a family makes, & not getting a job they're happy living with/ paying off for years to come, makes it a point to take the extra steps not to let word of mouth be your downfall, even if it's not your own main criteria for success..
Although roofing is my work we are looking at have the rug replaced & one estimator was showing me how he calculated the amount of square footage needed based upon the orientation of rug to the room as I didn’t k ow about this before, very interesting. Unfortunately his sq footage was much larger than our two floors are with simple design so the bids will make this interesting.
Interesting Steve! Let me know how this turns out for ya ;)
You bailed me out again!! I knew how to use the tool, but my overlay wouldn't come up. Got it! Thank you!
Thank you for your videos... The mouse curser being invisible makes it harder to follow you.
Thanks for the comment - makes me aware that I need to show the mouse more!But it's hard to please the masses Ace - I used to have a yellow highlighter following the mouse and it annoyed people so I got rid of it. I try to "ping" my mouse at important areas, but may need to ping more.
i'm just 3 videos into your channel so far. the standard black courser with the ping at pivotal moments gets my vote!
Excellent! Will continue to ping early and often :)
Have you seen the change in xactimate for roof vents pipe jacks act. saying they are included in removal of shingles??
Yes sir....unfortunately this kind of verbiage change happens on various line items throughout the year....it's good to review the click for detail on items often to be in front of these types of changes.
I advocate thinking outside of the box to perhaps get some extra CLN LAB hours for a final cleaning of the property or RFG LAB for access issues, etc. We've gotta stay creative in this biz!
XM8 Mastery
Thank you! I never thought to use CLN LAB I have only used ladder jacks and planks and labor hours. Until recently I didn't use renail of sheathing either, they are thing that we do but didn't account for them in xactimate.