Creating an estimate

Every estimate starts as a conversation in the project’s Estimator tab. Describe the job — “write me a roofing estimate using GAF packages” — and the AI builds a line-itemed estimate inside a client-ready proposal while the preview updates. Photos, measurement reports, and carrier estimates all feed the same chat. When the draft is ready, see Publishing your proposal.

1. Start a project

Every estimate lives inside a project; the estimator is its Estimator tab.

From Home: click Create an estimate or proposal, then New estimate. Enter the project name (typing searches your contacts), the address (pick a suggestion), and a job description — the AI’s first briefing: the trade, the property, and what you want to sell. Attach photos or files, then click Start estimating (dialog details: Projects overview).
From an existing project: open it from Projects and click the Estimator tab, or AI Estimator on the Overview tab. A project created with Start a new project spends no tokens until you first open the tab.

The AI already knows what’s on the project — its greeting says so, and a What the estimator can see card pinned at the top of the chat lists the photos, documents, and linked connectors, with actions to add more. Each project has exactly one chat, so the job’s history stays in one thread.

2. Describe the job

Plain language works — include the trade, the address, what you know about measurements, and whether it’s an insurance claim. Your wording steers the estimate type:

Type	How you get it	What’s built
Retail (default)	Any job description	Client-facing proposal priced from your component packages, labor rates, and margins (Pricing and profit), with add-ons the homeowner can pick
Insurance	Say “insurance,” “claim,” “carrier,” “supplement,” “Xactimate,” or “Symbility,” or upload a carrier estimate	Scope in Xactimate or Symbility format for the adjuster, with the claim header (carrier, claim and policy numbers, date and type of loss) on the proposal

An insurance signal flips the project to insurance mode at any point in the conversation.

3. Attach photos, videos, and documents

Click the + menu at the bottom-left of the chat input to Add files or photos (or drag files into the chat) or to use a connected connector — CompanyCam photos, a CRM job from AccuLynx, JobNimbus, or Jobber, an EagleView report or HailTrace storm report — without leaving the chat (connectors overview). Files and connector imports added from the project page — the Upload and Connect actions, the Files tab, the Connectors widget (Projects overview) — and photos from the XBuild mobile app reach the estimator the same way, on its next turn. AI writes a title and description for each photo, and that text feeds the scope — Photo descriptions covers editing, hiding, or clearing it.

4. Accepted files and measurement formats

Up to 250 files per upload. Word, Excel, CSV, CAD, and ZIP files aren’t supported. Export document-based files as PDF, or extract a ZIP archive and upload the supported files inside. A file that isn’t really the format its name claims is rejected at upload, so a renamed file never gets through.

Format	What XBuild does with it
PDF (`.pdf`)	Reads measurement reports and carrier estimates; from a carrier estimate it extracts the claim header, folder structure, and line pricing
Images (`.jpeg`, `.jpg`, `.png`, `.gif`, `.webp`, `.heic`, `.heif`)	AI scans each and writes a title and description
Videos (`.mp4`, `.mov`)	Play on the digital proposal your customer opens; never analyzed by AI, never in PDF exports
Xactimate project file (`.esx`)	Reads every sketch room and its measurements level by level, plus any line items in the file, so the AI scopes against your rooms. An Xactimate publish builds the delivered `.esx` around your sketch — rooms and diagram carry over, estimate lines placed in their rooms — unless a line carries a manual price override, in which case the file is built from scratch
Roof measurement XML (`.xml`)	The structured export from an EagleView or similar vendor’s roof report. Reads squares, per-pitch areas, and eave, rake, ridge, hip, and valley lengths (computed from the geometry where the vendor gives no totals); used like a measurement PDF. Any other XML is rejected
Matterport sketch file (`.skx`)	One file per floor. Reads room, wall, and opening geometry as approximate measurements (from the sketch, not Xactimate — expect some variance); the AI prefers any measured source. Upload order sets floor order — the first `.skx` is the main level, the second the next level up. On an insurance project with no `.esx`, the sketch is carried into the Xactimate file at publish and Xactimate recomputes exact measurements when the file is opened
Floor plan file (`.fml`)	DocuSketch (or compatible) interior floor plan; one file can hold every floor. Approximate like `.skx`. On an insurance project with no `.esx` or `.skx`, it becomes the sketch in the published Xactimate file

The four structured formats are read directly, not through AI, and appear in the project’s documents as downloadable file cards (no browser preview). With more than one on a project, the Xactimate publish takes its sketch from the most authoritative: .esx, then .skx, then .fml, then roof XML (Publishing to Xactimate).

5. Answer the AI’s questions

The AI works from what it already has — extracted measurements, processed files, the current estimate, your earlier answers — and asks only when something is missing. Every quantity traces to a source (a measurement report, a carrier line, or a number you gave); when it can’t name one, it asks rather than guesses. Specific answers mean fewer rounds; every AI turn consumes tokens (How tokens work).

6. Watch the proposal build

The proposal renders live in the preview beside the chat — hero, intro, photo galleries, estimate section, add-ons, and claim info on insurance jobs; drag the divider to resize. Most estimates build in minutes; big jobs with many files take longer (Processing times). Every saved version drops a milestone card into the chat — click one to open that version, and Back to latest version to return. The right rail’s Files tab holds proposals (with a Version history drill-in), photos, and documents. To fix a draft, keep iterating in chat or use manual edit mode (Editing estimates and proposals).

7. What’s different on insurance projects

The estimate uses the Xactimate or Symbility carrier catalog, not your retail packages; switching formats in chat rebuilds the scope in the other catalog (Publishing to Symbility).
A carrier estimate PDF is the most common starting point — supplement from it, or digitize it faithfully to get the project file. With the carrier’s .esx, upload that instead (step 4).
XBuild works with RCV values only; depreciation, deductibles, and other ACV machinery stay in the carrier’s platform.
Publishing: Publishing to Xactimate, Publishing to Symbility, and the insurance supplement flow.

8. Troubleshooting common issues

My upload was rejected. See step 4: export unsupported document files as PDF, or extract a ZIP archive and upload the supported files inside. An .xml must be a supported roof-report export, and an .esx, .skx, or .fml must really be that format.
My .skx floors came out in the wrong order. Floor order follows upload order — remove the files and upload them again, lowest floor first.
The AI is asking for photos or files I already added. Everything on the project is used automatically. Check the What the estimator can see card — if the item is counted there (a chip appears in the thread when a file finishes processing), point the AI at it by name.
The AI built a retail proposal but this is a claim. Say “this is an insurance claim” in chat or upload the carrier estimate; the scope is rebuilt in carrier format.
A connector I expected isn’t in the + menu. Connectors are set up at the account level by an Administrator, most on Pro or higher (connectors overview); the Connect action on the Overview tab opens the full hub, including tools not yet connected.

For further assistance, contact XBuild Support at support@x.build.

Creating estimates

Publishing

Homeowner experience

Photos

Working together

Insurance

Creating an estimate