Knowing the edges
The rest of these docs cover what XBuild does; this page covers the edges — what it deliberately doesn’t do, where the AI’s evidence runs thin, and the limits worth knowing before you promise a customer or an adjuster something the platform won’t deliver.1. What XBuild does well
- Estimates and proposals from a conversation. Describe the job, upload photos and documents, and the AI builds a priced, line-itemed estimate inside a homeowner-facing proposal — priced from your component packages and pricing settings, published as a live link and PDF.
- Photo documentation. AI titles and descriptions, built-in markup on web and mobile, albums with share links, and photo report PDFs.
- Signatures and deposits. Homeowners sign electronically and pay a deposit right from the link; co-signers and Sign in person on a published retail proposal are covered on the signatures page.
- Checklists. Build inspection and production checklists once, run them on any project, share the report, and let the answers feed the estimate. Checklists arrive with the project page — if you don’t see them yet, contact XBuild Support.
- Insurance work. Build a scope from scratch or supplement an uploaded carrier estimate in the carrier’s format, then Submit to insurance and XBuild runs an AI-assisted, human-in-the-loop supplementing process for you. See the insurance supplement flow, Publishing to Xactimate, and Publishing to Symbility.
2. Photos are evidence, not measurements
The AI reads photos for scope — layers, penetrations, extra structures — but photo analysis is unreliable for counting and for identifying materials at a distance. XBuild will not produce a takeoff from photos alone, and there’s no guarantee it can read anything useful from blurry or insufficient ones. Every quantity has to trace to a real source — a measurement report, a carrier estimate, or a number you give — so when photos are the only evidence, the AI asks rather than guesses.3. Videos are for viewing, not analysis
Videos play on the digital proposal, so a customer opening your link can watch them. They are never scanned or analyzed by AI (no scope input, no AI descriptions), never included in PDF exports (proposal PDF or photo reports), and can’t be marked up. If something in a video matters to the scope, capture it as a photo too.4. Publishing has format-specific limits
Publish is the only way to generate the deliverable — there is no separate “export to PDF.” Each format delivers differently:
Timings are in Processing times.
5. Insurance boundaries
- RCV only. XBuild estimates in replacement cost value and does not extract, compute, or carry depreciation, ACV, or deductible figures — those are managed in the carrier’s platform.
- No carrier negotiation outside the supplement service. Publishing gives you the deliverables; chasing the claim is yours unless you use Submit to insurance, which is available only on insurance projects — never retail.
6. File types it accepts
Chat and the project dropzone accept up to 250 files per upload: images, PDFs, videos (viewing only), and measurement or estimate files — Xactimate.esx, roof measurement .xml, and .skx and .fml sketches — which XBuild reads directly rather than scanning as images. The full extension list is in Creating an estimate. 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.
7. What the AI in chat won’t do for you
The AI builds the proposal; these actions are yours alone, in the UI:
Ask for one of these in chat and the AI points you to the right button rather than pretending to do it.