From Deseret News archives:
Orem software company eases flood woes
Utah firm helps take guesswork out of repairs
Not only does this computer program compute how much drywall would be needed for repairs to a waterlogged basement, but it will quickly calculate the area's going rate for drywall, plus nails and carpet.
That's the brains of Xactimate, a restoration insurance software program and company that Orem native James Loveland began nearly 22 years ago in his basement.
Now, more than two decades later, Loveland's sons run the company, which has grown to 237 employees, a new building near the mouth of Provo Canyon and an international customer base.
The cash cow is still Xactimate, but the company's name has been changed from Xactimate to Xactware — they got too many calls asking if they were a computerized dating service, joked Eric Loveland, senior vice president.
The product, though far from romantic, was a dream come true for James Loveland, who put himself through Brigham Young University by working as a contractor.
However, he quickly realized that neither he nor his customers could read his atrocious hand-written estimates. So, he paired up with a tech-savvy friend and commissioned him to write a software program for estimating.
Approaching his first sale, James Loveland got a call from the customer on a Friday, who asked for a meeting that next Monday to ensure "they weren't working out of their basement," Eric Loveland said with a smile. "And that's exactly what he was doing."
So James Loveland quickly rented an office building, moved in and got the company's name in gold leaf on the window — all in one weekend. And they made the sale.
The software works using Xactware Solutions Inc. as the middleman. First, an insurance company sends information to Xactware about someone who is filing a claim for a flooded basement.
Xactware takes that information and passes it along electronically to, most commonly, the insurance carrier's contractor through a direct-repair program.
The contractor then walks through the house with a laptop computer, the Xactimate software and a downloaded 3-D rendering of the home, complete with all dimensions.
Standing in a soggy bedroom, the contractor can make an electronic estimate by noting drywall, carpet, floor boards, nails, paint, light fixtures, light switches, wiring and anything else damaged by the flood.
That estimate then uses one of Xactimate's 460 geographically based price lists to create a running total.
The price lists take into account that construction costs in Park City are far more than those in Santaquin.
That detailed estimate is then sent back to Xactware, then to the insurance company, which must approve the estimate and OK the work.
