Roofer Resource and News

Stop hunting through 10,000+ line items every time you write a roof estimate. This cheat sheet covers the 15 Xactimate line item codes that appear on nearly every residential roofing claim — tear-off, shingles, underlayment, flashing, steep charges, and more — plus the units they're measured in, the ones carriers most often leave off, and how to turn this list into estimates that build themselves.

The architectural vs. 3-tab question comes up on nearly every residential job — and the answer roofers give shapes their margins, callbacks, and reputation for years. This guide breaks down the real differences in construction, wind ratings, lifespan, warranty, and cost; where 3-tab still legitimately makes sense; how to handle the conversation on insurance claims; and how to price and estimate each one correctly.

Xactimate macros are the single biggest speed and accuracy upgrade available to roofers — yet most estimators have never built one. This guide explains what macros are, how they work, how to create and insert them, and why a good macro library is the real difference between a 90-minute estimate and a 25-minute one that never forgets a line item.

Every number in a roof estimate stands on one foundation: the measurements. This guide covers both ways to get them right — the manual methods every roofer should still know (on-roof, ground-based with pitch math, and the pitch multiplier table that makes it work) and the aerial measurement reports that have taken over insurance work. You'll get the real accuracy and cost trade-offs, when each approach wins, and how measurements flow into your sketch, your waste factor, and ultimately your check.

Most roofers spend 90 minutes or more on every Xactimate estimate — and most of that time is pure waste. This step-by-step workflow breaks the estimate into five timed stages, shows you where the minutes actually disappear, and explains how top estimators use templates, shortcuts, and macros to consistently finish clean, complete roof estimates in under half an hour.

The company behind Xactimate agreed to buy AccuLynx — the biggest CRM in residential roofing — for $2.35 billion, then tried to walk away, then got ordered by a Delaware judge to see the deal through. Behind the corporate drama sits a question that matters to every roofing company: what happens when the platform that prices your claims and the platform that runs your business belong to the same company? Here's the full story in plain English, the three ways it could end, and the moves smart roofers are making regardless of the outcome.