Xactimate Line Item Cheat Sheet: CAT/SEL Codes by Trade

Every Xactimate line item is identified by a three-letter category code (CAT) plus a selector code (SEL). DRY 5/8, for example, is 5/8” drywall, hung, taped, floated and ready for paint. Each line also carries an activity code (+, -, &, R, I or M) that says what the price pays for, and a unit (SF, LF, EA, SQ, HR) that says how the quantity is counted.

Below you’ll find how to read a code you’ve never seen, then cheat-sheet tables by trade. Code lists go out of date as Xactware rewords descriptions. Every code in this article appears with its description in a public source: GAF’s Xactimate roof legend, real Xactimate estimates posted by a claims consultancy and a school district, an Xactimate item report posted by United Policyholders, or a published price list summary. Each table links its sources. There are no prices here, because prices change by market and by month.

Anatomy of an Xactimate line item code

Say a water loss needs a bedroom ceiling replaced. In Xactimate, that line is five pieces of data:

Xactware’s glossary says every price list item has a category and a selector, “often shortened as CAT/SEL”, and defines selector codes as unique codes for individual line items in a category. That last part matters. A selector means nothing on its own:

• FNC B3 is “Baseboard - 3 1/4””.

• TIL B is “Ceramic tile base”.

• CPS PAD is “Provide furniture lightweight blanket/pad”. It has nothing to do with carpet pad, which lives in the FCC category.

Always read CAT and SEL as a pair. Some reports and spreadsheets run them together (CPSPAD), which makes that mistake easy.

A few selectors repeat across trades, and they’re worth knowing on sight. LAB is an hourly labor rate in many categories: CON LAB is “Content Manipulation charge - per hour”, DRY LAB is “Drywall Installer / Finisher - per hour”, PNT LAB is “Painter - per hour” and CLN LAB is “Cleaning Technician - per hour”. AV turns up across flooring categories: TIL AV is “Ceramic/porcelain tile”, FCC AV+ is “Carpet - High grade” and FCT AV+ is “Tile floor covering - High grade”.

Quantities usually come from Sketch variables rather than typed numbers. Xactware’s variables article lists the common ones, including W (wall area), C (ceiling area), WC (walls and ceiling), F (floor area), PF (perimeter of floor) and PC (perimeter of ceiling). Resize the room in Sketch and every line using that variable recalculates.

Xactimate category codes for restoration work

Xactware publishes the category names on its category codes help page. These are the ones restoration estimates use most:

Xactware’s page tags CPS and the contents cleaning categories with “CONT”. CON doesn’t carry that tag. If a code list uses a three-letter category you can’t find on Xactware’s page, check it in your own price list before you trust it.

Xactimate activity codes

The activity code decides what the unit price pays for. Xactware’s activity code article defines seven:

Because each activity covers different costs, changing the activity changes the unit price too. Same code, different money.

You can often read the activity even on a PDF with no code columns, because Xactimate prefixes the description. In the public estimates we cite below:

• & prints as “R&R”, as in “R&R 5/8” - drywall per LF - up to 4’ tall”.

• - prints as “Remove”, as in “Remove 3 tab - 25 yr. - composition shingle roofing - incl. felt”.

• R prints as “Detach & Reset”, as in “Detach & Reset Closet rod” (FNC CLROD).

• M prints as “Material Only”, as in “Material Only Ceramic/porcelain tile” (TIL AV), used there to price tile waste.

• I prints as “Install”, as in “Install Toilet paper dispenser - double roll - High grade” (TBA TPD2+).

• + prints the bare description.

Detach and reset shows up two ways, and reviewers should know both. It can be the R activity on a normal item, like FNC CLROD or LIT FL (“Detach & Reset Fluorescent light fixture”). It can also be its own selector entered with +, like PLM TLTRS “Toilet - Detach & reset”, WDT BLNDRS “Window blind - horizontal or vertical - Detach & reset” or TBA GBARRS “Handicap grab bar - Detach & reset”. When you compare two estimates, the same reset can sit under either form, so match on meaning, not only on the code.

How selectors encode size, grade and finish

Many selectors end in a modifier. In public examples, + steps up in grade or effort, - steps down, and < or > mean smaller or larger:

Sources: Claims Delegates estimate, GAF roof legend, Visalia USD contract, Xactimate item report posted by United Policyholders (2015).

Treat the suffix as a hint, not a rule. RFG VENTT is “Roof vent - turtle type - Metal” and RFG VENTT- is the plastic version, so - means a cheaper material there, not a lighter job. In drywall, the suffix tracks finish level. DRY 5/8 is “5/8” drywall - hung, taped, floated, ready for paint” and DRY 5/8- is “5/8” drywall - hung, taped, ready for texture”. Letters carry meaning too. The shingle selectors in GAF’s legend carry an S (RFG 240S, RFG 300S, RFG 500S), and every one of them is a “w/out felt” item, so underlayment goes on its own line (RFG FELT15 or RFG FELTSU). Read the description before you trust the pattern.

One more thing about descriptions: some of them name the surface the line is calculated on. The same PNT P2 prints as “Paint the walls - two coats” on a W line, “Paint the ceiling - two coats” on a C line and “Paint the walls and ceiling - two coats” on a WC line. If you search a PDF for a description, search for the part that doesn’t change.

Xactimate units

Three unit traps come up in review:

1. Drying equipment is EA per 24-hour period. On a 2025 restoration price sheet in a Collin County, Texas agenda, “Air mover (per 24 hour period) - No monitoring” and the matching dehumidifier line are priced per EA, with the time period in the description. Three air movers for two days is 3*2, a quantity of 6. The negative air fan, by contrast, is priced in DA.

2. Roofing mixes units. On GAF’s sample estimate, shingles and felt are in SQ, ice and water barrier is in SF, starter, drip edge and step flashing are in LF, and pipe jacks are in EA.

3. Flood cuts have per-LF items. DRY LF>5/8 is “5/8” - drywall per LF - up to 4’ tall”. A 4-foot cut along 40 feet of wall is 40 LF on that line, not 160 SF on DRY 5/8.

The cheat sheet: common Xactimate codes by trade

Each table shows the code as CAT + SEL, the description as it appears in the linked public sources, the unit, and the activity those sources use it with. Where public sources from different years word a line differently, the table uses the most recent wording we found.

Water mitigation (WTR) isn’t in these tables. None of the public estimates we cite prints those codes, and we’d rather leave them out than guess. The Collin County price sheet linked above lists their current descriptions and units.

Demolition and debris (DMO)

Debris hauling is entered as a remove, even though you’re paying for a truck. Sources: Claims Delegates estimate, ServiceMaster estimate in a Visalia Unified School District contract.

Drywall (DRY)

Sources: Claims Delegates estimate, Visalia USD contract.

Insulation (INS)

Sources: Visalia USD contract (2024), Claims Delegates estimate (2021), Xactimate item report posted by United Policyholders (2015).

Painting (PNT)

Watch the coat counts. The July 2023 price lists reworded seal-and-paint descriptions to state the number of coats, so older lists can mislead you. More on that below.

Sources: Visalia USD contract, Claims Delegates estimate. The Claims Delegates estimate prices baseboard paint per LF.

Baseboard and trim (FNC)

Source: Claims Delegates estimate. The last two print as “Detach & Reset Closet rod” and “Detach & Reset Shelving - 12” - in place” because of the R activity.

Flooring and tile (FCC, FCW, FCT, TIL)

Sources: Claims Delegates estimate, Visalia USD contract.

Cleaning (CLN)

Sources: Claims Delegates estimate, Visalia USD contract.

Roofing (RFG)

Sources: codes and descriptions from the GAF Xactimate Roof Estimating Legend; units from GAF’s sample estimate and a court exhibit, which print these descriptions with their units. GAF’s legend lists codes without an activity, so this table leaves that column out.

Contents (CON, CPS)

Source: Claims Delegates estimate.

Why “line item codes list PDF” downloads go stale

A code list PDF is a snapshot of one price list, from one market, in one month. You can see it on any estimate’s cover page: the price list name ends in a month and year, like TXDF8X_NOV21 on the 2021 Texas estimate above or CAVL8X_DEC24 on the 2024 California one. Verisk’s Pricing Research Methodology says it publishes separate price lists for more than 460 areas, monthly, and as often as every two weeks when demand surges push prices around.

Codes change more slowly than prices, but descriptions do change. Two public examples:

• PNT SP2. On the 2021 estimate it reads “Seal/prime then paint the ceiling twice (3 coats)”. On the 2024 estimate it reads “Seal/prime (1 coat) then paint (2 coats) the ceiling”. Same code, same work, clearer wording. Actionable Insights’ July 2023 price list summary records the change as Xactware modifying the descriptions of seal-and-paint items “to clarify number of coats applied.”

• RFG RIDGC. The same July 2023 summary says the description was modified to clarify that the item is hip/ridge cap cut from 3 tab shingles. If the roof has standard-profile or high-profile cap shingles, GAF’s legend points you to RFG RIDGCS or RFG RIDGC+ instead.

So the source of truth is the price list loaded in your own Xactimate for that claim. Use this cheat sheet to learn the patterns and the common codes, then confirm them in your price list. If you need a refresher on finding items there, see how to add line items in Xactimate.

Why the estimate PDF you received has no codes

Whether codes appear on a PDF depends on which report the estimator printed. In Xactimate, each report has its own print options (Xactware help). Verisk’s XactAnalysis help describes the Rough Draft report as showing category (CAT), selector (SEL) and action (ACT) columns. Its description of the Final Draft report lists description, quantity, unit, price, tax, O&P, RCV, depreciation and ACV, with no code columns.

So the carrier PDF on your desk often gives you descriptions and no codes. The activity prefixes (“R&R”, “Remove”, “Detach & Reset”) still tell you a lot, but the CAT/SEL is gone. Our posts on trade data and what a PDF strips out of an ESX cover what else goes missing, and choosing Xactimate reports covers the report types.

If you’d rather not rebuild that estimate by hand, ClaimsFlow converts the PDF to an ESX you can open in Xactimate. Across all projects, 97.6% of line items convert, and any line that doesn’t is flagged in the Conversion Report for review. After any conversion, it’s worth a pass through this checklist for converted estimates.

FAQ

Is there an Xactimate line item codes list PDF?

You’ll find plenty online, but each one is a snapshot of somebody’s price list from one market and month. Descriptions drift between versions. Use a PDF list as a study aid, and confirm codes in the price list loaded in your Xactimate before you rely on them.

What are Xactimate category codes?

A category code is the three-letter trade prefix on every line item, such as WTR for water extraction & remediation or FNC for finish carpentry/trim work. Xactware lists them on its category codes page. The selector after the category picks the exact item, and it only means something inside that category.

Where can I find the current Xactimate code list?

Inside Xactimate. The price list loaded for your claim is the current code list for that market and month, and it’s what the estimate is priced from. To see the codes on an existing estimate, print the Rough Draft report, which includes CAT, SEL and activity columns.

What do +, -, < and > mean at the end of an Xactimate code?

They’re selector modifiers. + usually means a higher grade or heavier work, - a standard grade or lighter work, and < or > a smaller or larger size, as in DMO DUMP< through DMO DUMP>. These suffixes are separate from the activity codes + (replace) and - (remove), which sit in their own column on the line.

What’s the difference between & and R in Xactimate?

& is remove and replace, which pays to take out the old item and install a new one. R is detach and reset, which pays to take off the existing item and put the same one back, with no new material. Some items also have a dedicated detach-and-reset selector, such as PLM TLTRS “Toilet - Detach & reset”.

Why doesn’t my carrier’s Xactimate estimate show CAT/SEL codes?

The PDF was probably printed from a report that leaves code columns out. Verisk’s description of the Final Draft report, for example, lists no CAT or SEL column. The codes still exist in the ESX file the estimate came from. If you can’t get that file, you’ll need to match descriptions back to codes. PDF vs. ESX explains what that file holds that the PDF drops.

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