How BluSky's Estimating Team Eliminated the Most Dreaded Task in Their Department
3 days to 1/2 a day. Data entry to real analysis. How BluSky's estimators turned their biggest time sink into an edge.
Restoration Contractor
1000+ employees
Mitigation, Reconstruction
Case Studies
May 8, 2026
Zach Gardner, CEO @ClaimsFlow
01
Intro
95%
Time reduction on every PDF to ESX conversion
5+
Hours saved per week across the department
BluSky Restoration transformed one of the most time-consuming bottlenecks in its estimating workflow with ClaimsFlow. By automating PDF-to-ESX conversions and enriching estimates with actionable intelligence, the Central Estimating team reduced conversion time by 90-95%, saved 5+ hours every week, and accelerated project turnaround on multi-million-dollar jobs.
Key outcomes included:
95% reduction in PDF-to-ESX conversion time
Same-day turnaround on a $6M estimate with 890 line items
5+ hours saved weekly across the estimating department
Automatic discrepancy detection for tax, O&P, and pricing issues
Elimination of one of the team’s most frustrating manual processes
What previously took days of repetitive data entry can now be completed in minutes, allowing estimators to focus on analysis, supplements, and decision-making instead of rebuilding estimates manually.
02
Customer problem
BluSky Restoration’s Central Estimating team relies heavily on Xactimate to supplement estimates, create budgets, and analyze project costs. However, incoming estimates often arrive as PDFs - static versions of estimates that strip away the structured data required to work efficiently in Xactimate.
Before any meaningful work could begin, estimators had to manually rebuild each estimate line by line inside Xactimate.
This process required:
Re-entering every individual line item
Mapping descriptions to the correct trade and activity
Adding quantities and pricing manually
Cross-referencing the original PDF for accuracy
For mid-sized estimates, this could take 3-6 hours. Larger projects with hundreds of line items could consume an entire day or more.
The work was not only slow, but mentally exhausting.
“It’s mind-numbing, it’s draining, it’s a big strain on your eyes too, because you’re going back and forth on two screens, trying to make sure every single line item lines up properly.”
The manual conversion process became the single biggest drain on the team’s time and energy.
“This was probably one of the most dreaded tasks for someone to do. No one likes to do this.”
Beyond internal frustration, the delays also slowed down the business itself. Projects could not move forward until estimates were fully rebuilt and analyzed, often delaying decisions by several days.
03
Solution with ClaimsFlow
With ClaimsFlow, the entire PDF-to-ESX workflow changed.
Incoming PDFs are now processed through ClaimsFlow, which automatically converts them into complete ESX files in minutes instead of hours or days.
One standout example involved an 890-line-item estimate for a fitness center project valued at nearly $6 million. The estimate needed to be analyzed quickly so the project director could evaluate margins and move forward with the contract.
Using ClaimsFlow, the estimate was converted in under 20 minutes.
“I ran it through the program, and it took under 20 minutes. After a couple tweaks, I was ready to go. I was able to probably save 8 hours on this one particular job.”
The full analysis package was completed and returned the very same day.
“The Project Director was able to take that estimate with a contract to the customer the very next day, versus maybe having to wait a few days for us to really analyze a PDF estimate.”
Across the department, ClaimsFlow now saves an estimated 15-20 hours per month, with adoption continuing to grow internally.
Beyond Speed: Estimate Intelligence
While the time savings alone justified the implementation, the team discovered unexpected value in ClaimsFlow’s estimate intelligence capabilities.
ClaimsFlow does more than convert PDFs - it reconstructs the full project structure and surfaces critical discrepancies automatically, including:
Missing tax calculations
Overhead and profit gaps
Independently priced items
Custom line items
Pricing anomalies and global changes
This transformed the conversion process into an analysis workflow before the estimate was even opened in Xactimate.
“I feel so educated on the estimate before I even open it. Almost like I’ve been at the loss, I know every little detail about the job, because I can pick apart every little dollar and cent.”
The visibility allows estimators to identify issues instantly that previously required hours of manual review.
“I can very quickly say, hey, I noticed that the adjuster didn’t put tax on certain materials, or they didn’t put overhead and profit on these specific line items, or they made some global changes to things. It’s awesome.”
For a team focused on precision and speed, that level of insight fundamentally changed how estimates are reviewed, supplemented, and negotiated.
04
What's next
BluSky Restoration now sees manual estimate rebuilding as unnecessary for nearly all projects.
The long-term goal is simple: eliminate manual estimate copying entirely across the organization.
“I don’t want anyone ever copying an estimate again, if they don’t have to.”
Currently, conversions are handled centrally, but the company plans to expand access to ClaimsFlow across the broader organization, enabling project directors and estimators to run conversions directly themselves.
By removing the PDF bottleneck, ClaimsFlow helped BluSky dramatically reduce turnaround time, restore estimator focus, and unlock structured estimate data where it belongs - inside Xactimate, ready for analysis and action.
