How One Estimator Keeps Up With a $15–20M Restoration Company
Restoration Contractor
Fire & Large Loss
PDF to ESX
Long Island, NY
Case Studies
Oct 5, 2026
Zach Gardner, CEO @ClaimsFlow
01
Intro
10
Hours saved per week.
$40k
Saved in estimator time annually.
95%
Of converted files match RCV exactly.
East End Designs is a Long Island restoration contractor founded in 2014, focused on large loss and fire restoration work. About 60% of their jobs are insurance related.
East End Designs has doubled in size every year for three years. It still has one repair estimator: Peter Vance.
Detail | Value |
|---|---|
Company | East End Designs |
Location | Suffolk County, Long Island, NY |
Specialty | Fire and large-loss restoration; mitigation and repairs |
02
Customer problem
Problem: An Approved Estimate Isn't a Contract
For most of East End's rebuild jobs, a PA or the carrier’s adjuster has also written an estimate. Pete often must convert their PDF estimate into Xactimate to:
Build a Contract. Peter rebuilds the approved estimate as an ESX file with East End's header, so the contract matches the adjuster's numbers exactly. He then sends the contract to the homeowner through DocuSign.
Supplement the adjuster’s estimate. When the adjuster writes an estimate that doesn't resemble Peter's, he rebuilds the adjuster's estimate and adds his supplement items in bold at the bottom. The adjuster can then see exactly what to approve.
A PDF can’t do either. It’s locked: Peter can’t create a contract from the approved scope or add supplement line items.
"I'd have to print out a PDF of the adjuster's estimate and type in every line item, quantity by quantity, then verify the pricing and the tax. It would take literally hours out of each day."
A small water loss took 30–45 minutes. A single fire claim took at least two hours. As the only repair estimator at a company doubling every year, Peter didn't have those hours to spare.
The delay in getting a homeowner a contract also put jobs at risk. Homeowners don’t want to wait days to get a rebuild contract, especially after mitigation crews arrive within hours of a loss.
"If they see that I received an approved estimate and I wait three days, in their eyes I'm sitting on it. I need to respond before they start looking for another GC to do the job. Then I've lost a client."
03
Solution with ClaimsFlow
More Claims, Same Estimator
With ClaimsFlow, Pete can quickly converts the PDF estimate into a complete Xactimate ESX file, with line-item codes, quantities, pricing, tax, and Sketch. From that one file, Peter can then:
Supplement the adjuster’s estimate, adding missing line items.
Contract the approved scope on East End Design’s paper.
Budget the job in DASH (coming soon)
Peter estimates ClaimsFlow saves him 8–10 hours a week.
"I'm able to go on and touch another 5, 10, 20 claims that day instead of being bogged down on one individual claim."
On a recent job, East End had already finished the work but couldn't get paid without a signed contract.
"ClaimsFlow came in… bing boom bam, did everything. Within 15 minutes, I had a contract sent via DocuSign."
Without ClaimsFlow, East End's growth would mean more hiring.
"We'd have to have additional repair estimators. The company I worked for before had 3. I'm one here."
The time savings only work if Peter can trust the file. With ClaimsFlow, 90% require no changes; all unusual items get flagged for review instead of slipping through. On a recent job, ClaimsFlow flagged a specialty tile with no matching Xactimate line item across four bathrooms, and Peter added the four items himself before sending the contract.
"You didn't just create an algorithm and say, 'I'm happy with that.' You guys are constantly improving the platform."
04
What's next
In the future, East End plans to send its converted estimates into DASH to programmatically generate work orders. Peter is also testing ClaimsFlow's Estimate Reconciliation tool in early access. The tool lines up his estimate against the adjuster's and carries his changes onto the adjuster's file, so he can turn supplements around even faster.
Asked how he'd describe ClaimsFlow to another contractor, Peter kept it short:
"It's a tool that transposes a PDF to an ESX file, which saves payroll and increases productivity for an estimator."
