The Path From Photo Upload to a Native Xactimate File
Planning notes for this week. I have been mapping out how a restoration shop could get a Xactimate estimate from photos without the usual evening of re-keying. Writing it down here so I can come back to it, and so anyone else working through the same question can follow along.
The tool I have been reading about is Axiom. Its pitch is plain: turn jobsite photos into a Xactimate estimate in minutes. The page that explains the steps is their walkthrough on building a xactimate estimate from photos, and these notes follow that path from start to finish.
Step 1: Start the job with the basics
Before any photo goes in, the job needs its details: loss type and date of loss. Sounds obvious. But a water loss and a fire loss lead to very different line items, so getting this right first sets up everything after it.
Step 2: Get the photos in
There are a few ways to load photos, which matters because every crew documents differently:
- Drag and drop from a computer.
- Paste a shareable link from CompanyCam, Google Drive or DocuSketch.
- Shoot and upload straight from the iOS app.
Note to self: the link option means the crew does not have to change how they already document. That is a big deal for adoption.
Step 3: Add measurements
Photos show damage. Measurements give quantities. Axiom accepts several sources:
- A 3D scan from the iOS app.
- An existing ESX file.
- A 2D PDF floor plan.
- Rooms typed in by hand.
There is also an option I did not expect: take a photo of a hand-drawn sketch and it gets traced into an editable floor plan. Plenty of techs still sketch on paper, so this one could save real time.
Step 4: Generate the Xactimate estimate from photos
This is the part that gets talked about most. In the walkthrough demo, recorded in the shipped product in July 2026, an ~$8,000 water loss was used. Generation was quoted at around two minutes and took a little over one minute. The draft came back with 33 line items.
The draft is organised by room, with Xactimate codes, line items and editable quantities. Line items and quantities are drawn from thousands of real claims, according to Axiom. It covers mitigation and reconstruction work, split into mitigation, put-back and exterior job types.
Step 5: Answer the questions
When the docusketch alternative photos do not settle an item, the scope assistant asks a question instead of guessing. Was the cabinet toe kick wet? Did water reach the next room? I like this. A guess you do not notice becomes a supplement argument later.
Step 6: Review room by room
Nothing is final until an estimator reviews and approves it room by room. This is the step I would never skip. Check quantities against the scan. Check that each mitigation item lines up with the drying logs and the IICRC S500 water damage standard. Check that every room in the floor plan shows up in the estimate.
Step 7: Open the ESX in Xactimate
The export is a native .esx file. Not a PDF, not a portal. It opens directly in Xactimate and reprices on the shop's own price list. In the walkthrough demo, the ESX opens in Xactimate right after generation and review.
That last detail is what makes the path worth mapping. If the output were a PDF, someone would still have to re-key it. A native file means an Xactimate estimate from photos is a real starting point, and the estimator picks up where the software left off.
Open questions I still have
- How well does my crew's current photo habit cover ceilings and hidden areas?
- Who on the team owns answering scope questions?
- How do we track which drafts are reviewed versus still pending?
Pricing at the time of writing (October 2026) starts at $899 per month for the Starter plan. New accounts get one free PDF-to-ESX conversion, which seems like the easiest way to test the file quality before committing.
Next set of notes: a photo checklist for crews, so the draft has less to ask about.