What Loss Planner Simple Actually Does
It is a claims estimation and planning tool designed primarily for property insurance adjusters and recovery contractors. The software helps you document damage, calculate repair costs, generate estimates, and organize case files for submission to carriers. You input job details, material quantities, labor hours, and the program spits out a formatted estimate that matches standard insurance claim forms. I have used this tool on roughly two hundred cases over the last four years. It handles residential and light commercial work without issue. The interface is functional but not particularly elegant. It gets the job done in about fifteen minutes per average claim, compared to the hour or so it takes when doing everything manually in spreadsheets.
How to Set Up Loss Planner Simple for Your First Case
After installing the software, you will need to create a user profile and select your trade specialization. This matters because the default cost databases vary by region. If you are in the Northeast, for example, labor rates in the southern database will throw off your estimates by fifteen to twenty percent. I learned this the hard way on a water damage claim in Portland where my initial submission was returned because the equipment depreciation values were wildly incorrect for the market. Here is the basic workflow. Open a new case, enter the property address and claim number, then select the damage type from the dropdown menu. The program will load a template relevant to that damage classification. Fill in each room or affected area, list the damaged materials and their quantities, assign labor hours based on your actual time estimates, and review the summary before exporting. The export options include PDF, CSV, and a carrier-specific format if you have that integration enabled. The most useful feature is the photo attachment system. You can tag each image to a specific line item in the estimate, which makes the documentation trail much clearer for the adjusting team. I always make it a habit to attach at least one close-up and one wide-angle shot per damaged area. Claims that go unexplained in photos tend to get reduced during review.
What Beginners Miss About Loss Planner Simple
The software has a feature called the depreciation override, and most people ignore it until they need it. When a carrier processes a actual cash value claim versus replacement cost value, the program calculates depreciation automatically based on asset age and category. The default algorithm is conservative. In practice, I have found that overriding the depreciation schedule by fifteen percent in favor of the insured tends to produce more accurate settlement numbers without triggering audit flags. Just make sure you document the reason for the override in the notes field, or the next person reviewing the file will flag it as an error. Another thing nobody tells you about Loss Planner Simple is how it handles code upgrade calculations. The built-in code compliance add-on is decent for straightforward remodels, but it breaks down when you are dealing with mixed construction dates on older properties. I ran into this on a 1970s-era townhouse where the electrical system needed full replacement due to fire damage, but the plumbing was from a 2005 renovation. The software tried to apply a single code upgrade factor across the entire scope, which inflated the estimate by nearly three thousand dollars. My workaround was to split the claim into two separate line items with different upgrade multipliers, then combine them in the final summary. It takes an extra ten minutes and saves you from having to resubmit.
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Loss Planner Simple Downsides You Should Know About
The tool is not going to replace a seasoned adjuster's judgment. It cannot account for local subcontractor availability, seasonal material price spikes, or unusual site conditions like asbestos abatement requirements that might pop up during demolition. The database updates quarterly, so if you are working on a claim during a period of rapid inflation like we saw in 2023 and 2024, the cost figures will lag behind actual market pricing by roughly eight to twelve percent. I keep a separate reference sheet with current regional pricing and cross-check the software output against it on every commercial job. There is also the issue of the mobile app, which is essentially a stripped-down version of the desktop program. It lacks the bulk import feature and the ability to attach files larger than five megabytes. If you do a lot of field work, you will find yourself switching between the app and the desktop repeatedly. Not a dealbreaker, but it interrupts the flow and adds maybe twenty minutes per case to your process. If your workflow involves high-volume residential claims with standardized damage types, Loss Planner Simple is a solid choice and will cut your documentation time significantly. For complex commercial rebuilds or cases involving specialized restoration work, you might find more value in pairing it with a dedicated estimating platform like Xactimate, though that comes with a steeper learning curve and higher annual cost.
