ATI ACCELERATES PROPERTY RESTORATION PROCESSES WITH MATTERPORT

When the Most Critical Resource Is Time

The polar vortex and widespread power outages that devastated Texas in February 2021 caused even more destruction than Hurricane Harvey did when it hit the Texas coast in 2017. A half-million property owners filed insurance claims after the hurricane, but more than 700,000 reported damages after the ice storm.

With two offices in Texas and catastrophe trailers quickly deployed to the region, ATI Restoration, LLC  (ATI) was prepared to help. The company is the largest family-owned restoration contractor in the United States and specializes in property restoration after fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural or man-made disasters. The need for ATI’s services is massive, and as expected after a catastrophe, demand surges all at once. 

“The number-one resource when we go into an area hit by a catastrophe is time and the ability to work as quickly as possible to help restore property and life habits,” says Robb Harrell, Director of Operational Improvements and Technology at ATI. “Using the right technology allows us to do that quickly and accurately.”

Responding Rapidly to Communities in Need

ATI customers are often in dire straits, their lives and livelihoods disrupted for months until residential and commercial properties are restored. Helping people get back to normal quickly is crucial. 

Until recently, aerial imagery that captured roof damage was one of the most effective time-saving tools available, but insurance carriers were reluctant to pay for it. Today, however, it’s commonplace. ATI is certain that the next revolution in the insurance and restoration industries is 3D scanning for both interior and exterior spaces. 

“We were dealing with many property management firms in Texas,” Harrell says. “There was a great deal of interest in what was happening, and there was no better way to convey the severity of damage and how many buildings were impacted than with 3D scans to multiple material interested parties around the country.”

ATI invested in Matterport for its ability to capture spatial measurements as well as 4K imagery in immersive 3D. Inspections are now conducted with Matterport Pro2 cameras, and estimators can download the scans and calculate repairs all from their home or remote offices.

Subcontractors can likewise get the specs they need without having to visit the site. The results are transformative: much more accurate measurements, dramatically faster field inspections, faster repairs, and faster claims resolution. 

Matterport scans are so thorough and accurate that return trips are rarely necessary. Reducing the number of site visits alone saves a significant amount of money and time. Traveling to and from sites costs an average of $13,190.71 per year per associate—a cost impact that mounts quickly with many associates having to travel to each location after a disaster. 

Accelerating Estimates Further with Matterport TruePlan for Xactimate

Before ATI implemented Matterport, its field estimators used tape or laser measures, photography, and scoping to create diagrams on paper or within Xactimate Sketch, a software platform from Verisk used to calculate building damage, estimate repair costs, generate property loss statements and create claim offers.

Now ATI techs use Matterport TruePlan for Xactimate, a first-of-its-kind service that generates accurate sketches with a single click from a Matterport scan, speeding up the estimate process by an average of four times and shortening the insurance claim cycle. 

With TruePlan, ATI saved an estimated three and a half workdays measuring and sketching a 30,000 square foot property of moderate complexity. And since the project director had 10 similar assignments, the overall amount of time saved was an estimated 32 days.

"The days of paper and pencil sketching are over,” Harrell says. “Using Matterport 3D scans and TruePlan for Xactimate efficiently produces the accurate, strategic data we need to estimate losses four times faster.

We have also seen an increase in the overall accuracy of sketches. A traditional sketch has an average of 87-90 percent accuracy score, while Matterport TruePlan is 99 percent accurate.”

The time savings from not having to sketch manually saves ATI the equivalent of more than $100,000 per estimator per year in labor costs. 

The Future of Insurance in 3D

Matterport technologies are now integrated with the entire insurance cycle, not just the time after a disaster happens. “When a policy is first written,” Harrell says, “Matterport can help a carrier understand the risks.

After disaster strikes, a Matterport 3D scan accurately captures the damage and the repairs while they’re in progress, and then shows what the property looks like after all repairs are completed.”

Another valuable benefit for the insurance and restoration industries is the ability to archive content. “If there’s a property loss on a property three or even five years from now,” Harrell says, “we’ll be able to download the 3D scan from the cloud and see what the property looked like before it was damaged. Something that wasn’t even possible when most current insurance policies were written.”

When another disaster strikes, the use of Matterport will do more than save time and money for insurance and restoration businesses —it will help people get back to their lives as quickly as possible.

ABOUT ATI Restoration, LLC

ATI Restoration, LLC  (ATI) is the largest family-owned disaster restoration contractor in the United States. It specializes in recovery efforts following earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and other large-scale catastrophes. ATI employs 1,200 people across its headquarters in Anaheim, California and 23 satellite offices. https://atirestoration.com/

HEADQUARTERS: Anaheim, California

INDUSTRY: Restoration

CHALLENGE: Reduce the time required to thoroughly inspect, sketch, and repair damaged properties after disasters. 

PRODUCTS: Matterport Pro2, Matterport TruePlan for Xactimate 

SOLUTION: ATI Restoration, LLC  (ATI) uses Matterport to capture and sketch damaged properties in 3D, dramatically accelerating inspection, estimation, and restoration processes. 

Results:

• Improved measurement accuracy, from 87 – 90% to 97.5 – 99% 

• 5x productivity gains in sketch time

• 4x times loss estimation

• Reduced site visits and associated expenses