Total Loss Contents Inventory Software

When the building is gone, so is the list. Kevin rebuilds it from whatever survived — a written list, a spreadsheet, a pack-out PDF — and prices every line with depreciation and an export the carrier can import. No photographs required.

Kevin Godfrey, KevinLast updated 27 October 2026

How do you build a contents inventory after a total loss?

From descriptions rather than photographs. A typed or handwritten list, a spreadsheet, or the pack-out company's PDF imports directly, and each described item is priced from retail comps the same way a photographed one is — then classified, depreciated by age, and exported in the XactContents template.

A total loss inverts the usual problem. On a normal contents claim the evidence exists and the work is turning it into priced lines. On a total loss the evidence is what is missing, and the list has to be reconstructed before anything can be priced at all.

So the route in is the written one. Kevin’s import takes a list in whatever shape it reached you, prices each line, and puts it on the same worksheet a photographed claim lands on — the mechanics are on pricing contents when the photos are gone.

What you can start with

Any of these, and they can be combined on one claim
You have	What happens to it	What it gives up
A typed or handwritten list	Parsed server-side, mapped to columns, previewed before anything is created	Brand and model precision, unless the list carries them
An Excel or CSV file	Same path; the mapping step runs even when the columns are already recognised	Nothing beyond what the file omits
A pack-out company’s PDF	Parsed like any other document — no rekeying	Room detail, where the pack-out log did not record it
A commercial asset or equipment list	Imports as a spreadsheet; classes and depreciation apply per line	Nothing structural — a business list is still a list
A list typed from memory	Imports the same way; sharpen a description and re-price any line	Precision, in proportion to what is remembered
Photographs, where any survive	The ordinary photo pipeline — identification, comps, depreciation	Nothing; this is the richest input when it exists

Nothing is created until you say so

The import runs parse → map → preview → import, and the first three steps create nothing. You see the rows as Kevin read them, with the columns it guessed, before a single line exists on the claim.

Parsing is server-side, because real inventories arrive as PDFs and a browser parser would fail on the ones that matter most.
Room stays its own field. The description doubles as the search query, so a room name left inside it changes what gets priced.
Section headings are flagged, never dropped. “KITCHEN” on its own line is pre-selected for removal and you confirm it — a heading left in gets priced as property.
Large lists chunk at 500 rows and resume from a failed chunk, so a 4,000-line commercial list is not an all-or-nothing upload.
The confirmation states the search count, not the row count: two vendor searches per priced item, so you know the size of the run before it starts.

What a described line carries

Every line, however it arrived, lands on the same worksheet with the same columns and the same arithmetic behind them: unit cost, quantity, sales tax, RCV including tax, age, percentage and dollar depreciation, and ACV. The money is computed server-side so the worksheet, the export and the PDF cannot disagree with each other.

Depreciation comes from a published schedule — 31 content categories across 87 sub-lines, straight-line against useful life, running to 100% where the item is past it. You can read the whole thing on useful life by content class rather than taking our word for a number on a line.

Jewelry, fine arts, firearms, furs, fine china and graded trading cards are never auto-priced. On a total loss those are the lines most likely to be argued, and a machine-generated figure on one of them is worth less than a blank.

What it costs to run a total loss

Flat $249 a month, unlimited claims, 2,000 line items included each billing month, then credits at $0.75 an item. No per-claim fee and no per-seat maths.

That matters more on total losses than anywhere else, because a total loss is where per-claim pricing hurts most: the claim that takes the most work is the one that bills as a single claim. A 2,000-line total loss fits inside a month’s allowance on the flat plan. If you would rather hand the whole thing over, done-for-you builds it for you from $750.

Common questions

Can you build a contents inventory with no photographs at all?

Yes. A typed list, a handwritten list, an Excel or CSV file, or a restoration company’s pack-out PDF all import directly. A described item is priced from the same retail comps as a photographed one — it simply carries less brand and model precision, because the description is all the search has to work from.

Do pre-loss photographs help?

Where one clearly shows an item, yes — it imports like any other photograph. What Kevin will not do is read the background of a family photo and file the furniture in it as line items. A single photograph backs at most one item here, so items never outnumber photographs.

How accurate is a price built from a description?

As accurate as the description. "Sofa" prices as a sofa; "three-seat leather sofa, dark brown, chaise on the right" prices as that. Every priced line carries a source link to the listing the figure came from, so you can see what was matched and sharpen the description and re-price if it is wrong.

What about a commercial total loss?

An asset or equipment list imports the same way a household list does — the format is a spreadsheet either way. Content classes and the depreciation that follows from them apply per line regardless of whether the loss is residential or commercial.

How long does a total-loss list take to run?

The import itself is chunked at 500 rows a request and resumes from a failed chunk, so list size is not the constraint. Pricing is two vendor searches per priced item, and the confirmation step tells you how many searches the import will run before you commit to it.

Does a 2,000-line total loss cost extra?

Pro includes 2,000 line items a billing month on a flat $249, with unlimited claims — so a single 2,000-line total loss fits inside the allowance. Past it you buy credits at $0.75 an item. There is no per-claim fee, which is the thing that usually makes a total loss expensive on other platforms.

Build contents claims faster with Kevin.

Your first 250 line items are free, with no clock running. $249/mo after that, unlimited claims.

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