Detach and Reset vs Remove and Replace in Xactimate: How to Pick the Right Activity Code
What detach and reset (R) and remove and replace (&) actually pay for in Xactimate, which items on a water loss belong in each, and the WTR detach code overlap that gets scopes flagged in review.
Detach and reset (activity code R) pays labor and equipment to take an existing item off and reinstall that same item, with no new material inside the line. Remove and replace (activity code &) pays to demolish the existing item and install a new one of like kind and quality, material included. On a water loss the choice turns on whether the item will survive removal and drying in serviceable condition, and price, documentation burden, and durability under adjuster review all follow from that.
The seven activity codes behind every line item
Every Xactimate line item carries an activity code that determines what the unit price includes. Verisk's documentation defines them:
- + Replace. Installation labor and new material.
- - Remove. Removal labor only.
- R Detach & Reset. The cost to remove the existing material and reinstall it.
- & Remove and replace. Removing the old material and replacing it with new.
- F Repair. Available only on custom line items where a custom price is entered.
- M Material Only. Material with no installation cost.
- I Install Only. Installation with no material cost.
In X1 the activity is set from Estimate items, on the Items tab: select the item in the Quick entry pane, then choose from the Act dropdown. Not every activity is offered on every line item.
What detach and reset leaves out
The R price carries labor and equipment but no new material, which is why it lands below the & price for the same item.
A toilet detached and reset onto the same flange still needs a new wax ring. Carpet that comes up for pad replacement goes back down over new tack strip. A detached vanity top needs new caulk and a new supply line. Those consumables need their own line items or they come out of the contractor's margin.
Which items belong in detach and reset
Detach and reset fits when an item has to come off for access and goes back in the same condition it came off in:
- Toilets pulled to get flooring out. Vitreous china is non-porous and the water does not damage it.
- Solid wood baseboard and casing. Kiln-dried pine and poplar absorb water at the cut ends and still return to dimension after drying, and the material comes off the wall in reusable lengths.
- Washers, dryers, and ranges moved for extraction. These get detached for access, not because they sustained damage.
- Cast iron tubs, pedestal sinks, and cultured marble tops where the cabinet below is being replaced but the fixture above it survives.
Each of those items is non-porous or dimensionally stable, and the water reached it as a consequence of the loss rather than as damage to it.
Which items must be remove and replace
Three conditions push an item out of detach and reset, each defensible with evidence in the file.
The substrate swells irreversibly. MDF and finger-jointed baseboard, particleboard toe kicks and cabinet boxes, and the fiberboard core of laminate flooring are wood fiber held together with adhesive. Once the fiber swells the bond is broken, and the material does not return to dimension as it dries. Sanding a swollen MDF base removes the profile along with the swelling.
The water category rules the material out. ANSI/IICRC S500 treats porous materials exposed to Category 3 water as unsalvageable, and treats Category 2 exposure as a judgment call driven by porosity and dwell time. A detach and reset line on porous material in a Category 3 loss contradicts the classification written elsewhere in the same file.
The item will not survive the detach. Tile-set toilets, sixty-year-old cast iron drain connections, and brittle vinyl base break on removal often enough to plan for. Photograph the broken item next to the removal point and change the activity before the estimate goes out, because finding it after approval turns a scope decision into a supplement.
The WTR detach code overlap
The mitigation side of Xactimate carries its own detach-only codes, separate from the R activity on a reconstruction line item: WTR TLTD for a toilet, WTR WSHD for a washing machine, WTR DRYED and WTR DRYGD for electric and gas dryers, WTR DORSLD for an interior door slab, and the WTR CABLD family for lower cabinet detach, with additional characters for shoring and after hours work.
Those codes pay for the detach and nothing else. If the mitigation invoice already billed WTR TLTD to pull the toilet for extraction, the reconstruction estimate should carry a reset, not a full detach and reset on the same fixture. Billing both puts the detach in the file twice on one claim, and XactAnalysis review compares the mitigation and repair scopes under the same claim number.
The reverse error costs money too. A toilet pulled on day one by the mitigation crew, with no WTR detach code and no reset line on the repair estimate, is unpaid labor that already happened.
Documenting the call so it survives review
An adjuster changing remove and replace to detach and reset is arguing the item is salvageable. The evidence that settles it:
- A photograph of the swollen or delaminated edge, close enough to read the substrate.
- The moisture reading at that material, with the meter and the dry standard identified.
- The water category and the S500 basis for it, written in the claim notes rather than assumed.
- The material type named in the line item note, since "MDF base, swelled at bottom edge" answers what "baseboard" leaves open.
Attach that documentation at the line item level rather than in a summary paragraph, because the reviewer works item by item.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does detach and reset mean in Xactimate?
Detach and reset is activity code R. It covers the labor and equipment to remove an existing item and reinstall that same item, with no new material in the price, which is why it prices below remove and replace.
What is the difference between R&R and detach and reset?
Remove and replace (activity code &) demolishes the existing item and installs a new one, material included. Detach and reset (activity code R) reuses the original item, and applies when it only needs to come off for access rather than because it was damaged.
Does detach and reset include new material?
No. Consumables such as wax rings, tack strip, caulk, supply lines, and fasteners fall outside the R price and need their own line items if the estimate is going to cover them.
Can an adjuster change remove and replace to detach and reset?
An adjuster can revise a scope, and that revision argues the item is salvageable. Photographs of the damaged substrate, moisture readings at that material, and the documented water category are what keep the line at remove and replace.
Wave automates the scoping step described above by turning voice notes from the loss site into a full Xactimate estimate in minutes, with the activity codes and supporting documentation already attached. Learn more at buildwithwave.com.
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