The Bluebook International, as with many great American success stories, comes from humble beginnings. In 1963, a contractor by the name of Daniel Josipovich needed some organization in his life. Rather than sift through piles of notes or past claim estimates to find the prices of repair, cleaning and replacement costs, Dorothy Josipovich (Daniel’s Wife) decided to take and compile his past calculations and references into easy 30 page notebook.
The resulting “notebook” was a handy reference for him to more quickly expedite his work benefiting both his family responsibilities and professional goals. Other adjusters, noting his efficiency and the ease at which he provided estimates, started to inquire about the possibility of getting a copy of their own to work with.
Seeing the opportunity at hand, they decided to take the “notebook” to press thus creating the Insurance Adjusters Handbook which in 1964 became known simply as “the Bluebook” for cleaning, reconstruction and repair cost. In 1965 the company branded two other proprietary products entitled the Normal Useful Life Depreciation Tables and the Bluebook Unit Cost Guide.
Upon publishing these books, Mr. Josipovich took a position as an adjuster for Allstate insurance company. Leaving the firm in 64’ to promote his revolutionary methods of estimations and cost analysis. Mr. Josipovich largely changed the face of the industry through his scientific approach and is single handedly responsible for much of the verbiage and procedures that now define the profession.
As a result, The Bluebook is used by the insurance, construction, real estate, banking and many other service and related industries.
Today, over 40 years of experience and countless man-hours have been dedicated to the research of hundreds of trades and literally millions of line items throughout thousands of cities in North America. It still remains the industry’s only cost guide to include depreciation tables (Normal Useful Life Depreciation Tables) and unit cost tables for both structure and contents. No other cost guide offers the same!
Inside the corporate headquarters today, the culture is a product of ambition, pride and tradition.
Warm Regards and God Bless,
Daniel and Dorothy Josipovich