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Defensive bidding

One observable result of Wave Intelligence: estimates are defensively bid — Wave errs in the direction of including more line items, since deleting a line beats missing one.

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Defensive bidding is one observable result of Wave Intelligence. The reasoning system that knows residential differs from commercial, that Cat 3 differs from Cat 1, also reasons in the direction that protects the estimator. This page is the consequence in depth.

If you ask Wave to add N95 masks to the hall bathroom, you may notice Wave also added containment barriers and floor protection. That's not a mistake. It's how Wave bids.

The rule

When Wave sees a line item that doesn't make sense alone, it adds the adjacent items an experienced estimator would have added with it.

  • Ask for N95s and a containment is going up → Wave adds the containment.
  • Ask for tear-out → Wave adds bagging, PPE, and dumpster lines.
  • Ask for an antimicrobial application → Wave adds the substrate prep that has to happen first.

Wave is industry-aware. It doesn't translate your words into a flat shopping list. It bids the way a senior estimator would bid the same job — including the things the technician on the phone didn't think to mention.

Why we built it this way

The asymmetry of estimating mistakes is brutal. Forgetting one line item can wipe out the margin on the whole job — you're eating that cost downstream when the carrier won't approve a supplement, or when ops gets billed for materials that weren't bid. Adding one line item you didn't need costs you nothing. The estimator deletes it.

So Wave errs in the direction of including more, not less. The estimator at a desk reviews the estimate, deletes anything that doesn't apply, and ships it. That review takes minutes. Catching a missed line item three weeks later takes hours and may cost real money.

Who this helps most

New technicians benefit the most. A 90-day tech describing a Cat 2 toilet supply line failure may not mention containment, PPE, antimicrobial, or air-mover sizing — because they don't know yet that those are line items. Wave fills them in. The estimate that goes to the desk is the estimate a 10-year tech would have produced.

For experienced estimators, this looks like a slightly noisier first draft. That's fine — you'd rather delete than miss.

What this is not

This is not Wave hallucinating line items to inflate the price. Every line item Wave places is tied to a specific reason: the room you described, the loss category, the IICRC standard for the work. If you ask Wave why it added a line, it will tell you. If you don't want it, delete it — the line is gone and the total reprices instantly.

Working with it

  • Review the right pane. Wave shows you the full estimate as the chat progresses. Scan it before you finalize.
  • Delete liberally. If a line doesn't belong, delete it via the kebab or via chat. Wave doesn't push back.
  • Or trust the bid. If you're not sure whether a line belongs, leave it. The estimator at the desk will catch what shouldn't be there. They rarely catch what was never bid.

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