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Why we use structured chat

Wave's chat is a structured questionnaire under the surface, not a free-text AI assistant and not a form. Here's why we picked that shape and what it gives you.

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There are three obvious ways to capture a restoration loss in software. Wave's chat is a deliberate choice between them.

Option 1: A form

The traditional approach. Dozens of fields, rigid order, no flexibility. Forms work for data entry by office staff but fail on a job site: too slow, too much tapping, no way to capture the messy reality of a loss in real time.

Option 2: A free-text AI assistant

The naive AI approach. The user describes the loss in whatever order they want, and the model figures it out. This sounds great until you try it: the model misses things you didn't say out loud, the user never knows when they've said enough, and the resulting estimate is silently incomplete. You ship a bid that's missing containment and find out three weeks later.

Option 3: A structured questionnaire that looks like a chat

What Wave does. Under the surface there's a list of facts Wave needs before it can price the work correctly, per loss category, per room. The chat asks for those facts one at a time, and some questions offer tap-to-answer chips so the common answers are one touch. The experience feels like a conversation, not a form.

Why this wins

  • You always know when you're done. When the questions are answered, the estimate is complete. No guessing at completeness.
  • No "forgotten" line items. If Wave needs a fact before it can price the work, Wave asks for it. You can't accidentally skip PPE, containment, or documentation.
  • Defensive bidding works. Because Wave knows what category it's working with, it can apply the defensive bidding rules, adding line items an experienced estimator would have added.
  • Fast on a phone. Voice-to-text dictation plus short, single-purpose questions is the most efficient interface for capturing a loss in the field.
  • Auditable. Every line item traces back to what Wave asked and what you answered. When a carrier challenges a number, you have receipts.

What this means for you

You don't have to memorize what a complete estimate looks like; Wave does. Your job is to describe what you see. Wave's job is to make sure nothing important is missed. And when the questions are done, you can keep chatting to change anything.

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