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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, in the order that's most useful — but the experience feels like a conversation, not a form.

Why this wins

  • You always know when you're done. When the questionnaire is complete, 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 and class 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 the question Wave asked and the answer you gave. 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.

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