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The chat questionnaire

Wave's chat is a structured per-room interview under the surface. Why that shape matters, and how to keep moving when you don't have an answer.

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Wave's chat looks open-ended but it's running a structured questionnaire under the surface. That structure is what lets Wave produce a complete estimate without you having to remember every category, modifier, and line item.

What Wave is doing while you talk

For every affected room, Wave walks through a structured interview. The exact prompts vary by loss category, and each answer shapes what Wave asks next, so no two interviews look exactly alike. By the end of the interview for a given room, Wave has enough to price every line item the room needs.

One thing to expect: room dimensions. Wave does not ask for raw square footage. When it asks about a room's size, give length × width × height (e.g., 8 × 10 × 8). The three numbers are what IICRC drying math needs, not just the floor area. See Answer formats for the full set of input shapes Wave accepts.

Why questions can feel "out of order"

The order isn't the order you'd narrate the loss — it's the order that unblocks pricing. So Wave might ask about PPE or category-specific modifiers before you've finished talking about contents. That's intentional. The questions are chosen by what's missing, not by your story arc.

When you don't have an answer

It's safe to say "I don't know" or "I'm not sure." Wave will either:

  • Ask a clarifying question that's easier to answer, or
  • Pick a reasonable default and flag the assumption in the estimate

You can come back later and fix the assumption — it doesn't have to be right the first time.

Skipping ahead

You can paste in everything you know at once: "Hall bathroom is 8 by 10, vinyl floor coming out, drywall affected up to 16 inches, 2 demo days, 3 drying days." Wave parses the whole answer and only asks for what's still missing.

When the interview ends

The chat moves on to the next affected room. When all rooms are done, Wave wraps up — the right pane is complete and you can review, edit, and export.

What you don't have to do

  • You don't have to know IICRC class off the top of your head — Wave infers it.
  • You don't have to remember PPE / containment requirements — Wave adds them based on category and class.
  • You don't have to list line items by hand — Wave generates them from your answers.

If Wave needs a fact, it will ask. If it can infer the fact, it won't.

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