---
canonical_url: "https://buildwithwave.com/docs/estimates/discounts"
title: "Add a discount"
description: "Ask Wave for a discount by percent, dollar amount or target total, on a room, the whole job or specific lines. Wave adds a discount line that stays current as the estimate changes."
group: "estimates"
lane: "how-to"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-09-26
updatedAt: 2026-09-26
sidebarOrder: 50
tags: ["discounts", "pricing", "chat", "how-to"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "estimates/edit-line-item-via-chat"
  - "estimates/overhead-profit-and-minimums"
  - "estimates/xactimate-export"
  - "collaboration/history"
sidebarLabel: "Discounts"
---

Need to knock something off for a preferred customer or a cash job? Ask Wave. It adds a discount line to the estimate, works out the amount from the lines on the estimate, and keeps that amount right as the estimate changes.

## Ask Wave for a discount

1. Open the job and go to the **Estimates** tab, with the estimate showing.
2. In Wave's chat, say what you want. For example:
   - "Take 10% off the whole job."
   - "$250 off the kitchen, cash pay."
   - "Bring the job to $8,500 even."
3. Wave adds the discount line and tells you the amount it took off.

If you give a reason, like "preferred customer" or "cash pay", Wave uses it to label the line. If you don't, the line is simply labeled as a discount.

## Percent, dollar amount or a target total

Say the discount one of three ways:

- **A percent.** "15% off."
- **A dollar amount.** "$300 off."
- **A target total.** "Make it $12,000." Wave works out the amount that brings the total to that figure. A target total works for the whole job or for one room.

The discount line's description shows how it was figured, so anyone reading the estimate can check the number.

Wave won't add a discount that is bigger than the work it applies to, or one that would take a total below zero. It tells you why and changes nothing.

## Scope: a room, the whole job or specific lines

- **The whole job.** The discount line goes in the estimate's General section.
- **One room.** The discount line goes in that room. If you delete the room, its discount goes with it.
- **Specific lines.** Name the work, such as "10% off the drywall lines," in one room or across the job.

You can have more than one discount on an estimate, such as 10% off one room and a flat amount off the whole job. Each target holds one discount at a time.

## How the discount line stays current

The discount follows the estimate. When lines change, whether you edit them by hand or through Wave, the discount line recalculates on its own. When the change came through Wave's chat, Wave tells you the new figure. [Estimate history](/docs/collaboration/history) marks these updates as recalculated, so no one mistakes them for a hand edit.

If you edit the discount line itself by hand, it keeps your number and stops updating. To make it follow the estimate again, ask Wave to apply the discount again.

## Remove or change a discount

- **Change it.** Ask again for the same target, for example "make the kitchen discount 15% instead." Wave replaces the old line; it doesn't stack a second one.
- **Remove it.** Ask Wave to remove the discount, or delete the line like any other line.

Undo works on discount changes too.

## Discounts and the Xactimate export

Discount lines are not sent as lines in the Xactimate export (.ESX). The rest of the estimate still exports. If you need the discount in Xactimate, apply it there after you import the file.

## Related

- [Edit a line item via chat](/docs/estimates/edit-line-item-via-chat): other changes you can ask Wave to make
- [Overhead & Profit and minimum charges](/docs/estimates/overhead-profit-and-minimums): other lines Wave keeps current for you
- [Send estimates to Xactimate](/docs/estimates/xactimate-export): what travels in the .ESX
- [Estimate history](/docs/collaboration/history): see every change, including recalculated lines