Roofing estimates

Wave scopes roofs the same way it scopes water and mold: say what happened, answer the questions, get a complete estimate. A roof has no rooms, so the sections are slopes. Name each face the way you say it on site, or scope a full re-roof as one section.

Starting a roofing estimate

Say it in the composer: "roof tarp on the back slope tonight" or "hail took the shingles off, 28 squares architectural." If the job already has another estimate, start the roofing one from the job's Estimates tab instead. Wave needs the property address, at least the ZIP, before it prices anything, because the price list is regional.

Four paths, and one estimate carries one

• Emergency tarping (cover it now)
• Repair a patch or damaged shingles
• Replace one roof slope
• Replace the whole roof

The first thing Wave asks is which one, because a covered roof, a patched slope, and a replaced roof are three different documents. Squares, pitch, and "hail damage" are useful, but they are measurements, not an answer to that question. If your opening message doesn't settle it, the app shows those four choices above the composer and waits for you to tap one.

A job that needs a tarp tonight and the permanent repair is two roofing estimates, not one. Write the tarp, then start the second roofing estimate yourself from the Estimates tab. Wave won't offer to start it for you, and the later estimate cites the tarp rather than billing it again.

The tarp funnel is three questions

1. Which slope, and roughly how big is the damaged area
2. Can the crew screw battens into the roof, or does it have to be no penetration (tile, metal, and some HOAs force sandbags)
3. Is it an after-hours call

Give the measured square footage if you have it. If you only have the size of the hole, give the length and width and Wave adds four feet of margin on every side, plus a wrap over the peak when the damage runs to the ridge, and tells you what it added. Battens, screws, and the climb are already inside the tarp rate, so no separate lines appear for them. After hours is its own priced row, not a percentage added on top.

The repair and re-roof funnel leads with damage extent

The first real question is not what kind of shingle you have. It is how much of the roof is damaged: a handful of shingles, one slope, or the whole thing. That answer picks the path, the line set, and the minimum. Then, in order:

• the measured area in squares for each slope you're scoping (send the roof you measured, never a waste-inflated number)
• stories and pitch in one question, plus how you reach it on a small repair
• what's on it now: flat rectangular tabs, thicker layered architectural shingles, or tile
• the edges in one question: eave, hip and ridge cap, valleys
• what comes through that slope: pipe jacks, exhaust caps, turbine vents, a chimney
• any plywood you expect to replace once it's open
• solar panels, on a slope or whole-roof replacement only

The edges are the questions Wave genuinely can't answer for itself. Nothing derives an edge length from an area and no aerial report prints one, so without the eave Wave bills no drip edge rather than inventing one. Zero is an answer and leaving a field out isn't: say zero rakes on a hip roof, zero valleys when you've looked. "I can't measure that" is also an answer, and it sticks.

A stated pitch under 4 in 12 won't build on a replacement. Low slope is membrane work and a different trade, so the flat roofer's written quote rides this estimate as a bid item custom line.

What you won't be asked

Wave derives every number: the waste and the covering quantity, the underlayment, the drip edge, the starter course and cap, the high-roof and steep-pitch access charges, the hourly access allowance on a small repair, the roofing minimum charge, and overhead and profit at 10 and 10.

Waste comes back in two parts, how much is cutting waste from the roof's shape and how much is rounding the order up to whole squares. That model is Wave's own, and it's labeled as Wave's rather than as a guess at another platform's automatic waste. The minimum charge only lands as a line when the job comes in under the floor. Every build closes with one line naming what Wave applied on its own, and anything you'd rather not carry comes off as a line edit.

Gutters are priced. Soffit and fascia aren't.

Wave never asks about gutters, because nothing it measures tells it how many feet you have. Raise them yourself with the run in feet and it prices them from the list: aluminum up to five inches, six inch, or detach and reset when they come off to reach the eave. You should never be asked to supply a price for one.

Soffit and fascia are not roofing lines, and no other Wave estimate prices them either. Get your sub's written quote and it rides this estimate as a bid item custom line.

Matching, and the deductible

On a repair Wave asks early whether the existing shingles can still be matched, same line and close enough in color not to look patched. If you're not sure, it asks the roof's age instead. If they can't be matched, Wave tells you that carriers commonly scope the full slope rather than a patch, and offers to rescope so both versions are on the table. It never rescopes silently, and it never tells you that a law or a code section requires the full slope. It gives you the documented argument and recommends review.

When a roof estimate lands under about $1,000, Wave says plainly that it may not clear the deductible most homeowner policies carry. It doesn't say that on a tarp, because the tarp is half the claim and the repair estimate is still to come.

What a roofing estimate doesn't carry

No drying log. Neither roofing funnel dries a structure, so there's no equipment and no drying days to track. If water came in through the roof, that interior drying is a separate mitigation estimate on the same job.

No standards rationale. No IICRC standard governs exterior roof trade work, so there's no justification to write. This isn't pending.

Carrier guideline review does run on roofing, where your organization has it and a carrier program is bound to the estimate. Roofing estimates also transfer to Xactimate. The one line that can't travel yet is the computed minimum charge, so a small repair or a tarp that got topped up to its minimum is where the transfer stops. Wave names the line that can't go rather than sending a file that arrives short, and you can send the rest anyway once you've seen what stays behind.

Roofing is available where enabled for your organization. If it isn't switched on for your account, Wave says so in chat and points you at the contact form.

Related

• Make your first estimate: the scoping flow end to end
• The chat questionnaire: how Wave asks
• What Wave does and doesn't do: scope, honestly