---
title: "Standards rationale"
description: "Every completed estimate gets an auto-generated defensibility story: the job's category, class, and cause, plus a per-room rationale grounded in industry standards."
group: "estimates"
lane: "explanation"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-07-31
sidebarOrder: 156
tags: ["defensibility", "standards", "explanation"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "estimates/review-guideline-findings"
  - "concepts/defensive-bidding"
  - "billing/plan-comparison"
sidebarLabel: "Standards rationale"
---

The hardest part of defending an estimate isn't the numbers — it's articulating *why* the scope is what it is. Wave writes that down for you. Wave is knowledgeable of the industry's water-damage restoration standards and applies proper drying science, so the rationale reads the way a seasoned estimator would justify the job.

## What it is

When an estimate is completed, Wave generates a **standards rationale**:

- **An estimate-level band** — the job's water category, class, and cause of loss, stated plainly at the top of the canvas.
- **A per-room rationale** — a few sentences per room explaining why that room's scope follows from the conditions, grounded in industry drying standards.

Expand any room's band to read its rationale.

## It's yours to shape

- **Edit it** — click into the text and adjust the wording. Your edit sticks: regenerating the rationale later won't overwrite what you wrote.
- **Hide it** — a room's rationale (or the whole thing) can be hidden from exported documents while staying visible to your team.
- **Regenerate it** — if the estimate changed materially, regenerate to get a fresh rationale for the new scope.

## On the export

The rationale prints with the estimate, giving the adjuster the reasoning alongside the numbers — which is often the difference between a question and an approval.

## Availability

Standards rationale is available on **Basic and above**, and included in the free trial. See [Plans and limits](/docs/billing/plan-comparison).

## Related

- [Review guideline findings](/docs/estimates/review-guideline-findings): auditing against a specific carrier program
- [Defensive bidding](/docs/concepts/defensive-bidding): the philosophy this serves
- [Plans and limits](/docs/billing/plan-comparison)