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Estimates

Make your first estimate

Walk through a real loss end to end — Jordan Park, 482 Sycamore Lane, Cat 2 toilet supply line failure. From New Estimate to a complete, priced estimate in 10–15 minutes.

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This page walks through a real loss end to end so you can see the whole rhythm. The scenario is one we use throughout these docs:

Jordan Park, 482 Sycamore Lane, Denver, CO — Cat 2 toilet supply line failure. Affected: hall bathroom and the hallway.

By the end you'll have a complete, priced estimate ready to review.

1. Open a new estimate

From All Estimates, choose + New Estimate. (You can also start a new estimate by typing your first message into the chat from /home — Wave will spin up the estimate around that message.)

Wave opens a fresh chat with an empty right pane.

2. Describe the loss in one message

You can type or hold the mic. The first message is where Wave pulls the FNOL fields from — customer name, address, cause of loss, affected rooms — so include what you have:

"My customer Jordan Park at 482 Sycamore Lane, Denver had a Cat 2 toilet supply line failure affecting the hall bathroom and hallway."

When you send, watch the right pane. Wave populates:

  • FNOL — name, address, category (Cat 2)
  • Loss Description — a clean summary of what happened
  • Estimate Details — pricing region picked up from the Denver address, sections forming

You don't have to be perfectly structured. Wave parses what's there and asks for the rest.

3. Answer the per-room interview

Wave starts walking through each affected room one at a time — hall bathroom first, then the hallway. Each answer shapes what Wave asks next, so no two interviews look exactly alike. Answer in whatever level of detail you have; if Wave needs more, it'll ask.

When Wave asks for room dimensions, give length × width × height (e.g., 8 × 10 × 8 for an 8-foot-by-10-foot bathroom with an 8-foot ceiling). Wave does not ask for raw square footage — it always wants all three numbers because IICRC drying math needs the full rectangle, not just the floor area.

The measurement format isn't strict — "8 by 10 by 8," "8x10x8," "Eight feet by ten feet, eight-foot ceiling" all work. See Answer formats for the full set of input shapes Wave accepts.

4. Set drying and demo days

Toward the end of each room, Wave asks for demo days (how long demo will take) and drying days (how long the equipment runs). These drive the line-item math for equipment, labor, and timeline.

If you don't know, give a reasonable range. Wave will pick a middle and flag the assumption.

5. Watch the right pane build itself

By the time the interview is done, the right pane has:

  • Full FNOL block
  • Loss Description
  • Line items grouped by section (General, Hall Bathroom, Hallway)
  • Equipment lines (air movers, dehu) sized per IICRC drying math
  • PPE, containment, antimicrobial
  • Documentation line items
  • Total at the bottom

You may also notice Wave added line items you didn't explicitly ask for — that's defensive bidding at work. Review and delete anything that doesn't apply.

6. Review and clean up

Skim the right pane top to bottom:

  • FNOL — fill in the carrier-specific fields (Insurance, Claim #, Adjuster) if you have them
  • Estimate Notes — anything that should appear on the PDF cover ("50% deposit required to start," scheduling caveats)
  • Photos — drop in any photos you took on site
  • Line items — delete anything irrelevant, add anything missing (via chat or directly)

7. Export

When the estimate is ready, open the breadcrumb kebab (top-right) → Export for a PDF.

PDF export requires a paid plan — see Plans and limits. On Free you can still build and review the estimate; you just can't export it.

8. Update the status

When you've delivered the PDF, set the estimate to Completed via the status badge. The estimate moves to the Completed filter tab in All Estimates.

What's next

You've done one full loop. From here:

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