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Estimates

Make your first estimate

Walk through a real loss end to end: describe it in the home composer, answer Wave's questions, and watch the estimate build live on the canvas.

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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. A toilet supply line failed. Affected: hall bathroom and the hallway.

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

1. Describe the loss on the home page

The home page greets you with a composer box. Type what you know, or tap the mic and say it (voice input):

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

Sending the message starts a new estimate and opens the estimate workspace: chat panel on the left, estimate canvas on the right. You don't have to be perfectly structured. Wave reads what's there and asks for the rest.

2. Answer Wave's questions

Wave asks one question at a time. Some questions come with tap-to-answer choice chips, so you can often answer with a single tap instead of typing. Along the way Wave collects the customer's name and property address (the address sets regional pricing), what happened, the water category, the affected rooms with their measurements, and how many demo and drying days you expect.

Answer in whatever form is natural. See Answer formats for the kinds of input Wave accepts.

3. Watch the estimate build live

You don't wait for a finished product. As you answer, rooms and line items appear on the estimate canvas in real time: a General section for cross-cutting items, then a section per room, each with priced line items and a running total.

While Wave is working, the send arrow becomes a stop square and a status pill shows Wave is thinking. One message at a time; press the stop square if you want to cancel.

4. Review and clean up

When the interview wraps, skim the canvas top to bottom:

5. Keep chatting to make changes

The conversation doesn't end when the estimate is built. Ask for whatever you need next: "bump the dehumidifiers in the hallway to 2" or "add the laundry room, it got water too." The canvas updates as Wave works. See Edit a line item via chat.

6. Export

When the estimate is ready, press ⌘P (Ctrl+P) or use the Export button to generate the PDF. Exporting is available on paid plans; see Export reports.

7. Update the status

Once delivered, set the estimate to Completed so it files correctly in your estimates list. See Change an estimate's status.

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