Water mitigation estimates

Water is the job Wave was built around. Tell it what happened and where, answer a few focused questions, and you get a complete mitigation estimate priced for the loss address, plus a drying log for the job.

What Wave builds for a water loss

A water estimate covers the mitigation work for Category 1, 2 and 3 losses: getting the water out, taking out what's wet and can't be saved, drying the structure, and the protection and cleaning the category calls for. Wave builds it room by room, and every line is priced for the region of the loss address.

The category shapes the scope. A sewage backup calls for more protection, containment and cleaning than a clean supply line, and Wave builds the estimate to match the category you set. See What Wave estimates for examples of each category.

The rebuild (drywall, paint, flooring and trim going back in) is a separate repairs estimate on the same job.

Tell Wave about the loss

1. On Home, type or dictate what happened in the command box. For example: "Water estimate for Jordan Park at 482 Sycamore. Supply line under the kitchen sink, Cat 1, kitchen and dining room wet." You can also open the job and tell Wave in the chat beside it.
2. If the customer or address is already in Wave, Wave asks which job you mean. Otherwise it creates the job. Starting the estimate uses one estimate credit.
3. Answer Wave's questions. It asks one at a time. Tap a choice or type your own answer. If you'd rather say everything up front, do that and Wave skips what you already told it.

A few things save you questions:

• Job notes. Wave reads the job's notes before it asks anything, so a site walk your team already logged is put to work.
• The job's details. If the Overview already has the Water category or the address, Wave uses them.
• Photos and PDFs. Attach them in the chat. Wave describes what's visible, compares it with the estimate, and offers changes for you to approve.

Enter the property's ZIP or postal code (US or Canada) so Wave can price for your region. When a measurement is missing, Wave states what it assumed so you can correct it. Lines waiting on a number show a question mark until you answer, or you can click the quantity and set your own.

Equipment already on site

If equipment is already set, say so, in the chat or in a job note: "four air movers and one dehu in the kitchen." Wave bills the counts you give it.

If your counts look low for those rooms, Wave tells you what it noticed and asks once whether to go with your counts or the drying science. Wave remembers your choice.

Different drying days per room

A room can dry for a different number of days than the rest of the job. Tell Wave, for example "keep the hallway dehu running one more day." Only the equipment you name runs longer, and the room's other lines keep their end day. The room header then shows a Dries N days tag, and the job's drying days follow the longest room.

• When your request is clear, Wave makes the change and tells you the estimate total before and after.
• When it's unclear whether you meant one room or the whole job, Wave asks how you meant it and shows the estimate total each choice would leave.

Moving equipment between rooms

Moving a unit between rooms keeps it one unit. Its days are split between the rooms, and the line note spells out the schedule, for example "2 air movers days 1 to 3, 1 air mover day 4".

Daily equipment bills for the days each unit ran in its room. See Drying equipment and drying days.

Drying logs

Wave generates sample dry logs based on what real drying science would be, to help anyone on your team who is new to drying understand the drying goals for the job. Drying logs come with Basic and above, and with the free trial. On those plans, when a water estimate with drying days finishes, Wave creates the job's drying log on the Drying tab. There's one log per job, and later estimates on the same job use it.

Already have a drying log? Attach it in a chat from Home or in a job's chat, and Wave reads it, answers questions about it and records any readings you tell it.

As your team adds daily readings, the log becomes your record of what happened on site. Type readings into the grid on the Drying tab, or tell Wave in the job chat ("laundry room 68 and 44"), typed or dictated. Spot-check readings on site.

Starter includes 5 free drying logs per company. On Starter, press Generate now on the Drying tab, or ask Wave for a drying log in the job chat, and confirm with Start drying log. After all 5 are used, new drying logs need Basic, and the logs you already started keep working. See Plans and limits.

Drying log details

• Drying days. Wave plans each room's drying time for you. If a job has too few drying days to plan a log, the Drying tab explains, and you can add drying days by telling Wave.
• Generate any time. You can also generate the log at any time with Generate now on the Drying tab, or ask Wave for the drying plan.
• Stays in step with the estimate. When you change equipment or room sizes on the estimate later, the Drying tab asks whether to update the log to match. Readings you already logged are kept either way.
• Clear questions on equipment edits. If a hand edit to a daily equipment quantity could be read two ways, Wave asks what you meant and shows the line total for each choice when the price is known. The question appears under that room's items on the estimate, or under the message on the Drying tab. Pick one and the log can build.

See About drying logs and Record drying readings.

Review, adjust and export

• Edit by telling Wave or by hand. "Add a dehumidifier to the dining room" works in chat, or click a cell and type. Your hand edits are preserved when Wave updates the estimate later, and undo covers both kinds of change.
• Line modifiers. On eligible lines, you can turn on After Hours, Category 3, Heavy Cleaning or No Bagging. See Line item modifiers.
• Chat about drying standards while you build. On Basic and above, and on the trial, you can chat about water damage and drying standards. Wave is familiar with them from field experience, credible sources and the EPA, and points to the source behind its answer. Ask why a room needs more drying time, or what the standards say about a situation.
• The next estimate. When the water estimate finishes, Wave may offer the next estimate the loss usually needs, with a button such as Start the Repairs estimate. One tap starts it and uses one estimate credit, and Not now puts the offer away.
• Export. Select Export to build a PDF of the estimate. Check Drying log under Include in PDF to send both as one packet. On Basic and above you can also send a draft invoice to QuickBooks. See Export reports.

Related

• About drying logs: how the job's log is built and what it tracks
• Record drying readings: add readings in the grid or by telling Wave
• Drying equipment and drying days: stated equipment and the job's drying period
• What Wave estimates: every kind of work, with category examples
• Estimates on one job: add the repairs estimate after water