Send estimates to Xactimate

Wave works with Xactimate. When a carrier or TPA wants the estimate in Xactimate, Wave writes an Xactimate export (.ESX) you import like any other estimate file, so nobody retypes it. And when someone hands you an .ESX, you can drop it into Wave's chat and Wave can rebuild the estimate from it.

Set it up once

Setup is what lets files from your team import cleanly into your Xactimate. An admin does it once, on a paid plan (Basic and above).

1. Open Settings from the account menu and go to Exports.
2. Under Xactimate export, click Upload an Xactimate export (.ESX) and choose any .ESX your own Xactimate produced. Any estimate will do.
3. Wave reads your account details from it and discards the file. The card then shows Activated.

From the same card you can Replace file or Deactivate. If your company exports into more than one Xactimate account, for example for a second business, click Add another Xactimate account. When you export, Wave then asks Which company is this for?

See Set up the Xactimate export for the details.

Send an estimate to Xactimate

1. Go to Jobs, open the job and select the Estimates tab. Click Export in the job's top bar. (The Export button is on every tab of the job once it has an estimate.)
2. Under Output, choose Xactimate export (.ESX).
3. Wave builds the file and downloads it. On a phone, the share sheet opens instead so you can save or send it.
4. Import the file in Xactimate like any estimate file.

The file is named after the customer, like Jordan Park Transfer.esx.

If the row asks you to add your Xactimate profile in Settings, or to ask your admin to finish Xactimate setup, setup isn't done yet. An admin who clicks the row is taken straight to the card.

What travels

The estimate arrives in Xactimate with its rooms, quantities and Wave's line prices, ready to review and edit there like any other estimate. Along with it:

• Room photos. The job's shared room photos come along as Xactimate attachments. There's no toggle for that.
• Custom lines. Lines you wrote yourself travel too.
• Minimum charges on repairs estimates. They travel as Xactimate minimums.
• Your letterhead. The one you picked in the dialog.

Some things don't travel as lines, because Xactimate applies them itself:

• Overhead and profit. Imported lines are marked the way Xactimate normally marks them for overhead and profit, so your own Xactimate settings apply after import. Until they do, the file's total reads lower than Wave's by the overhead and profit amount.
• Discounts. Xactimate works them out from your own terms.

Minimum charges on roofing estimates don't travel. The export check names them so you can add them in Xactimate.

The export check

Wave checks the estimate before you click, so the row tells you what will happen instead of handing you a surprise.

• Lines that can't travel are named on the row, the first few by description and then a count of the rest. Click Download anyway to get the file without them.
• Copy line items puts the estimate on your clipboard as a table, so you can type the missing lines into Xactimate by hand. On paid plans and the free trial it reads Copy line items with codes and includes the Xactimate codes.
• A line whose quantity is still open can't travel until you set it. Wave says which one.

Whether a line travels depends on the line itself, not on the kind of job. Water, mold, repairs, fire and roofing estimates all go through the same check.

Bring Xactimate files into Wave

Drop an .ESX into the job's chat with the estimate open. With no message, Wave asks What would you like to do with this Xactimate export (.ESX)? and offers Rebuild an estimate from it, Chat about it or I'll tell you what to do. Add a message instead, and Wave follows your words.

A rebuild recreates the estimate at the file's own quantities and prices, and lines Wave can't match come in as custom lines. It lands only on an estimate with no line items yet, and starting a new estimate uses one credit. The file stays in the job's Files. See Bring an Xactimate export into Wave.

Xactimate codes on your lines

On paid plans and the free trial, the Estimates tab can show industry code columns beside each line. You can also ask Wave what a code means, or type a code into a line's description to add the matching item. See Industry codes.

Items from the Xactimate price list

When you add a line and Wave has no match for what you typed, Wave can suggest items from the Xactimate price list. The item you pick is priced for the loss address like any other line. This works on every plan. The code on each suggestion shows on plans that include industry codes.

Which plans include what

• Xactimate export (.ESX): Basic and above. Setup needs a paid plan, so a free trial account can't activate the Xactimate profile, and an .ESX from the trial won't import.
• Dropping an .ESX into chat: every plan. A new estimate uses one credit.
• Industry codes on lines: paid plans and the free trial.
• Price list suggestions: every plan.

See Plans and limits.

Related

• Set up the Xactimate export: the one-time admin step
• Bring an Xactimate export into Wave: rebuild or talk through an .ESX
• Export reports: PDFs, share links and QuickBooks
• Industry codes: codes on your lines
• Plans and limits: what each plan includes