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Your first job, start to finish

Go from the first sentence to a finished estimate in seven steps: set up your company details, create the job, log a note, build the estimate, book a visit, export or share, and invite your team.

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Go from the first sentence to a finished estimate in seven steps. Follow one real loss through Wave and finish with a priced estimate, a booked visit and a PDF or link ready to send. This page follows the Getting started checklist on Home, so pick a loss you're working now. The steps are the same whether you run restoration jobs or adjust claims and write the estimates yourself.

The checklist shows on Home, and as a chip in the top bar, for your first 30 days. Each row opens the place where you do that step, and it checks itself off when you finish.

1. Set up your letterhead (company details)

Your company details print on your estimates and invoices, so set them first.

  1. Open the account menu and choose Settings, then the Company tab. (The checklist row opens it for you.)
  2. Add your company name, address, phone and email, plus your contractor license if you have one, and upload your logo.

Admins save company details. Your company address also gives Wave the time zone for your schedule. For extra locations or brands, see Letterheads.

2. Create your first job

Jobs don't use estimate credits, and the free trial includes up to 3 jobs.

Describing a new water loss in one message from the Home command box
  1. On Home, type or say what happened in the box: the customer, the address and the loss, in your own words. You can add photos, videos or PDFs with the plus button.
  2. Send it. Wave creates the job, fills in what you said and opens it on the Overview, with a short receipt that says what it did.

If the customer or address is already in Wave, Wave asks which job you mean before it creates anything. On any other page, New job takes you back to Home with the box ready. More in Create a job.

3. Add a site note

Notes are your team's log for the job, and Wave reads them before it answers.

  • In the job's chat, tell Wave what you saw.
  • Or open the Notes tab and choose Add note manually (the plus button).

Write down what you'd tell a teammate: what happened, which rooms are affected, what's already on site. Notes stay with your team and aren't part of the printed estimate. See Job notes.

4. Build an estimate from the job

Ask for it. In the job's chat, say what you need, like "water mitigation estimate", and Wave starts it. Wave's reply says it used one credit, and the job moves to Estimating. On a job Wave just created, the chat also offers Start an estimate until something else is said there, and one tap starts it.

Wave asking for the water category, with tap-to-answer options in the job chat

If Wave isn't sure you want an estimate (for example, when you drop in a file), it asks first with Start estimate or Not now. Nothing is charged unless you confirm.

Answer Wave's questions. Wave asks short questions to fill in what it needs. Tap a choice or type your answer. If you already told Wave something, in the chat or in your notes, there's no need to repeat it. Wave shares any assumptions it makes so you can correct them. If you step away, Pick up returns you to the question Wave was waiting on. See Answer Wave's questions.

Review and adjust. Open the Estimates tab. To change something, tell Wave in the chat ("add a second dehumidifier in the kitchen") or click a cell and edit it by hand. Your hand edits stick when Wave updates the estimate later, and undo covers both kinds of change. See The Estimates tab.

Get a head start on drying. On a water job with drying, Wave builds the job's drying log on the Drying tab. 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. If you already have a drying log, attach photos or a PDF of it in the job's chat, and Wave reads it, answers questions about it and records any readings you tell it. Spot-check readings on site. Drying logs come with Basic and above and the free trial. Starter includes 5 free drying logs, which you start from the Drying tab or by asking Wave. See About drying logs.

5. Schedule the crew

  1. Choose Timeline in the top bar. You'll see a row for each teammate.
  2. Open the Jobs list below the day and drag this job onto a teammate's row at the time you want. On a phone, Timeline shows an agenda, so book the visit by asking Wave.
The Timeline: each team member's visits for the day, with scheduled jobs below

Or just tell Wave who goes where and when, such as "send Maria to the Park job next Tuesday at 9". Wave books it and asks if anything is unclear. See Book a visit.

6. Export or share

On the Estimates tab, choose Export.

The Export dialog: choose what goes in the PDF, then download it or share a link
  • PDF. Pick what goes in the document and choose Download PDF (on a phone, Send PDF). See Export reports.
  • Share link. Choose Share link at the bottom of the dialog. Pick Customer for a view-only page with no sign-in, or Adjuster or collaborator for someone who signs in and can comment on lines. Then copy the link. See Share links.

7. Invite your team

  1. Open Settings and choose the Team tab.
  2. Enter your teammate's email, pick Member or Admin, and choose Send invite.

They get an email with a link to join your company. Admins send invitations. See Invite a teammate.

Want a practice run first?

Choose Tutorial on Home for an optional guided tour of a sample job.

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