---
canonical_url: "https://buildwithwave.com/docs/jobs/create-a-job"
title: "Create a job"
description: "Every piece of work in Wave starts as a job. Tell Wave what happened in your own words, or paste an intake note, and it creates the job and fills in what you said. Jobs are free."
group: "jobs"
lane: "how-to"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-09-26
updatedAt: 2026-09-26
sidebarOrder: 20
tags: ["jobs", "intake", "home", "how-to"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "get-started/home"
  - "jobs/jobs-board"
  - "jobs/job-details-and-contacts"
  - "estimates/start-an-estimate"
sidebarLabel: "Create a job"
---

In Wave, the job is the main record for a loss: the customer, the property, the claim, the notes, the files and every estimate. There is no form to fill out. You describe the job the way you'd tell a coworker, and Wave builds the record.

## Describe the loss on Home

1. Go to **Home** (click the Wave logo in the top bar).
2. In the command box, say what happened. Type it, tap the mic to dictate, or both. For example:

   > *"New job for Jordan Park, 482 Sycamore Lane, Denver. Toilet supply line failed and flooded the hall bathroom and hallway. Her cell is 303-555-0142."*

3. Send it. Wave creates the job and confirms with a short receipt on the box.

From any other page, the **New job** button in the top bar (a plus sign on smaller screens) takes you straight to that box.

On a phone it's the same box on Home, and dictating is often the fastest way in from the truck. You can also use the command box docked at the bottom of the **Jobs** and **Timeline** pages. To bring photos, videos or PDFs from the site along, add them with the plus button before you send. Wave keeps them with the new job.

## What Wave fills in

Wave records what you said. From a message like the one above, that's typically:

- The **customer**, with their phone and email
- The **property address**
- The **loss type** and what happened
- The **rooms** you mentioned

If you mention more, such as the date of loss, the carrier, the claim or policy number, or an adjuster's name and phone, Wave records those on the job too. Everything lands on the job's Overview, where you can check and edit it. See [Job details and contacts](/docs/jobs/job-details-and-contacts).

## When Wave asks "Which job?"

If the customer or address you mention may already be in Wave, Wave doesn't create a duplicate on its own. It shows the jobs that might match and asks which one you mean. Pick the right job, and your request is applied there. If none of them is right, choose the option to create a new job instead. Any files you added stay with the request either way.

## Paste an intake note or FNOL

You can paste an answering-service message, an intake form or a First Notice of Loss straight into the box, with or without a few words of your own. Wave creates the job (or fills in the job you're on) with the customer, contacts, claim and loss facts it finds, and saves the pasted text as a job note.

Wave treats pasted text as information, never as instructions. If the pasted message says to assign someone, book a visit, start an estimate, move or cancel the job, Wave doesn't do it. Ask for those yourself, in your own words, and Wave will. See [Filing an FNOL](/docs/estimates/filing-an-fnol).

## Creating jobs is free

Jobs don't use estimate credits. Create as many as you need. Each estimate you start on a job uses one credit, and duplicating an estimate is free. When you ask for an estimate, Wave starts it. When Wave only guesses you might want one, it asks first and charges nothing unless you confirm. See [Estimate credits](/docs/billing/estimate-credits).

## What to do next

Once the job exists, the same box keeps working for it:

- **Add notes**: *"Add a note to the Park job: homeowner says the leak started overnight."* See [Job notes](/docs/collaboration/internal-notes).
- **Start an estimate**: *"Make a water estimate for the Park job."* See [Start an estimate](/docs/estimates/start-an-estimate).
- **Schedule the crew**: *"Send Marcus to the Park job tomorrow at 9."* See [Book a visit](/docs/jobs/book-a-visit).

New jobs start in the **New** column on the [Jobs board](/docs/jobs/jobs-board).

## Related

- [Home](/docs/get-started/home): everything the command box can do
- [The Jobs board](/docs/jobs/jobs-board): where new jobs appear and how they move
- [Job details and contacts](/docs/jobs/job-details-and-contacts): check and edit what Wave filled in
- [Start an estimate](/docs/estimates/start-an-estimate): the next step on most jobs