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Estimate Types

What Wave estimates

Describe the loss in your own words and Wave picks the right estimate type: water mitigation (Categories 1 to 3), mold, asbestos, fire mitigation and smoke cleaning, repairs and reconstruction, contents (pack-out, storage and pack-back) and roofing.

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Describe the loss in your own words and Wave picks the right kind of estimate. One loss can carry several estimates on the same job, each with its own scope and total. You don't choose from a menu: tell Wave about the loss on Home or in the job's chat, and when your words leave the type open, Wave asks.

Estimate types

  • Water mitigation, Category 1 (clean water, for example a broken supply line or a fresh-water leak)
  • Water mitigation, Category 2 (gray water, for example a washing machine discharge or a dishwasher overflow)
  • Water mitigation, Category 3 (black water, for example a sewage backup, a toilet overflow or floodwater)
  • Mold remediation
  • Asbestos abatement
  • Fire mitigation and smoke cleaning (the rebuild after a fire is its own fire rebuild estimate)
  • Repairs and reconstruction (the put-back after mitigation)
  • Contents (pack-out, storage and pack-back)
  • Roofing (emergency tarping, repairs and replacement)

Each estimate is priced for the loss address, in the US and Canada.

How Wave sets the estimate type and water category

Say it the way you would on site. "Cat 2 water loss in the hall bath" starts a water estimate at Category 2. If your notes on the job, or the Water category on the job's Overview, already say it, Wave uses that and skips the question.

To change the category later, tell Wave in the chat: "change the category to Cat 3."

What changes with the water category

Wave builds the estimate to match the category you set, so the scope reflects the level of contamination.

Several estimate types on one loss

One loss often needs more than one estimate. Each type of work gets its own estimate on the same job, sharing the job's customer, address and claim details, with its own scope and its own total.

  • When an estimate finishes, Wave may offer the next estimate the loss usually needs. Accept the offer or skip it.
  • Tap the offer and Wave starts that estimate right away. The receipt says it used one estimate credit.
  • On a fire job, ask Wave for each estimate you need. A fire loss can carry a fire mitigation or smoke cleaning estimate, a water estimate if the water is its own scope, and a fire rebuild estimate, all on the same job.
  • For contents and roofing, ask Wave to start the estimate.

If mold turns up during a water job, tell Wave what you found. When the mold remediation is its own scope, approved on its own timeline, make it a separate mold estimate on the same job. See Several estimates on one job.

Work to price outside Wave

For these, get a subcontractor's quote or contact the Wave team:

  • Exterior trades other than the roof, such as siding, stucco, exterior painting, landscaping, fences and concrete flatwork
  • Housekeeping that isn't tied to a loss

If you ask for work outside this list, Wave builds the part it can and tells you what it left out. For exterior work or a property outside the US and Canada, Wave adds a button so you can message the Wave team without leaving the chat.

Add a subcontractor's quote as its own line

For work you price outside Wave, get the subcontractor's written quote. Give Wave the sub's scope and price, and it goes on the estimate as its own custom line at the sub's number. Wave leaves the quote at the sub's number and shows it as a custom line, so reviewers see exactly what it is.

You can also add the line by hand. See Add a custom line item.

Properties in the US and Canada

Wave prices each line for the region of the loss address. Give it a US ZIP code or a Canadian postal code and it is ready to price.

Request another estimate type

Open Contact us from the account menu or the Home footer and describe the work you need. Your message goes straight to the Wave team.

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