Generally, if a wave is detected by a network of three detectors at different locations, the network will measure enough information to make these corrections and obtain the distance. Also unlike standard candles, gravitational waves need no calibration against other distance measures. The measurement of distance does of course require the calibration of the gravitational wave detectors, but then the distance is fundamentally given as a multiple of the wavelength of the laser light being used in the gravitational wave interferometer.