Do you charge more for detached garages?

Listen guys. I know markets vary around the country as to common building styles but let’s see how this goes.

Set Up:

Two 2000 sq. ft. houses with 2 car garages.

One detached

One attached.

Same price quote or more for a detached garage.

YES! First poll responder! :slight_smile: Who doesn’t like money ?!

I also charge the same price in winter even though I don’t test the A/C and I might not walk the roof. EEK! :shock:

Go look up strawman. :roll:

How’s that a strawman?

I do not charge extra for a Garage…
However,
The quoted price is based upon the physical aspects of the property and the needs of the client.
Residential, Commercial, Historic, Equestrian, Radon, WDI, PSMA Septic, H2O Potability, Phase 1 or 2 Environmental, etc…

A couple examples of outbuildings that I have inspected that you should be charging extra for…

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I do, and never had an issue. You cant think a home with a built in garage or basement garage is the same as a separate building to look at…

2000 living space with basement garage is the same as 2000 living space with basement and no garage, one roof, one electrical panel, etc…

add the extra out building and its more work, i charge extra, not being greedy just being compensated for my work.

You are adding confusion here. Read the OP.

No one mentioned tuck under construction or basements.

Could someone tell me what OP means?
Dam I hate acrynoms. :slight_smile:

Another Inspection Example…
Home with outbuildings…
While they were not charged as “Extra”, the additional fee was incorporated into the Inspection Fee…
Why pricing should not be posted on your website… too many variables…

I agree

I think, in this case, Michael was referring to the Original Post.

Agree. Extra buildings adds time the inspection and the time to write the report. Learned my lesson when I did a home out in the country. Once on site, there were barns, workshops, smokehouse, pump house, and all those spread out. The actual home was not that large but it ended up taking all day with all the extra electrical, plumbing, etc. to look at. If this were just a hobby, perhaps but it is a business and I believe the whole idea is to make money.

No question that “extra” buildings add to the time of completion but that is not what is being asked.

How does an adjacent or reasonably close detached garage add tot the time to inspect?

Let’s compare apples to apples instead to oranges.

My PIA allows for one residence and one garage or carport for a certain amount.

All things being the same between the two scenarios, a detached garage only adds(at a minimum) a couple extra walls, a little more visible foundation, some grading/landscape and possibly a little more roofing. That’s enough liability and extra work for me to not include it for free. The reality is that most detached garages add more than the minimum listed above.

I personally have never heard a negative peep from any caller or client about not including detatched structures. Has anyone else?

I always ask my potential client if the garage is attached or detached. I charge the same for either one, but do like to know ahead of time.

I then ask if there are any additional outbuildings, and give the option to add them to the inspection for an additional fee.

I do not feel that I have every been surprised at an inspection by a detached garage.

What if you had a client tell you I do not want to pay an additional $50 to have the detached garage inspected?
Seems like a no brainer right… You would not inspect it.

Well mister inspector I dont want to pay your $50 fee for the crawlspace either.
Now what do you do?
Do you not perform a full SOP inspection?

The crawlspace is part of the house unlike a detached structure. 80% of the homes in my area have crawl spaces. It gets inspected and the fee is included in the quoted price. I would never have a separate fee for a crawlspace. It is just part of the price.

If however, someone charges for crawlspaces and the client does not wish to pay the price, that is noted up front in the contract and the crawlspace is not inspected. Just like any other item the clients chooses to not have inspected. That is their choice and it is stated in the contract prior to the start of the inspection. The SOP states, “The scope of work may be modified by the Client and Inspector prior to the inspection process.”

Got it, but those are types of garages that are part of the dwelling, same foundation, same structure etc…

But if you simplify it at its most basic form, 2 identical homes with a 2 car garage, one attached to the side, the other a separate building.

Attached garage likely has the same electrical system and same foundation, same grading, same roof (many times, but likely one ladder trip up), and it shares one wall,

detached garage has separate electrical panel (sub panel), separate roof to climb, additional 2 exsterior walls to inspect (one for garage, one for house where they are not attached), separate slab in addition to the home foundation,

In my mind the attached garage takes far less time to inspect than a separate building.

So if the garage is attached I include it, detached I charge an extra fee.

All the guys saying no one complains, consider this, when a client (prospect calls) I always talk about the property a bit and give them a price, Idont say square footage is $x is ther a detached garage? then I add $x.

My fee (generally) includes inspection of the garage, whether attached or detached, therefore, I don’t charge extra just because it’s detached.

If it’s an additional garage, there will will be an additional fee.

I see the garage the same way I see a deck or porch. If it’s attached it has an affect on the house and is part of the inspection. Retaining walls which are integral to the foundation are the same way, but if they are off in the yard somewhere they are of no consequence to the house and I don’t concern myself with them.