How much would you charge for a 5-plex?

Call it what you want, but it is not a Home Inspection.
If it’s not residential, the only other Insurance I have is Commercial. So that is what I call it, price it, and inspect it as. Anyone who is buying >4 plex is not a residential client.

As I posted

Seeing I am calling this commercial, I personally would not consider this discount.

you d not have to travel to 5 locations
As I said. It barely covers the other stuff you have to put up with on these things.

prepare 5 separate contracts

That takes 5 min more.

do a tool survey and preparation 5 times.

I write a report separate for each unit. It is easier for the client to keep things straight. The seller does not need to see all the other units that have no issues for the client. They really get pissed off seeing things your wrote, but the client doesn’t give a rat’s ass about.

If you get sued, it is only one unit you wrote about (has never been a concern to be though).

Thanks, Robert and JJ for the replies.

My question of, “Which one of our pricing was correct?” is rhetorical. The question by the OP is how much would you charge. In this case, my pricing would not get the job. However, I fee that my price is correct. The other inspector thinks that he is correct as he got the job. Even though he left hundreds of dollars on the table.

Just like my example, there will always be a couple of inspectors that will continue the $200.00 for any house pricing. They last a year or two before they flop and the next guy shows up.

We can spend 90% of our time stressing about the 10% that we do not get because of pricing. Or
we can spend 10% of our time stressing about the 90% of the ones that we do. The longevity of your business and health prefers the second.

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It’s a 5 plex. inspection.

I don’t tell others what they should be charging, or at what rate. I offer the basic formula that I use, and you must fill in the blanks for your company needed fee in your area.

Exactly.

A 5-plex doesn’t have a set price because there are many variables.

I once lived in a 4 unit. Next door was a single-family home. Because both properties were on one lot, the city considered it a 5 unit property.

That is different than a small building that has 5 one-bedroom, 1 bath units.

Which is different than a 5 story building, where each unit is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom unit.

Which is different than 5 small individual bungalows on a single lot.

Every single one of those has different considerations, even though they could all be called a 5-plex.

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I built a spreadsheet for my pricing, one because I do different inspections, at different location, more than one day, per diem expense, different vehicles (fuel), number of trips, type of report required etc.

Everything is broken down that can be a variable. I don’t think anyone needs a spreadsheet for just home inspection and included ancillary services, but you you can’t just use square feet to price an inspection. NACHI has a price estimator that has some variables, which I have used in the distant past and it is adjustable for your needs. It’s a start.

Don’t get me wrong. Square Feet is not excluded from the calculation.

You can’t negotiate price with an inquiring potential client if you don’t know what things cost you.

E.g. I seldom did a home inspection closer than 50 mi from my office (to get to a marketable service area).
That’s {100 mi, x MPG, x $/gal} + {drive time x my min hourly rate} = Mobilization Fee.

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