In the past 3 months I have had over 9 investors or lenders call wanting quotes on commercial properties that were multiple buildings (3 - 6) in the 60-110 yr old range, that ranged from 2-story to 6-story. None of the potential buyers had much info other than location, age and size. 4 of them did not know if the roofs were flat or sloped, if they had package hvac’s, boilers, chillers, cooling towers, if there was internal roof access. BUT they wanted firm QUOTES!
Main examination is roofing, main hvac, main electrical service, main plmbg, foundation, building structure, overview of interiors and any significant safety concerns.
I think we’re going in low as it is $0.12 to $0.15psf depending on how complex it looks BUT we’ve been loosing a lot to really low-ballers … most of whom we later find out are not even commercial inspectors but regular home inspectors.
When we talk to the investors or lenders we’re just about 40%-50% higher that whoever we’re bidding against
IS amazing
Last week was typical … 3 Office Bldgs between 52 and 71 yrs old.
Below is our bids. We lost all.
a) $3,932 (28,089sf / 3 story with cooling tower)
b) $10,435 (95,000sf / 6-story with rooftop units, pkg units and cooling tower)
I do not get alot of calls for commercial, largely because I do not currently advertise it.
Most commercial inspections that I do are lender inspections to verify deferred maintenance.
They want a photo of each exterior corner.
25 photos of the interior condition.
I have only booked two actual commercial inspections all year for the same reasons.
My last one lost was 45,000 sqft two unit Grocery store / Hardware store.
I felt I was lowballing at $4500
they wanted a price closer to $800 because it is basically just a big box with 4 walls.
I’m getting the same thing down here in Wichita. The last commercial property that I inspected was 16,000 sq ft. with package rooftop units. My original bid was a little over $2K. I though my bid was on the low end, at about $0.12/sq.ft. The broker called me to say that they had a bid at $800. Insane. He did not want to disclose the name of the other company bidding on the job, but did tell me that they had no sample reports that they could provide him. I ended up getting the job, after he talked me into lowering my price $200, and probably only because I’ve done inspections for them before. I should have stuck with my original quote, but it was Christmas time so…
The agreed upon scope with the client should set the Price. Maybe these low ballers do a half fast job, so the client gets what he pays for.
Up here, .15-.20 is well paid, but for like Dale in Arizona, it is more likely in the .20-30.
Depends a lot on the area, scope, and how much money you need to stay in business.