I am being asked to conduct a commercial inspection in my area. The request seems a bit out side the scope of a normal inspection. It sounds similar to phase 1 reports I used to do as an engineer. You input would greatly appreciated. Two items that stick out to me are the request for detailed information for all business in the area, and to comment on the management practices. Last question, what would you charge for this?
The subject is a light manufacturing property – it is 194000 square feet on 32 acres
The inspection will be guided by someone at property, we would like for you to see some office space, common areas, warehouse area. You do not have to walk every inch of the facility. There may be areas that they will not allow you to see or photograph.
We would like about 50 – 60 pictures. In the photographs we like to get an overall view of the property and what the condition is. Exterior is all angles of the building, parking, sign, grounds, and surrounding streets.
Commentary will include the following:
First impression commentary – what is your first impression of the property, condition etc.
Deferred maintenance and property description – here you will list any deferred maintenance items observed (i.e. – cracks in parking, faded striping, evidence of leaks, stains), property description is just that – please describe the property – what it is that they do.
Subject neighborhood – this is a full description of the neighborhood, including the surrounding area, what retail, other industrial, commercial, or residential is nearby? What are the access roads into the property and major roadways near property?
Management- please get the name and title/role of the person escorting you, phone number if possible. Then provide a sentence or two of your opinion of management practices based on the inspection
There is an inspection report form, but you can return the above requested commentary to me in a word document.
This sounds more like a consult, which is fine. I would fill in some blanks on the scope of the consult. Are you inspecting the roof, HVAC, DWV, electrical etc. …not every inch of the building? Interesting, I would definitely define that!
Words like “Limited evaluation”… “Inspectors opinion” …“representative number of major system components” Then I would limit the report to a three page document including photo’s. You can even limit your time on site such as on-site evaluation will last 6 hours maximum.
That is a big building. If I were to inspect this building I would have a team of at least 4 if I were following ASTM guidelines.
A good baseline for your charge is $150 per hour including report writing. I would not hesitate to jump into the $3k plus range.
I would not even leave my office without a guarantee of payment arranged first, and NEVER with an ‘on-site’ payment. Deposit or Full payment 24 hrs in advance via PayPal, or Certified check in hand 48hrs prior to day of inspection. NO exceptions. If payment is late, inspection gets pushed back to next available. Commercial inspections are Business Transactions, not homebuyer BS. I don’t play games with Commercial (or Residential either for that matter).
Is the client a bank, insurance agency, or is it the property owner? It sounds a bit like an underwriting inspection if that helps at all. Maybe a PCA and if so they could be relying on your engineering degree to qualify for a Freddy Mac or Sallie Mae loan. I wish I could give you accurate numbers for billing that but I know very little about the billing side of it. I want to say bill slightly more than a typical home inspection even if it’s not in depth but the size of the property and amount of money involved gives me pause.
That said, I’d lean towards ‘typical underwriting assessment or property transfer/appraisal assessment’. The level of detail they’re asking for doesn’t sound like a PCA/FCA but more like an underwriting inspection.
*If it’s a PCA they might ask for opinion of cost to remedy defects. If not, I’d think underwriting or property transfer.
That is good advice. I do site payments all the time. Knock on wood, it has always worked out. I do not do any deferred payments. All my inspection fees are due before or at the time of inspection. Some require a deposit.
Thank you very much for the information. I thought it was very vague, and that they were asking a lot. When I did phase 1 reports as an engineer, by the time it came to my desk all the fine tuning of details was already worked out. They even had an offered fee that I was planning to counter, as it is below my base fee for home inspections.
I have looked into the company they are emailing me from, and it is a real estate consulting group. Though it could be a spoofed email account. Thank you for the idea, makes me approach my questions more cautiously.
The client is a real estate consulting group according to their website. Thank you for your insight, I will keep it in mind. They do not know of my engineering background, or shouldn’t as I do not advertise it, as such I am unclear of their motives.
If it were me, I would walk away. You will spend more time generating a consult agreement than the fee is worth. If they have a pre-printed scope of work or checklist and want you to add a few photo’s, you might consider. But you are an engineer, they need to pay up or go hire a field observer. That is my opinion.
They are looking for hungry inspectors to work too cheap.
Thank you very much. I think I will ask for a clarified scope of work, and if they scope is not any clearer, then based on everyone’s opinion here, I will suggest they find someone else.
SIGNATURE: Click on your face in the upper right hand corner of this page. Then click on your name to the left of the bell. Then click on preferences. Then click on profile and scroll down to signature and fill out the information that you want to appear under every post that you make. AND LAST, scroll to the bottom of the page and click SAVE CHANGES.
