I have been asked to give a price on a Townhouse apartment complex, each unit is separate.
Year = 1973
Units 13
11 are 2 bed and 1.5 bath apartments
2 are 1 bed and 1 bath apartments.
They are wanting an inspection from their insurance company and just enough to comply for
Insurance. Sounds like a major component inspection. Not sure what to do and how to price it as it will be be my first large scale apartment inspection. Any help would be great! I am in Iowa also
Unless the insurance company is providing their own limited inspection template, I would price and inspect it as 13 complete home inspections. More than likely I would discount each one $50.00 - $75.00 depending on how my schedule looks.
What Jeff said.
When I used to inspect multi-family units like this, I charged a base of around $500.00 per structure and then $75.00 per unit.
He said he doesn’t need a detailed home inspection just something to make the insurance company happy. I am waiting to hear back for them, I asked them if their insurance company has a template or list they want checked
Just keep this statement in the back of your mind. You’re there to inspect and report, not to make anyone “happy.” So, in other words, the insurance company will be your reporting “client”…
Be sure to write a good PIA to include only the items to be inspected.
My advice would be to have the scope & limitations in writing prior to signing anything. I would also make sure that whoever is requesting the inspection signs off that you have no liability or responsibility of any other deficiencies that may impact the safety & condition of the homes & properties.
Also be prepared for whoever is requesting or attending the inspections to try and add items to the scope that you did not previously agree to.
You can’t accurately quote a fee for a vague and undefined service.
Sort out what “they” want/need/whatever and then price it accordingly.
What city/state do you live in? You might want to add your area to your signature so we can help you better.
Agreed. I’ve just started performing 4-point inspections and contacted my insurer, Elite MGA, and Ben sent me the existing PIA for Florida and advised me to modify it for California. Not sure if your apartment inspection is going to be a 4-point.
I had a 12-unit last week with David Mattoon and I priced it almost exactly like Kevin does. Apartments go fast. We did everything we would do in a home inspection except the roof and exterior was common and the foundation was common, and saves a lot of time. The parking lot only took me 5 minutes to walk and report. $1400 in 4 hours. Then we went to lunch.
Your bid might be higher or lower depending on your location and your experience level. I charge more now than I did 5 years ago.
Ditto that!
That’s without bathroom breaks. 
Iowa, Sorry thought I had that in there
Obviously, this would likely not be a full inspection as we typically think of it. But until you can confirm what exactly the insurance company wants, you are just guessing.
That said, If I had to guess, I would follow a 4-point format.
Make sure your insurance covers this. It is a commercial/residential inspection. More than 5 units under one roof.
I agree with you assessment guidelines although I charged more. $150 per unit. $750 for the building.
Take a picture of the door number. That way you organize each unit number in the report. Easier to control what was inspected in each unit.
You did have that in there but I scanned your post too fast and missed it not noticing the last five words. When I don’t see (or miss) a location, I usually migrate to your profile information to see your location, website, etc. I believe adding this information to your profile/signature may help with your SEO in addition to not having to add it to every post.
Here’s what mine looks like:
Sneak Peak Home Inspection LLC
David Freund www.SneakPeakInspection.com
(408) 585-9292 David@SneakPeakInspection.com
Proudly Serving the San Francisco Bay Area
You can look at the other contributors on this post for their signatures to get an idea of options that may work for you.
i do it all the time. for things like that the rate is $150 per hour with a two hour minimum plus $300 expendables and travel. of course it’s usuall fiber optic repair or computer networking but the same thing applies everywhere that i’ve seen so far. maybe it won’t work for inspecting, but i wouldn’t hesistate to throw a price out there for damned near anything. the less i want to do the work the more i charge. sometimes they pay it.
i made $1000 to miss a party one time and the job only took two hours. the wife and i were on the way to the party and i got a call for a job at a hospital an hour drive the other way. she didn’t bat an eye and told me $300 an hour and $400 travel and they took it at 10pm on a friday night. was home by 1am sober and laughing all the way.
Here, 2, 3, or 4 residential dwellings within a structure is considered to be a muti-family structure, anything over 4 residential dwellings within the same structure is considered to be commercial real estate.
And yes, one should have that inclusion in their E&O insurance before inspecting commercial properties.
That’s a good rate, but as @bhull1 mentioned in an earlier post, the fee needs to reflect both your experience and whatever your market will bear.
I record all information directly in my software as I go, I identify each unit in the report with a picture of the door if it has identifying numbers or letters on it, or by location of the unit.
Thanks for the information Robert.
As well as the Country of Origin of the Currency being quoted and discussed on American MB’s!
I suspect Robert is talking “Canadian Dollars”, not “US Dollars”!
Roberts $750 Canadian is only $525 American!
