Market guide · Pricing
What a commercial cost-segregation study costs
Study fees track property type, building size and documentation — and, more than buyers expect, whether the provider publishes a price at all. Most of the market is quote-only.
Who publishes pricing (and who doesn't)
Pricing transparency is one of the seven criteria in our rubric. As of the current review:
- Publishes fees / estimator: Cost Seg Smart, RE Cost Seg, Duffy+Duffy, BDO USA, Baker Tilly, Cherry Bekaert
- Quote-only: Engineered Tax Services (ETS), Source Advisors, CSSI, McGuire Sponsel, Cost Segregation Authority (CSA), Capstan Tax Strategies, Madison SPECS, Segregation Holding, SegPro Solutions, Ryan, CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), CohnReznick, Plante Moran, Andersen, Withum, CBIZ
That gap is why a market pricing guide is useful at all: for most providers there is no public number to compare, so buyers can't tell whether a quote is fair without shopping several.
Cost Seg Smart commercial study fees
These are Cost Seg Smart's own published fees, pulled from its pricing system at build time (not typed into this page). Fees rise with depreciable basis; the figures below are indicative at a few basis points.
| Property type | Starting | ~$1M basis | ~$2M basis | ~$5M basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warehouse & distribution · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Manufacturing · guide | By proposal | — | — | — |
| Flex / light industrial · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Medical office · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Dental office · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Veterinary · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Single-tenant retail · guide | From $1,995 | $3,295 | $3,295 | $6,295 |
| Restaurant · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Gas station & c-store · guide | From $2,995 | $4,995 | $7,995 | $9,995 |
| Car wash · guide | From $2,995 | $4,995 | $7,995 | $9,995 |
| Auto dealership · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Multifamily (5+) · guide | From $1,995 | $3,595 | $3,595 | $7,995 |
| Hotel & motel · guide | From $3,495 | $4,995 | $4,995 | $9,495 |
| Fitness & gym · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $3,995 | $7,995 |
| Office · guide | From $1,995 | $3,295 | $3,295 | $6,295 |
| Mixed-use · guide | From $1,995 | $3,295 | $3,295 | $6,295 |
| Self-storage · guide | From $2,495 | $3,995 | $5,995 | $7,995 |
| Data center · guide | $4,995–$54,995 (sub-$100M); $100M+ by proposal | — | — | — |
Source: Cost Seg Smart pricing system, snapshotted at build from the network pricing spine. Data center and hotel are engineer-signed / by-proposal and priced case-by-case. Cost Seg Smart operates this site — see the ownership disclosure.
What moves the price
- Depreciable basis and building size — the biggest driver.
- Site inspection — an on-site visit adds travel and time; a virtual study is usually cheaper for well-documented buildings.
- Documentation — cost records, construction documents and equipment schedules speed the work; their absence means more estimating.
- Complexity — specialty systems (imaging suites, refrigeration, process power) add engineering time.