Bidding apartments

[rlskfoster]

Help!

I got a call tonight from a local agent asking for a price on a 24 unit apartment complex to include termite inspections.

Well I gotta admit i was hung up. I told him i had done nothing more than single family and some duplexes and that I would not know where to begin figuring a price.

he asked me to work something up and give him a call ASAP.

I take that to mean no one else has had what he thinks is a good price.

I'm just wondering if anybody is willing to share any do's or don'ts about pricing multi-family.

Or even if as a relatively new inspector(2 years) should I walk away.

as always thanks,

Buster

[hausdok]

Hi,

I did an entire apartment building once. I think it was 24 units. Can't remember exactly - it was about 7 or 8 years ago. I priced the exterior and one unit as an inspection of a biiiiig house, and then priced each unit as I do additional units in a condo complex.

Just remember, if you've got an E & O policy, you need to contact your carrier and get one-time coverage for the job, since it's over 4 units.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by rlskfoster

Help!

I got a call tonight from a local agent asking for a price on a 24 unit apartment complex to include termite inspections.

Well I gotta admit i was hung up. I told him i had done nothing more than single family and some duplexes and that I would not know where to begin figuring a price.

he asked me to work something up and give him a call ASAP.

I take that to mean no one else has had what he thinks is a good price.

I'm just wondering if anybody is willing to share any do's or don'ts about pricing multi-family.

Or even if as a relatively new inspector(2 years) should I walk away.

as always thanks,

Buster

First of all, don't walk away. If you get the job it'll be a great training opportunity.

Second. Bid a range, not a specific price. You should aim for a number that will provide the same daily fee that you'd get doing single family units.

Third. Find out what type of inspection the buyer wants. He might only want exteriors and crawlspaces. Many times, I've done all of the exteriors and common areas but only a representative sample of unit interiors. On a large property (100+ units), you can draw some remarkably accurate generalizations about the property after viewing only 10% of the unit interiors. With only 24 units, I'd think that 4 or 5 would be plenty. If you do this, you'll have to be an absolute nazi about making sure that *all* of the residents get notice. You should choose the sample apartments (not the seller or property manager) and only do so once you're there.

Four. On inspections like this, it's more important to look for trends than specific defects.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[JesseWBryant]

Foster, did you ever do that inspection? I am kind of in the same situation now with a 40 unit complex. I am curious to find out how your inspection went. You can post it here or e-mail me.

[rlskfoster]

Jesse,

I ended up deciding against bidding the job because I could not dedicate the time I felt necessary to do the inspections. A couple of friends of mine did the inspection and charged a total of 85 dollars per unit and nothing extra for the exterior or common areas of the building. They inspected each unit and it took them two days. I know i was looking at 100.00 per unit so I would not have gotten the job. i was figuring a week to do the inspection.

I do believe I would have produced a better more in depth report. They do written reports and generally do not look inside HVAC's, panels, etc.

I take alot of pictures and usually spend three hours on site and 1.5 to 2 hours more per report on the report.

Buster