inspectorchris Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Thanks for reading. I have an Inspection of a home ( if you can call it that ) in a very upscale neighborhood. The job was given to me from a mortgage broker I work with. He got it from a coleague when that persons home inspector didn't want to touch it. Here are the Specs of the house: 16,000 Sq Ft..... Not a typo. Not including a 80% finished basement that has a movie theatre 5 Bedrooms 12 Rooms Total 8 Baths Maids quarters 4 car Garage On 5 acres Has a Pool and Cabanna house ( was told the Cabanna is like a one bedroom house ) Geo Thermal Heat and A/C Septic tanks and for termites will need an inspection as well. This inspection is for the current home owner that needs it so he can list the home on a mansions action company site. The house was valued at 7.2mil I typically Charge $400-$450 an insp for up to a 2,400 Sq Ft. home. I have done inspections of mini mansions for $1200 in this area. This is a whole other animal though. I have the job so I'm not bidding. I'm just trying to figure out what is a fair price. I have it figured at $2,500-$3,000. Does that sound fair or not enough, too much? I also want to make sure the Broker still sends me more inspections like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark P Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 I think people who can afford this type of house will not flinch at what ever you charge. I have no experience with anything this big, but $3,000 sounds good to me. I would want a look at the roof before submitting the fee, because if it were something I could not handle I would sub-contract it out. I might consider subing out some of the other components as well and factoring that into the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghentjr Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Thanks for reading. The house was valued at 7.2mil 1/10th of one percent of the purchase price. Charge 7k for a two day job plus a day for the report. You will feel like you did it on the cheap after you are done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terence McCann Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 That's not a home it's a small office building. Unless you're realllly good with HVAC you may have to end up sub-contracting that part. You'll most likely see multi-zone system(s) with fairly complex controls. If it were me I'd farm it out and put a me too markup on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectorchris Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Thanks for the responses.... I am having a septic company do the septic test. My cost $250 and an HVAC Tech evaluate the Geo Thermal unit $150 Dollars ( my Brother ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 I would charge in the area of $3,500 to $3,800 and I would not do the pool or septic. You will most likely be at this home for a couple of days. The septic part for this home sounds like it might be a problem. Eight bathrooms, pool house and maids quarters on (multiple) septic systems that are sitting on five acres is throwing up big a red flag. Pricing jobs as you can see will be allover the board. Price the job based on how much time you will be spending in it and then writing the report. I have seen that many times folks don't figure in reporting time in their bids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 "The septic part for this home sounds like it might be a problem. Eight bathrooms on a septic system that is sitting on five acres is throwing up big a red flag." Why? With that much plumbing running from opposite corners of 16000sf I would think that there is more than one tank and drain field. Three 2000 gallon systems would be more than adequate, and relatively cheap at around $20k. The only hazard I can see, besides the septic inspector being very short changed, would be the presense of a private well. On this end of the state, 5 acres is about the minimum buildable lot with a 2000 gallon septic and a well, with a muni water supply and private sewer it's less than 1/3 arcre. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 "The septic part for this home sounds like it might be a problem. Eight bathrooms on a septic system that is sitting on five acres is throwing up big a red flag." Why? With that much plumbing running from opposite corners of 16000sf I would think that there is more than one tank and drain field. Three 2000 gallon systems would be more than adequate, and relatively cheap at around $20k. The only hazard I can see, besides the septic inspector being very short changed, would be the presense of a private well. On this end of the state, 5 acres is about the minimum buildable lot with a 2000 gallon septic and a well, with a muni water supply and private sewer it's less than 1/3 arcre. Tom That is what I was implying. 5 acres is pretty small when you are talking about multiple septic tanks and 5+ bedrooms with 8+ bathrooms. It will depend on the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectorchris Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 And it is a Public water supply just no public sewers. The Septic tank company is a company that I use regularly to do the inspections and the are actually a cesspool cleaning company. The don't mind because usually they get the job of maintaining the system in the future from my clients. Because of this he is doing me a favor and charging me the same. The only differenence is he is doing a visual inspection instead of a video scope that he normally does. In other words he is popping the cap and just looking around. Seperate report just from him so its not on my Report. My brother is an Industrial HVAC Tech that is really interested just to see the system and how it works in a home and is off this day. He usually works on this type of equipment in buildings in manhattan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMustola Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 I have done several houses of that size. I charge by the hour. I give the customer an estimate of the time I think it will take me. If I take less time I charge the customer less than the estimate, I charge more if it takes me longer. Like Scott said, I would probably be there two days plus report writing time. If I get what I expect for a full days work I'm happy With houses that size you never know what you will run into. I hate to lock myself into a flat fee. So far the buyers have not had a problem with this type of pricing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Well, I have done like jobs for less and much more. Guessing around $3500. When we have a job like this, I like to write a different type report. More on the specification and photo style. I would be very careful about the mechanicals and make it clear this report is just a snapshot in time. I might even think about two different reports. One executive summary and a component summary. Do not write this report complies with any national standard. If it does, then it ain't work squat. This type work is as much art as science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Surely there's more than one heating system? I'd expect four heating/AC systems. There have got to be at least three kitchens, maybe four. One main kitchen, one "entertaining" kitchen, a maid's kitchen, and a kitchen in the Pool house? I'd do it with a partner. It would take two days on site and a third day to write the report. I'd charge $5,000. ($1,000 per day for each inspector plus $1,000 per day for one inspector to write the report.) That is *NOT* an exhorbidant fee. If you're planning to do more of these, you want to set up reasonable expectations with regard to the fees. - Jim Katen, Oregon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 This inspection is for the current home owner that needs it so he can list the home on a mansions action company site. I'm curious about that part. Do the bidders get to see the report? Are you then going to be responsible for the inspection to whoever wins the bid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Morrison Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 $195 per hour in the field AND report writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlord Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 $4000.00 would be my quote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bain Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Leaving out the bathrooms, only 12 rooms in a 16K sq. ft. house is pretty incredible. Those are gonna be some big-ass rooms. I'm looking at the first floor of a five-story office building for some folks next week. They want me to check out the 9,000 sq. ft. workspace along with the 9,000 sq. ft., 100-year-old basement. Normally I do a quick walkthrough before establishing a fee for something like that, but it wasn't possible this time due to a variety of factors. I told the buyers I'd charge between x and y, and left myself a thousand dollars worth of leeway. The buyers and their attorney said that would be groove-o. The house described in this thread will likely have state of the art everything, and more plumbing fixtures in the master-shower stall than I have in my entire house. Like Mark said, the owners aren't likely to try to negotiate your fee, so I'd err in the upper range due to all of the possible contingencies. I look at a lot of horse farms. It's amazing how pricks with 200K houses will bust your chops over every little detail, but wealthy people who are secure and successful are almost unfailingly polite, respectful and gracious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtblum Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Above all of the good advice already given, make sure Fity Cent is not the guy buying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 And don't forget to inspect the built-in espresso machine, the Mr. Steam unit, and the big-ass walk-in fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Fabry Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Don't forget three phase electric for the bid ass a/c compressors, pool pumps and the big ass refrigerator. My guess is the mechanical room will look like this: Click to Enlarge 55.9 KB Click to Enlarge 64.57 KB Click to Enlarge 57.89 KB Click to Enlarge 58.19 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectorchris Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Yeah. I'm sure it is going to be big and built in everything. Sometimes I feel like I didn't charge enough and sometimes I am doing ok. Maybe I will bring a blank invoice with me and give him a higher estimate. I can always back it down in the end and make the feel better. I think I will be in the $4,000 dollar range come to think more about it. Thats a drop in the bucket for a person with a house or this caliper. The house is only 7 years old and is supossed to be an eco smart home so I'm positive it will be all state of the art and best of the best. I think I am more worried about the broker calling me and saying" Really? Are you kidding me?". But I don't want to short sell myself either. I'm sure this is one of the biggest houses I will ever see. I looked up the area to get an idea and all the other homes on the market in that area were half the size at least and still a few Mil in price. I've decided to hire my brother for the day and let him do the Entire HVAC and plumbing. I asked the home owner to describe the home owner to describe the house and I feel like the master suite will be bigger than my entire house. His and her master baths, walk in closets stitting room and bedroom all counts as one room to them. Every bedroom has a full bath with half baths sprinkled around the home. I should be spending most of the day going" WOW that is awsome!!!. I don't make enough money". I will take pics of everything and post them here when I'm done. Should be interesting for everyone to see. I know I'm interested. I google earthed the address to try and get an overview of the property and the address doesn't come up.[?] Thanks for everyones response. I was afraid of over charging. Now I feel better about my price. I don't want to do a by the hr deal because I don't feel that they will understand the paperwork writing they don't see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspector57 Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 If you know the general location, you should be able to start wide and drill down on Google maps satellite view to get an overview. I'm liking the $4k price although I would likely talk myself down, (I have had more than one upper income client tell me I priced myself too low.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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