Highbridge StudiesProperty types
Cost segregation by property type
Cost segregation works differently for each property type, because each holds a different mix of components. Highbridge Studies prepares studies for any building held for rental or business use. These are the kinds it sees most.
Apartment buildings
Inside are kitchens, appliances, flooring, window treatments and common-area furnishings. Outside are paving, lighting, fencing and landscaping. Older buildings have usually been renovated one apartment at a time, and new ones come with amenity spaces and complete construction records. There is a separate page on multifamily cost segregation.
Mixed-use buildings
Stores at street level with apartments or offices above. The study separates the commercial space from the rest, and the leases show whether the landlord or the tenant paid for the fit-out, which decides whose property it is.
Retail
Shopping centers, freestanding stores and restaurants usually sit on their own paved lots, so site work is a large part of the cost: parking, curbs, lighting, signage, drainage and landscaping. Restaurant space adds kitchen equipment, exhaust and the utilities that serve them.
Office and medical office
These studies turn on tenant improvements and on who paid for them. A fitted-out medical suite adds specialized plumbing, electrical work and cabinetry, much of which may serve the equipment more than the building.
Hotels
Furniture, fixtures and equipment make up an unusually large share of what a hotel costs, and owners generally have the purchase records. Kitchens, laundries, pools and signage add to it.
Warehouse and industrial
Plain inside and extensive outside. Truck courts, heavy paving, fencing, site lighting and drainage are generally land improvements, and power or piping that serves production equipment may be treated with that equipment.
Other property
Self-storage, parking structures, car washes, service stations, marinas, day care centers and similar buildings can be studied the same way. If a building is held for rental or business use and its basis justifies the fee, it is worth a call.
What matters more than the type
The records. A building of any kind that was recently built or renovated comes with contracts, requisitions and invoices that show what each part cost. A building that was bought comes with a closing statement and an appraisal, and the study builds up the rest from what is found at the site. The services page explains both approaches, and how a study is prepared follows the work step by step.