ACV vs RCV on an equipment insurance claim
Actual cash value pays replacement cost less depreciation; replacement cost value pays to replace. What decides the gap and how the appraisal clause settles it.
Read the article →Insights on machinery & equipment value.
Plain-English guidance from an independent machinery and equipment appraisal firm: the premises of value, what lenders and the SBA require, and what moves the value of the assets that run a business.
Latest insights
Straight answers on what equipment is worth, and why.
Short, direct articles on the premises of value, the situations that call for an appraisal, and what moves value across the machinery and equipment businesses run on. Each one is written by an appraiser, not a marketer.
Equipment appraisal for a lease end-of-term purchase option
The lease defines the value, the date and the dispute mechanism. How the appraisal procedure works and what a third appraiser does.
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What equipment brings at auction versus dealer asking price, 2026
233 matched pairs of tractors, excavators, skid steers and day-cab trucks: auction sold price as a share of dealer ask, by class and age. Method and CSV included.
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What is grocery store equipment worth in liquidation?
Deli and bakery equipment sells; built-in cases, walk-ins and compressor racks recover far less than they cost. What sets recovery, and what a lender should ask for.
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What are AGVs and warehouse automation worth?
AGVs, AMRs, ASRS and robotic picking carry value in the software and the integration. Installed and removed, the same system produces two very different values.
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Machinery appraisal for purchase price allocation
After an asset acquisition closes, the price is split across asset classes. What the equipment appraisal supplies, which premise applies, and who performs the allocation.
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What is my construction equipment business worth?
The fleet is one number and the company is another. What sits outside the equipment schedule, who prices it, and why a lender or a surety tests the iron first.
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What is Forced Liquidation Value (FLV)?
The gross amount equipment would bring at a quick, compelled auction, and the most conservative premise in the file. How it differs from OLV and NOLV, and what widens the gap.
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Equipment appraisal for litigation
Premise, effective date, scope, independence and testimony: five things counsel should settle before the appraiser starts, because every gap in the file becomes a line of cross-examination.
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Equipment appraisal for financing: what lenders require
Term loans, leases, refinances and asset-based lines each lean on a premise. What the credit desk looks for in the report, and how the appraisal protects the borrower as well.
Read the article →Equipment appraisal for IRS and tax purposes
When the tax code requires a qualified appraisal, who counts as a qualified appraiser, and what the report has to contain to hold up in an examination.
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Physical therapy equipment valuation in a practice sale
Treatment tables hold value for years while electronic modalities follow technology cycles. How a clinic's equipment is valued category by category, and which premise the purpose calls for.
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Warehouse equipment appraisal: valuing the whole operation
A distribution center is more than forklifts and racking. Dock equipment, automation, conveyors and refrigeration are valued as a working system, and the report says which pieces sell on their own.
Read the article →What is a machine shop worth?
The equipment fleet is usually the largest single line item, and it is the one buyers, lenders and courts test first because it can be verified machine by machine.
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Equipment appraisal for an SBA 7(a) loan
Independent, qualified, and inspected on site. Then the part treated as a formality: book value carries the equipment at up to 50 percent, an orderly liquidation appraisal at up to 80 percent, and that gap decides files.
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What is farm equipment worth?
Hours against age, configuration, and whether the guidance package actually conveys. Plus the thing that catches people from other asset classes: farm equipment has a season, so the effective date changes the answer.
Read the article →What is a contractor's equipment fleet worth?
Valued unit by unit, then reconciled as a fleet, because forty machines is not forty separate sales. And the distinction people are really asking about: equipment value is not business value.
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How lenders value heavy equipment collateral
Yellow iron is good collateral because the auction record is public, which also means an inflated number is easy to disprove. Choosing the premise, scheduling at the serial level, reconciling the fleet.
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What an ag lender needs in a farm equipment appraisal
Four things, and most reports that get sent back fail on one of them rather than on the number: the right premise, a serial-level schedule, a deliberate effective date, and support an examiner can follow.
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How to value medical equipment in a hospital
A hospital is several equipment markets sharing one address. How imaging, the surgical suite, sterile processing and the long tail are each valued, and why installed and removed numbers diverge.
Read the article →What is Net Orderly Liquidation Value (NOLV)?
OLV minus the costs of selling, and the number asset-based borrowing bases actually run on. What comes out between the gross figure and the net one, and why the deductions matter.
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What is USPAP Standard 3?
The standard that governs appraisal review, where the subject is another appraiser's work rather than the equipment. Why a review is not automatically a second appraisal.
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How is sterilization equipment valued?
A sterile processing department is two kinds of asset in one room. Tabletop autoclaves hold their value anywhere, bulk sterilizers and the water plant behind them do not travel.
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How is patient monitoring equipment valued?
Bedside monitors trade on a deep secondary market by model and module set. A central station pulled off the network it was licensed to is worth almost nothing.
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How is dialysis equipment valued?
A clinic is three markets under one roof. The machines travel and hold their value, the water treatment plant mostly does not, and the treatment floor follows station count.
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What is ophthalmology and optometry equipment worth?
Eye care equipment is valued by category, technology generation and what conveys with the device. From exam lanes to OCT and surgical lasers, here is what moves the number.
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Certified appraisal vs equipment listing price
An asking price is what a seller hopes to get. A certified appraisal is an independent opinion of value for the specific equipment. Why they differ and which one counts.
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Is an AI-generated appraisal USPAP compliant?
No. Compliance attaches to the appraiser who certifies the opinion, not to software. What to check before you rely on any report.
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Can AI write an equipment appraisal?
It can write something that looks like one. What AI does well, where it quietly fails, and the one question that settles it.
Read the article →The SBA tightened collateral documentation. What it means for equipment-secured loans.
SOP 50 10 8 asks lenders to document collateral shortfalls, not lean on cash flow, just as tariffs and a softer used market reprice the machinery in the file.
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What equipment holds its value? Value retention by asset class
Our analysis of public used-equipment market data: how much value each asset class retains, and the four forces that decide it.
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FMV, OLV, FLV and NOLV: the premises of value, explained
One machine can carry several correct values at once. Here is what each premise means and the situation it answers.
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How much is a used MRI or CT machine worth?
What drives the value of imaging assets, from modality and age to software entitlements and the refurbishment market.
Read the article →What is a car dealership's service and shop equipment worth?
Lifts, alignment racks, ADAS calibration, paint booths and parts: what moves the number on a dealership's shop equipment, and how the premise follows the situation.
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What is used CNC and metalworking equipment worth?
Make, model, hours, controls and the active resale market: what moves the number on machine-shop assets.
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Does the SBA require an equipment appraisal?
When the SBA SOP calls for an independent appraisal on 7(a) and 504 loans, who can perform it, and what lenders expect.
Read the article →Equipment appraisal vs broker opinion of value: what is the difference?
One is independent and built to hold up; the other is a market estimate from someone with a stake in the sale. When each one fits.
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What is the cost approach in equipment appraisal?
Replacement cost new, less physical, functional and economic depreciation: how the cost approach works and when it leads.
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Do I need an equipment appraisal for an SBA 504 refinance?
When a 504 refinance pledges equipment as collateral, what premise applies, who can perform it, and what the lender and CDC expect.
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FMV vs OLV for lenders: which value does the bank want?
Banks usually want a liquidation premise, not retail. How FMV and OLV differ, and which one a lending or SBA file calls for.
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Desktop vs on-site equipment appraisal: which do you need?
Both can be USPAP-compliant. When a physical inspection is worth it, and when a desktop appraisal from your records will do.
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How equipment is appraised in a divorce
An independent USPAP appraisal as of a specific date, usually at fair market value, built to hold up for both parties and the court.
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How to choose a machinery and equipment appraiser
Independence, USPAP, a relevant CMEA credential, real inspection, and the right specialty for your assets. Plus the red flags to avoid.
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Effective age, life expectancy and remaining useful life
How old an asset behaves, not the year it was built, drives depreciation. What effective age and remaining useful life mean for value.
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Equipment appraisals for estate and probate
An independent USPAP appraisal as of the date of death, built to hold up for the executor, the IRS and the court.
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When do you need an insurance appraisal for equipment?
Replacement cost, scheduled item by item, so coverage matches your exposure and a claim settles without a dispute.
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How is dental practice equipment valued?
Operatories, CBCT, scanners, CAD/CAM and sterilization: what drives the value, and how the premise follows the purpose.
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How is surgical and operating-room equipment valued?
Tables, energy units, booms, endoscopy and surgical robots: generation and service status drive value more than condition.
Read the article →How to value used laboratory equipment
The first question is what the lab actually owns: many analyzers are placed under reagent-rental and are not its assets.
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What is food processing and packaging equipment worth?
Sanitary stainless construction holds value, and an integrated line is worth less at liquidation than it is in place. Why.
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What is construction and heavy equipment worth?
A deep auction market makes comps strong. Hours, undercarriage, attachments and emissions tier move the number.
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What is collision and body-shop equipment worth?
Booths and frame machines anchor the value, and OEM certification increasingly decides what equipment a shop must run.
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What is commercial fleet and rolling stock worth?
Confirm what is owned vs leased first, then value trucks and trailers on mileage, spec and a deep auction market.
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What is fabrication and welding equipment worth?
Press brakes, shears, lasers and welders: capacity and control generation lead, and fiber lasers have displaced CO2 in cutting.
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What is plastics machinery worth?
Injection molding by clamp tonnage and controls, plus extrusion and auxiliaries. Why molds are usually appraised separately.
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What is material handling equipment worth?
Forklifts, racking and conveyors. Confirm owned vs leased first, and remember racking value is mostly the cost to remove it.
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What is printing and converting equipment worth?
The offset-to-digital shift drives value, and many digital presses are click-charge or leased, not owned. What that means for the number.
Read the article →Have a question we have not covered?
Tell us the situation and the assets. We will scope it, and we never quote a value before inspection.
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