Los Angeles machinery and equipment appraisals.
Lukes & Lukes is an independent machinery and equipment appraisal firm that covers greater Los Angeles the way a lender needs it covered, without the Los Angeles price tag. We do not run a local office here, and in a market this expensive that works in your favor. Our all-in quote, travel included, frequently comes in under what a Los Angeles or Orange County appraiser would charge for the very same USPAP-compliant, defensible report.
Why bring in an out-of-market firm
LA rates are the problem. Out of market is the advantage.
Appraisal fees in greater Los Angeles sit near the top of the national scale, for the same reason everything in the basin does: the cost of doing business here is steep. When the assets behind a loan, an estate or a dispute are parked in Vernon, Long Beach, Anaheim or out in the Inland Empire, there is no reason to pay a coastal-California rate to get a number that holds. We build the fee on Midwest overhead and quote it all in, travel included, and it routinely lands beneath a local bid for an identical report.
When the size of the job earns the flight, we come out and inspect the equipment ourselves. When it does not, we deploy a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already working the Los Angeles market to run the inspection, and we author and sign the report to USPAP. Either path gives you one standard, one report format, and a value that stands up in credit committee and under examiner scrutiny.
What Los Angeles runs on
- Aerospace and precision machining: the machine shops, tooling houses and aerospace suppliers that feed the region's aviation and defense base.
- Food and beverage processing: the packing houses, commissaries, bakeries and bottling lines concentrated in Vernon, the City of Industry and the San Fernando Valley.
- Apparel and textile production: the cut-and-sew shops, dye houses and finishing plants that still anchor the LA garment trade.
- Plastics and injection molding: the molders, extruders and packaging producers spread across the basin and Orange County.
- Logistics and material handling: the racking, conveyors and lift fleets moving freight through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Inland Empire warehouses.
- Automotive: dealership service departments, collision centers and fleets across the metro.
- Healthcare and imaging: the hospitals, imaging centers, surgical suites and labs serving the region's dense healthcare economy.
How we cover Los Angeles
The basin, the coast, the Valley and the Inland Empire.
We inspect on site across the City and County of Los Angeles, down through Long Beach and the harbor, into Anaheim and the rest of Orange County, up over the San Fernando Valley, and east into the Inland Empire through Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino. When the calendar or the fee calls for it, a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already working the region handles the physical inspection while we prepare and sign the report. For a single asset or a well-documented equipment list, a desktop appraisal can close the file with no site visit at all.
Which value applies
The right premise for the situation.
The same equipment carries different numbers depending on why you need the appraisal. We determine and defend the premise your situation requires.
Common questions
Answers, up front.
You are not based in Los Angeles. Why is that better?
Because a Los Angeles appraisal fee carries Los Angeles overhead. We are an independent nationwide firm that prices on Midwest overhead and quotes all in, with travel included. For the same USPAP-compliant report, our number often comes in under a local Los Angeles bid.
Who actually inspects the equipment?
When a job justifies the trip, we fly in and inspect it ourselves. When it does not, we deploy a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already on the ground in greater LA to perform the inspection, and we prepare and sign the USPAP-compliant report. You get one appraiser of record and one standard either way.
Will Los Angeles lenders and the SBA accept your reports?
Yes. Reports are USPAP-compliant, prepared by a NEBB-certified Machinery & Equipment Appraiser (CMEA), and built to withstand lender, SBA, IRS, audit and legal review anywhere in the country.
Can you cover collateral outside the basin too?
Yes. The firm works nationwide. A Los Angeles lender or attorney with equipment in several states can keep one appraiser, one standard and one report format across the whole portfolio.
Ready when you are