San Francisco Bay Area machinery and equipment appraisals.
Lukes & Lukes is an independent machinery and equipment appraisal firm that serves the Bay Area on the terms a lender actually needs, without paying Bay Area prices to get there. Being an out-of-market firm works in your favor here. Our all-in quote, travel included, often comes in under what a San Francisco, Oakland or Silicon Valley appraiser would charge for the same USPAP-compliant, defensible report.
Why bring in an out-of-market firm
Bay Area pricing is the problem. We are the fix.
Almost nothing costs less in the Bay Area, and appraisal fees are no exception. When the equipment behind a loan, an estate or a dispute sits in San Jose, Fremont, Hayward or across the bridge in Oakland, you should not have to absorb a Silicon Valley rate to get a number you can defend. We build the fee on Midwest overhead and quote it all in, travel included, and it routinely lands under a local bid for the identical report.
When the assignment earns the trip, we fly in and inspect the assets ourselves. When it does not, we deploy a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already working the Bay Area to handle the inspection, and we write and sign the report to USPAP. You get one standard, one report format, and a valuation that survives credit review and examiner scrutiny either way.
What the Bay Area runs on
- Precision manufacturing and semiconductor: the fab tools, cleanroom lines, machine shops and electronics assembly that define the valley's industrial base.
- Biotech and laboratory: the life-science labs, diagnostics benches and analytical instruments concentrated across South San Francisco and the peninsula.
- Food and beverage processing: commercial kitchens, commissaries and packaged-food plants feeding the region and beyond.
- Breweries and wineries: the tank rooms, bottling lines and packaging systems that run through the East Bay and up toward wine country.
- Construction: the graders, loaders and heavy iron behind the region's constant build-out.
- Material handling and logistics: the warehouses, cold storage and lift fleets moving freight through the port and the corridors.
- Automotive and EV: dealership service departments, collision centers, fleets and the EV shops native to this market.
Labs, fabs and the Oakland gateway
Instruments and tools that value differently.
South San Francisco, where Genentech was founded in 1976, counts more than 250 biotech companies and about 12 million square feet of biotech space. Two of the major semiconductor wafer-fabrication equipment makers are headquartered in Fremont and Santa Clara. On the East Bay shoreline, the Port of Oakland handles 99 percent of the containerized goods moving through Northern California.
Those assets behave differently at valuation. Laboratory instruments, analyzers and bioreactors are valued on service history, software and parts support, and whether the manufacturer still backs the platform, and value in place and value on removal can differ sharply for equipment installed in a validated lab. Semiconductor and electronics tooling trades in a global secondary market, and the premise and the market chosen for the asset carry as much weight as its condition. Port-side warehousing and cold chain add lift fleets, conveyors and racking to the same file.
We appraise laboratory and diagnostic equipment, precision machining and manufacturing equipment and material handling assets, and each report states the premise the situation requires, from fair market value in continued use for a transaction to net orderly liquidation value for a lender. See how laboratory equipment is valued.
How we cover the Bay Area
San Francisco, the East Bay, and down the peninsula.
We inspect on site across San Francisco and the East Bay through Oakland, Hayward and Fremont, down the peninsula into San Jose and the rest of Silicon Valley, and out to the surrounding industrial corridors. When the calendar or the fee calls for it, a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already working the region handles the physical inspection and we prepare and sign the report. For single assets or well-documented equipment lists, a desktop appraisal can close the file without a 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 the Bay Area. Why is that better?
Because Bay Area appraisal rates carry Bay Area 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 Bay Area bid.
Who inspects the equipment around the Bay?
When a job justifies the trip, we travel in and inspect it ourselves. When it does not, we deploy a certified machinery and equipment appraiser already on the ground in the Bay Area 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 Bay Area 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 Bay Area too?
Yes. The firm works nationwide. A Bay Area lender or attorney with equipment in several states can keep one appraiser, one standard and one report format across the whole portfolio.
Do you charge separately for travel to the Bay Area?
No. One all-in fee with travel included. A Bay Area assignment frequently spans the Peninsula, the East Bay and the South Bay in one trip, and the bridges and the driving are inside the fee. No mileage, airfare or per diem lines.
How do you value biotech lab equipment in the Bay Area?
Each instrument is identified by make, model and serial number and valued on its condition, service history, and software and parts support. We report value in continued use, value on removal, or both, as the assignment requires.
More markets
We also serve Los Angeles, San Diego and Chicago, and the rest of the country from our Minnesota base. See all markets we serve.
Ready when you are