Fort Worth Equipment Appraisal
Know what your Fort Worth equipment is worth before you sell or borrow. Starting at $295.
A Fort Worth equipment appraisal is a certified, USPAP-compliant report on what excavators, dozers, truck fleets and ranch equipment would bring in an ordinary sale and in a sale with a deadline. A Fort Worth owner deciding whether to send a fleet to the Ritchie Bros. auction yard in Lake Worth or sell it privately needs to know what it is worth first. So does a bank before a loan closes, and so does an attorney with a case at the federal courthouse on West 10th Street.
- You have both numbers in hand before you choose between the auction yard and a private buyer.
- The signer holds the Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser (CMEA) designation, and the report follows USPAP, the national appraisal standard.
- A desktop report is built from your photos and records, with no visit to the yard.
- An inspection in person is scheduled when your lender or a court asks for one.
- A ranch tractor, a truck fleet and a yard full of excavators can share one report.
- USPAP-compliant
- Signed by a CMEA
- Rated 5.0 on Google
How do I order an equipment appraisal in Fort Worth?
1. Say what you are deciding
Selling, borrowing, settling an estate, going to court and filing with the county each call for a different kind of value. Tell us which one it is and who will read the report.
2. Send the list, photos and titles
We need a list of the equipment with serial numbers or VINs and hours or miles, photos of each unit, and the titles for anything that has one.
3. Read the signed report
Every unit gets its own line with a condition grade, an estimate of its remaining useful life (the working years it likely has left) and its values. How much detail each line carries depends on the records you were able to send.
What do Fort Worth owners need to know before selling or borrowing?
- Where equipment sells
- Ritchie Bros. sells used equipment at auction from its yard in Lake Worth, in northwest Tarrant County. To consign a machine is to hand it to the auction company to sell for you.
- Two values
- Fair market value is the price a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree on with neither one rushed. Orderly liquidation value is the price when the sale must close by a deadline.
- SBA loans
- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) covers Tarrant, Johnson, Parker and Wise counties from its Dallas/Fort Worth District Office in Euless. Its 504 loan is the program for buildings and long-lived equipment. When a 504 loan pays for used equipment bought from someone other than an equipment dealer, or refinances equipment, the appraisal must include an on-site inspection.
- Turnaround
- Most reports are delivered in 7 to 10 business days once the list and photos are in. A single machine or a handful can be rushed in 24 to 48 hours.
- Fee
- Starting at $295. The count of units, a desktop or on-site report and the deadline decide the rest, and you get the fee in writing before work starts.
- Property tax on equipment
- Each year a Texas business lists its equipment for the county so it can be taxed. The list is called a rendition. In Tarrant County it is due to the Tarrant Appraisal District by April 15. A location with $125,000 or less of equipment is exempt but still has to file to say so. Tarrant Appraisal District
What is different about appraising equipment in Fort Worth?
A Fort Worth owner has an auction yard close by, the freight terminals at AllianceTexas to the north, and ranch country one county over.
An auction yard in Lake Worth
With Ritchie Bros. selling from Lake Worth, a Fort Worth owner can have a fleet in front of bidders after a short haul. Whether that beats a private sale depends on the machine. A late-model excavator or wheel loader in a popular size draws plenty of bidders. An older or unusual unit can sell low if the one buyer who wants it is not there that day. With both values in front of you, you can decide which machines to consign and which to hold for a private buyer.
Terminal and warehouse equipment at AllianceTexas
AllianceTexas, the logistics development in north Fort Worth, is home to the BNSF Alliance Intermodal Facility, where containers move between trains and trucks. Yard tractors, the short trucks that shuttle trailers inside a terminal, rarely leave the property, so the odometer says little and engine hours say more. Forklifts and container handlers are read the same way. Conveyor and sorting systems bolted to a building are a separate matter. Equipment attached to a building is called a fixture, and a lender’s filing on a fixture goes to the county clerk, which in Fort Worth is the Tarrant County Clerk. Filings on other equipment go to the Texas Secretary of State. Tell us what is fixed in place.
Ranch and farm equipment in Parker, Wise and Johnson counties
Ranch and farm equipment here means tractors, hay balers, stock trailers and skid steers. Hay equipment works a few weeks a year, so a baler can be old on paper and lightly used, and the bale count on its monitor says more than its age. A stock trailer may have no title at all, because Texas does not require one for a farm trailer under 34,000 pounds. Send a photo of the VIN plate and the bill of sale in its place.
What clients have said
“Thanks Rhett & the appraisal came in right at what we thought it might.”
“It looked good to me. Thanks for the fast turn around.”
“We will not only remember you the next time we need an appraisal, but if anyone has an appraisal need we will send them your way.”
Can one report cover everything my Fort Worth business owns?
Yes. A single loader and every line on your depreciation schedule (the asset list your accountant keeps for tax) are handled the same way.
Earthmoving
Excavators, dozers, wheel loaders and motor graders. Undercarriage and tire condition show in photos, so shoot them close.
Highway trucks and trailers
Road tractors, dump trucks, lowboys and end dumps. Send the mileage, and the engine hours if the dash shows them.
Terminal and warehouse
Yard tractors, forklifts, reach trucks and container handlers. An hour-meter photo and the last service record tell most of the story.
Ranch and hay
Tractors, balers, mowers and stock trailers. List the loader, bucket and other attachments that sell with the tractor.
Cranes and aerial lifts
Truck cranes, boom lifts and telehandlers. Current inspection tags and load test records belong in the file.
Shop and plant machinery
Lathes, press brakes, compressors and welders. Note which tooling stays with each machine.
Not sure whether something counts? Put it on the list and we will tell you.
How do I choose an equipment appraiser in Fort Worth?
Does the appraiser gain from how I sell?
An auction estimate and a buyer’s offer both come from someone with a stake in the sale. A USPAP report includes a signed certification that states any interest the appraiser has in the equipment and that the fee does not depend on the value. Read that page first.
Do they know terminal and ranch equipment as well as dirt equipment?
A Fort Worth list can put a yard tractor from AllianceTexas next to a hay baler from Parker County. Neither is judged by its odometer. Ask what the appraiser looks at on each.
Will it be done before April 15 or my sale date?
The Tarrant Appraisal District’s filing date does not move, and neither does an auction’s consignment deadline. Have the delivery date confirmed in writing before the list goes in.
Who will read a Fort Worth equipment appraisal?
Buyers, partners and heirs. When equipment is being sold, split between owners or passed through an estate, each side needs a value that none of them wrote.
Bank and SBA credit officers. A lender taking equipment as collateral wants a certified appraisal in the loan file before closing.
Bankruptcy trustees and attorneys. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas hears Fort Worth cases at the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse on West 10th Street. Federal civil suits from Tarrant, Parker and Wise counties are assigned to the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas.
The Tarrant Appraisal District. It sets the taxable value of business equipment in Tarrant County. An appraisal gives an owner market values to report, and evidence for a protest when the district’s number is too high. Tarrant Appraisal District
What should I have ready before I ask for a quote?
- A list of the equipment, or your accountant’s depreciation schedule.
- The serial number or VIN, model year and meter reading of every unit.
- Photos of all four sides of each unit, with close shots of the serial plate and the meter.
- Titles for trucks and trailers that are being sold or pledged.
- The name of whoever will read the report, whether a buyer, a bank, a court or the appraisal district.
Where around Fort Worth do you appraise equipment?
Tarrant, Johnson, Parker and Wise counties, including:
- Fort Worth
- Arlington
- Lake Worth
- Haslet
- Saginaw
- Keller
- Grapevine
- Euless
- Hurst
- Bedford
- North Richland Hills
- Mansfield
- Burleson
- Cleburne
- Alvarado
- Weatherford
- Aledo
- Azle
- Decatur
- Bridgeport
Dallas County uses the same SBA district office, in Euless. Dallas equipment appraisal
McLennan County is on the Euless office’s list. Waco equipment appraiser
The federal district clerk for the Wichita Falls Division now works from Fort Worth. Wichita Falls equipment appraisal
Callahan County, east of Abilene, is on the Euless SBA office’s list. equipment appraisal in Abilene
What else do Fort Worth owners and lenders ask?
Should I get an appraisal before sending equipment to auction?
It is not required. An independent appraisal is a number from someone with nothing riding on the sale, and you can use it to decide what to consign, what to sell privately and what to keep.
What does an equipment appraisal cost in Fort Worth?
It depends on how many units there are, whether anyone has to see them in person and how soon you need the report. Send the list and you will have a fixed number before you commit to anything.
What if I miss the April 15 filing with the Tarrant Appraisal District?
The district adds a 10 percent penalty to the tax bill. If you need more time, ask for an extension in writing, by mail or through your online account with the district, on or before April 15.
My equipment is outside Tarrant County. Does that change anything?
Each county has its own appraisal district for taxing the equipment kept there, so a Parker, Wise or Johnson County owner files with that county’s district and not with Tarrant’s. Johnson County has one more difference. A federal civil suit from Cleburne or Alvarado is assigned to the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas, not the Fort Worth Division.
Can you appraise equipment for an estate?
Yes. An executor usually needs fair market value as of the date of death for the estate’s tax filings, and often wants to know what the equipment would bring if it were sold. Say which you need when you ask for the quote.
Get a quote for your Fort Worth equipment
Excavators, truck fleets, terminal equipment and ranch machinery, appraised for owners, lenders, courts and estates in Tarrant, Johnson, Parker and Wise counties. Four short questions start it, and the quote arrives by email.