San Antonio Equipment Appraisal
Heavy equipment valuations for San Antonio and South Texas owners and lenders. Starting at $295.
Texas Equipment Appraisal is a heavy equipment valuation service for San Antonio and South Texas: a Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser values oilfield trucks, excavators, crushers and ranch tractors in one USPAP report. A San Antonio bank lending against a contractor’s fleet needs a value it can put in the loan file. So does an oilfield service company with trucks parked in three Eagle Ford counties, and so does a family settling a ranch estate in Medina County.
- Equipment kept in several counties can go in one report.
- The report is written to USPAP, the appraisal standard banks and courts ask for. The signer holds the CMEA designation, short for Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser.
- A desktop appraisal, done from your photos and records, means nobody has to drive out to a well site or a ranch.
- When a lender or a judge wants the equipment seen, an inspection in person is arranged.
- You know the fee and the delivery date before you agree to anything.
- USPAP-compliant
- Signed by a CMEA
- Rated 5.0 on Google
What are the steps to get equipment appraised in San Antonio?
1. Answer four questions
The quote form asks what needs appraising, whether anyone has to see it in person, when you need the report and where to send the quote.
2. Send records for each unit
Once you accept the quote, send the equipment list, the serial numbers or VINs, the hours or miles, and photos.
3. Your report is delivered
For each unit the report states its condition, how many working years it probably has left (its remaining useful life) and its values. What you send decides how much detail each entry can carry.
What do San Antonio borrowers and owners ask first?
- Two values
- Fair market value assumes a seller with time to wait for the right buyer. Orderly liquidation value assumes the equipment has to be sold within a set number of months. A bank usually asks for both figures.
- SBA loans
- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) runs its San Antonio District Office from East Houston Street downtown. The office serves 55 counties, including Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe and the Eagle Ford counties of Karnes, Frio, La Salle, McMullen and Dimmit.
- Equipment in more than one county
- A San Antonio company can have its office in the city and its equipment in Atascosa, Wilson or Karnes County. One report covers all of it. Tell us where each unit is kept, because property tax on equipment is reported county by county and a lender will want to know where its collateral sits.
- Turnaround
- Most reports take 7 to 10 business days once the records and photos are in hand. One machine, or a few, can be turned in 24 to 48 hours if a loan closing is near. An on-site inspection adds travel time.
- Fee
- Starting at $295. How many units there are, whether an inspection is needed and how soon you need the report set the final figure.
- Property tax on equipment
- Texas taxes business equipment, and each year the owner reports it to the county on a form called a rendition. In Bexar County the rendition goes to the Bexar Central Appraisal District by April 15, and a written request made by then moves the date to May 15. A business with no more than $125,000 of equipment is exempt and can file a short statement saying so in place of the full rendition. Bexar Central Appraisal District
What should I know about equipment values in South Texas?
Oilfield work to the south, limestone to the north and online auctions each affect what a machine here is worth.
Eagle Ford oilfield equipment
The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, lists 27 counties in the Eagle Ford Shale, the oil and gas field south and east of the city. Two of them, Atascosa and Wilson, are part of the San Antonio metro. Oilfield equipment has two sets of buyers. A vacuum truck or a lowboy trailer can go to work for a contractor outside the oilfield, so it still has buyers when drilling slows. A frac pump, which forces fluid down a well, has nowhere else to go, so its value follows drilling activity on the date of the appraisal.
Rock work north of the city
North of San Antonio the ground is limestone, and Ash Grove runs its Hunter cement plant up Interstate 35 near New Braunfels, in Comal County. Digging and crushing rock wears a machine faster than moving dirt. Bucket teeth, cutting edges, hydraulic hammers, crusher liners and undercarriages are replaced often, and a machine with new wear parts is worth more than the same model due for them. Photograph those parts and send the dates they were last changed.
Equipment sold where it sits
South Texas equipment can be sold online without ever leaving the owner’s yard. Ritchie Bros. has sold machines located in San Antonio and New Braunfels through its online auctions. Buyers who cannot walk around a machine bid on what they can see, which is the photos and the records. The same is true of a desktop appraisal, so clear photos and service history are worth the trouble.
What clients have said
“Perfect on the valuation of the Volvo in question.”
“Thanks for the good work.”
“The report looks good to everyone”
Is my kind of equipment something you appraise?
Heavy and industrial equipment of most kinds, whether it is one truck or the whole asset list behind a loan.
Oilfield trucks and trailers
Vacuum trucks, winch trucks, pump trucks and lowboy trailers. Tank and pump certifications, where a unit has them, go in with the photos.
Excavation and site work
Excavators, dozers, scrapers and trenchers. Say which machines carry a hammer or a ripper.
Crushing and aggregate
Crushers, screens, conveyors and wheel loaders. Say whether a plant is portable or fixed in place.
Concrete and paving
Mixer trucks, pump trucks, pavers and rollers. Send drum or pump hours along with road miles.
Ranch and farm
Tractors, hay equipment, brush cutters and stock trailers from Medina, Atascosa, Wilson and Guadalupe counties.
Forklifts and plant equipment
Forklifts, air compressors, generators and overhead cranes from shops and warehouses around the city.
Something else? Describe it on the quote form and you will get a straight answer on whether it can be appraised.
What should a borrower ask a San Antonio equipment appraiser?
Do they know which oilfield equipment has buyers outside the oilfield?
A lender on an Eagle Ford loan wants to know what the collateral would bring if drilling slowed. Ask how the appraiser treats a vacuum truck differently from a frac pump.
What date will the values be as of?
A loan wants a current value. A rendition wants the value on January 1. An estate wants the date of death. Say which date applies before work starts.
Will they look at wear from rock work?
North of the city, bucket teeth, cutting edges and crusher liners wear out in limestone. Ask whether the appraiser wants photos of the wear parts or only the hour meter.
Who reads a San Antonio appraisal once it is done?
Loan officers and credit reviewers. A bank or SBA lender taking a lien on equipment, which is its claim on the equipment if the loan is not repaid, needs a certified value on file before the loan closes.
Bankruptcy trustees and their attorneys. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas hears San Antonio cases in the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse on East Houston Street.
Attorneys in federal civil suits. All eight counties of the San Antonio metro, along with Karnes, Frio, Dimmit and Gonzales, belong to the San Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas. The district court sits at the federal courthouse on West Nueva Street.
County appraisal districts. The Bexar Central Appraisal District values business equipment in Bexar County. The Comal Appraisal District in New Braunfels and the Guadalupe Appraisal District in Seguin do the same for their counties. An owner who thinks a district’s number is too high can protest it, and an appraisal is evidence for that. Bexar Central Appraisal District
What will I be asked to send?
- The equipment list, or the list of equipment from your books that your bank already has.
- A serial number or VIN, the model year and the hours or miles for every unit.
- Photos of each unit from every side, and close shots of the serial plate, the meter and any wear parts.
- The county where each unit is kept.
- The lender, court or other reader the report is for, and any instructions they gave you.
Do you appraise equipment outside San Antonio?
Yes. Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson, Atascosa, Medina, Kendall and Bandera counties, and the Eagle Ford counties to the south, including:
- San Antonio
- New Braunfels
- Seguin
- Schertz
- Cibolo
- Converse
- Live Oak
- Universal City
- Helotes
- Leon Valley
- Boerne
- Bulverde
- Castroville
- Hondo
- Floresville
- Pleasanton
- Jourdanton
- Poteet
- Bandera
- Karnes City
- Kenedy
- Pearsall
- Cotulla
Travis County is on the San Antonio SBA office’s list. equipment appraisal in Austin
Webb County is on that list too. Laredo equipment appraiser
The SBA divides the Killeen and Temple area between San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth. Killeen and Temple equipment appraisal
El Paso is a division of the Western District of Texas, as San Antonio is. El Paso equipment appraisal
Maverick County is on the bankruptcy court’s San Antonio Division list. equipment appraisal in Eagle Pass
What else should I know before ordering in San Antonio?
How is the fee for a San Antonio appraisal set?
By the number of units, whether an inspection in person is needed and your deadline. The fee you are quoted is fixed.
Does an SBA loan require an on-site inspection?
Sometimes. The SBA 504 program, which finances buildings and equipment with a long life, calls for one when used equipment comes from a seller who is not an equipment dealer, or when equipment is being refinanced. For other loans the lender decides.
My equipment is spread across several Eagle Ford counties. Can it be appraised in one report?
Yes. One report can cover the whole list wherever the units are parked. If a lender needs an inspection, which units are to be seen and where they are is settled before the fee is quoted.
How do I find the fair market value of one machine?
Asking prices on listing sites show what sellers hope to get, not what machines sold for. For a loan, a court or the IRS, the number needs to come from a qualified appraiser in a signed report.
Request a quote for your San Antonio equipment
Oilfield trucks, excavation and crushing equipment, concrete and paving fleets and ranch machinery, valued for banks, courts, buyers and owners in San Antonio and the counties around it. The form has four questions, and your quote comes back by email.