Not All Cost Segregation Studies Are Equal. Here is the Proof.

Approaches 1 and 2 are the most thorough. Approaches 4 and 5 involve software estimates that fill gaps where real analysis was never performed. If they cannot give you the approach number, or use phrases like “proprietary methodology” or “best-in-class software,” you have your answer.Cost Seg America: Approaches 1 and 2. Every study. No exceptions.

A real cost segregation study produces a line-by-line component schedule - every item in the building named, quantified, individually costed, and supported by a published source citation. Ask to see one before you sign anything. If what they show you has category-level lines like “Electrical Systems - 12% of building cost” with nothing behind the number, that is a software output, not engineering analysis. Your building was never examined. The software made a guess.Cost Seg America will show you a sample component schedule before you commit to anything.

This is the question most providers hope you never ask. Many present a polished U.S. brand while outsourcing the actual engineering work to teams overseas - India, South Africa, the Middle East - to cut their costs and protect their margins. Your property details, purchase price, tax information, and financial records are being sent to people you have never met, in countries with different privacy laws. Ask them directly: where is the work performed? Who has access to my financial data? Are they employees or contractors?Cost Seg America is 100% U.S.-based. Every analyst. Every study. Your information never leaves the country.

This is the question that exposes the business model behind cheap cost segregation. You are hiring a provider to find every dollar you are legally entitled to. Approaches 1 and 2 find the most. The IRS says so in writing. If a provider is using Approach 4 or 5 instead, they are not doing it for your benefit - they are doing it because it is faster, cheaper to produce, and better for their margin. You pay them. You take the risk. You leave money on the table. They keep the difference.Cost Seg America uses Approaches 1 and 2 because that is the only answer that makes sense for the client.

This is the only question in cost segregation that cannot be faked, padded, or marketed around. Ask for the exact number. Ask for the record. Ask if any client has ever been required to return money, pay penalties, or settle with the IRS because of a study your firm produced.Cost Seg America: 125+ IRS audits over 24 years. Zero losses. Zero dollars ever returned on behalf of any client. Not one.

A contingency fee - where the cost segregation provider charges a percentage of deductions identified - creates a direct conflict of interest. The provider is financially incentivized to find more, not find correctly. If the fee goes up when deductions go up, their financial interest and your financial interest are not the same thing.Cost Seg America charges a flat fee quoted before you commit. It does not change based on findings. Our results reflect what is actually there - not what maximizes our fee.

Many cost segregation providers advertise audit support in their marketing and quietly limit it to a set number of hours, a short window after delivery, or charge additional fees when the IRS actually opens a file. Ask exactly: are there hour caps? Is there a cutoff date? Are there additional fees if the IRS audits three years from now?Cost Seg America’s audit defense has no hour caps, no time limits, and no additional fees. If the IRS opens your file three years from today, we are there.

Years in business tells you staying power. The audit number tells you everything else. A cost segregation provider that has processed thousands of studies but cannot point to meaningful IRS audit experience has never truly been tested.Cost Seg America: 24 years in business. 16,000+ completed studies. 125+ IRS audits. Zero losses. Zero dollars returned. That record was not built on marketing - it was built on methodology.