In 2014, I walked into the old Campbell’s Soup plant in south Sacramento with a camera, clipboard, a pad of paper, a limited asset list, and noted appraiser Bob Podwalny. Our assignment was a retrospective 2013 property tax appraisal. Comstock’s article about the facility’s redevelopment references the plant as one of the “oldest and most…Read More
Valuing Recycling Equipment: Case Study
Considering obsolescence for recycling equipment Following the most recent transfer of ownership, an expansive multi-generational waste management and recycling corporation in central California needed a business valuation for gift tax return. While a business valuation can be performed without an equipment valuation, in the case of machinery-heavy industries, the prudent option is to involve…Read More
Maxxforce Engines: Appraising Value for Litigation
Update: In January 2020, the Navistar MaxxForce engine class-action settlement finalized at $135 million. We are not available to appraise individual trucks. We suggest owner/operators find an attorney to assist with individual claims. In 2017 an Arkansas trucking company became the latest to file a complaint against Navistar in federal court, arising out of the…Read More
Are Your Wine Tanks Excessively Taxed?
What would you think if I told you that the value of wine tanks increases annually? That the longer you use them the more they’re worth? You’d think I was out of my mind! It just doesn’t sound reasonable, does it? How can it be possible that the value of equipment as standard as wine…Read More
Case Studies: Food Processing Equipment
Food and beverage processing equipment isn’t like the equipment in other manufacturing plants. Lubrication is different. Sanitation is on-going. And usage cycles vary — not only from facility to facility, but often within individual facilities, often depending on the agricultural cycle. And awareness of equipment usage cycles is essential for an accurate appraisal. Why? Usage…Read More
Do You Need an Industry-Specific Valuation Expert?
Equipment appraisers often claim expertise in particular markets. And we do often become experts through our experience in valuing a particular industry throughout the years. In many situations, however, it’s more important to be an equipment appraisal expert than an industry expert! An expert equipment appraiser knows how to research the processes and equipment lines…Read More
Glass Fabrication Equipment Appraising
Recently we had the pleasure of inspecting and appraising a glass tempering and coating plant. Residential window glass production slowed considerably from 2008 to 2014 due to the devastating effects of the Great Recession on the home building market and construction in general. During that period of time a number of firms in the industry…Read More
How to Value a Restaurant
Equipment appraisals are just one part of a business valuation. In this guest blog, my CalCPA colleague Tom Collins takes us beyond restaurant equipment appraisals into the world of restaurant business valuation. Tom is a Sacramento CPA who specializes in business valuation and forensic accounting. To learn more about his services, and read some of his…Read More
Drought and its Impact on Valuing Agricultural Equipment
Several equipment appraisal report clients have recently asked me to include information on California’s on-going drought conditions and how current and continuing conditions might affect the value of the equipment appraised. It’s an interesting situation for an equipment appraiser to be in. As a rule, equipment appraisal reports state that the opinion of value provided…Read More
Appraising Hotel Equipment for the Holidays
Equipment appraising over the holidays? More fun than you’d think! Not only do we love our work, of course, but we got a great unexpected assignment that couldn’t wait. So instead of decking the halls, we celebrated by packing laptops, clipboards, measuring tape, and mechanical pencils into our intrepid travel office and driving through the…Read More
Grocery Equipment Valuations
Next time you walk into a grocery store, take a moment to appreciate all the equipment on the sales floor –– from the cantilevered gondola shelves to the automated checkout stands, the food bar, water dispensing machine, and of course, all the refrigerated display cases: enclosed freezers, reach-in refrigerated cases, the open topped freezer boxes…Read More
Appraising Plastics Industry Equipment
Plastics, as a manufacturing industry with its own specialized equipment that needed to be appraised, started to take hold shortly after World War II. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, however, that “modern” plastics really started to come into their own. Nowadays, of course, we’d be hard-pressed imagine a life without plastics;…Read More