Terms

Engagements

• Every engagement is confirmed in a written letter, before any work begins, stating what will be examined, what the report is for, who may rely on it, which definition of value applies, which form the report takes, and the fee.
• Half the estimated fee is due on signature, which holds the dates. Engagements are scheduled in the order letters are signed.
• Where a deadline requires displacing work already scheduled, the rush premium on the fee schedule applies.
• A day reserved for testimony or for travel outside the city is not resold if the matter settles.
• Where an assignment turns out to be larger than the letter contemplated, the change is agreed in writing before the additional work begins.

Fees

• No fee is based to any extent on a value reached. The professional standards prohibit it, and the Treasury regulations prohibit it separately for appraisals supporting a charitable contribution.
• No commission, no consignment, no brokerage, and no share of any sale price.
• No referral fees, paid or received: not from any auction house, gallery, dealer, or conservator, and not from the appraisers we recommend.
• Materealist, the photography studio the practice partners with, is a family company in which the practice's principal also holds a sales role. Its invoices reach you at cost all the same, photography is never a condition of any engagement, and no appraisal fee or conclusion is affected by whether it is commissioned.
• Rates are reviewed annually and held for the duration of any engagement already agreed.
• The retainer rate is the one figure not published. It depends on the monthly commitment and is set in the engagement letter.

Independence

Property is appraised here and owners are advised on selling. In most hands those two sit in tension, and the terms above keep them apart.

• No interest in acquiring, selling, or holding any property appraised here.
• Appraisal and sale advice are separate engagements with separate letters, and the appraisal fee is unaffected by whether a sale happens or at what price.
• Prior services on the same property within the past three years are disclosed before a new assignment involving that property is accepted, as the standards require.

Any item on this page can be confirmed in writing before an engagement begins.

What a report may be used for

The standards allow two written report forms. A full written report sets out the reasoning and may be relied on by the users it names. A shorter report states the conclusions, keeps most of the reasoning on file, and may be relied on only by the users named in it, which suits a private decision rather than a filing.

An oral opinion of value is developed to the same standards, with a written summary kept on file. The practice does not use an oral opinion for a filing, a claim, or a court; where another party must rely on the value, a written report is scoped separately.

A report is prepared for one stated purpose and one stated effective date. A figure developed for insurance does not transfer to a tax return, and a report prepared for one party does not become another party's to rely on.

Confidentiality and the file

Your results, and anything you identify as confidential, go to you and to those you authorize, and to nobody else outside narrow legal exceptions. Past assignments are never used as marketing material.

Behind every report a file of the evidence and the analysis exists before the report is issued, and it is kept, confidentially, for at least five years. It is why a report can defend itself years later.

Who develops the work

Assignments draw on designated specialists for categories outside the practice's own, the photography studio that shoots on site, and the conservators and registrars a project requires. Each signs or invoices for their own work, and every role is named in the engagement letter.

One thing stays singular. An appraisal is developed by a named appraiser who certifies that the analysis, the opinions, and the conclusions are their own work. That is what the standards require, and it is why a report carries a signature rather than a letterhead.

Published figures

Figures on this site that we do not set, such as other appraisers' rates, are collected from published sources and rechecked on a schedule. None is a quote, and any of them can move.

Not advice

Nothing on this website is an appraisal, a valuation, tax advice, or legal advice. A value can be established only in a report prepared for a stated purpose and a named reader. Which rules apply to your situation is a question for your attorney or your accountant.