Commercial cost segregation across greater Houston.
For commercial and multifamily property from the Port and the Grand Parkway to the Texas Medical Center and the Energy Corridor, our team prepares the study from your records, your photos and, when it would improve the study, a video walkthrough of the property with you at no charge. Most commercial studies are delivered within about two weeks.
Cost segregation for Houston commercial property
Houston is one of the country's deepest commercial real estate markets, and its property types reward an engineered cost segregation study differently than most metros. The Port of Houston and the Grand Parkway anchor a vast distribution base, the Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex in the world, the Energy Corridor concentrates energy-tech and testing tenants, and decades of no-zoning, low-cost land have produced an enormous stock of garden-style apartments. Two Houston facts tend to move the numbers across all of them: land is often cheaper here, so a larger share of the purchase price is depreciable building and improvements rather than land; and after Hurricane Harvey, stricter on-site stormwater detention rules mean Houston sites carry more detention, drainage and paving — components generally treated as shorter-life land improvements.
A cost segregation study identifies the parts of a property that qualify for 5-, 7- or 15-year depreciation instead of the default 39 years (or 27.5 for residential rental), moving deductions earlier in your ownership. On Houston commercial and industrial property, the components that carry the most value — detention and site work, dock and process equipment, and medical and testing build-out — are the ones hardest to see in a closing file, which is why we walk the property with you on a video call when it would improve the study. Most studies are delivered within about two weeks once we have your records.
Find your market and property type
Warehouse & logistics
Port-of-Houston and Grand Parkway distribution — truck courts, dock equipment, heavy power, and the on-site detention and drainage that Houston's stormwater rules make a large 15-year bucket.
Medical & research
The world's largest medical complex and the TMC3 life-science district — exam and lab casework, medical-gas and imaging power, specialty HVAC, and the tenant build-out that carries the value.
Multifamily
Garden-style complexes across the metro — surface parking and carports, pools and amenity decks, landscaping and detention: on a Houston apartment, much of the value is in the site.
Industrial, flex & R&D
West Houston energy, oilfield-services and testing tenants — specialty and high-amp power, process piping, lab and testing casework, and the heavy interior build-out that carries the value.
Illustrative renders of the property types we study across greater Houston, not photographs of specific projects.
What a Houston commercial study looks like
Representative engine outputs on modeled buildings — "accelerated" is the share of depreciable basis moved into 5-, 7- and 15-year property instead of the 39- or 27.5-year class. Lower Texas land shares tend to lift these figures. Your result depends on the property; each page shows the full component detail behind its number.
Common accelerated assets on a Houston commercial property
Before we ask for anything, here is the kind of component an engineered study separates out and reclassifies — much of it outdoors on a Houston site, and much of it invisible in a closing file:
- Truck courts & loading docks
- Parking lots, drives & paving
- Detention basins & storm drainage
- Site & yard lighting
- Fencing, gates & bollards
- Monument & site signage
- Irrigation & landscaping
- Security & low-voltage systems
- Dedicated equipment power
- Tenant improvements & finishes
How the virtual site visit works
On Houston commercial property the components that carry the most value, such as truck courts and dock equipment, on-site detention and drainage, medical and lab build-out, and the surface parking, carports and site work that define a garden apartment, are the ones a closing file never captures. When a walkthrough would improve the study, we do it with you on a video call, about 30 to 45 minutes, at no charge. Our team decides when it would help; it is not something you need to order.
Here is what happens: you walk the property with your phone while our analyst directs the camera to the components that matter, and our team prepares your study from that walkthrough together with your records and photos. Most commercial studies are delivered within about two weeks once we have your records. An in-person visit is available by quote; see how site visits work. Where records already support the components at issue, our remote engagement model applies and costs less.
How the engagement works
Ready to scope your building?
Tell us the property type, address, and basis. We generally return a written scope and quote within one business day — or call the office at (213) 444-2776.