For Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC brick rowhouses. There is no driveway to depreciate, so the study turns on the interior: the finish level, the appliances and the improvements you can document.
Masonry rowhouse cost segregation is an engineering-based study that reclassifies an attached brick house's components out of the default 27.5-year residential schedule into faster 5- and 15-year MACRS classes. The lot is what makes a rowhouse different from a suburban attached house: it fronts directly on the public sidewalk, so there is no driveway and no front yard, and the rear yard is a small patch off an alley or nothing at all. Modeling a rowhouse as a townhome therefore overstates the 15-year land improvements, because it prices a driveway, an irrigation system and a retaining wall the property does not have. With those removed the reclassification is smaller and better supported: measured on matched inputs, a $600,000 Philadelphia rowhouse moves from 10.4% as a townhome to 8.1% as a rowhouse, on the same depreciable basis. What is left concentrates in the removable interior finishes, lighting and appliances, while the load-bearing brick party walls, the stoop, the cornice and the original interior fabric are §1250 building components that stay on the 27.5-year schedule.
Rowhouse cost segregation reclassifies 5–18% of depreciable basis from the 27.5- or 39-year shell into 5-, 7-, and 15-year MACRS classes per 26 U.S.C. § 168 and Rev. Proc. 87-56. Under OBBBA's permanent 100% bonus depreciation (placed-in-service 2025+), reclassified components are deductible in year one. All credible cost-seg providers use the same federal framework — industry-standard 2026 construction cost data, MACRS classification, IRS Audit Techniques Guide (Pub 5653) compliance. What differs across property types is land-allocation share, FF&E weight, and material-participation eligibility under §469. For the general explanation, see what a cost segregation study is and what the report contains.
| Property type | Reclass to 5/7/15-yr | Year-1 federal benefit | Study cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 19–39% | $45K–$280K | From $495 |
| SFR | 8–32% | $16K–$165K | From $495 |
| Condo | 10–19% | $18K–$76K | From $495 |
| Brownstone | 5–20% | $60K–$640K | From $495 |
| Rowhouse this page | 5–18% | $10K–$170K | From $495 |
| Duplex | 8–21% | $19K–$105K | From $995 |
| Fourplex | 14–29% | $56K–$230K | From $995 |
| Office | 16–29% | $84K–$650K | From $995 |
| Retail | 20–37% | $90K–$690K | From $995 |
| Industrial | 15–28% | $78K–$840K | From $2,495 |
| Self-storage | 19–36% | $140K–$1.6M | From $2,495 |
| Medical office | 16–29% | $84K–$540K | From $2,995 |
| Mixed-use | 12–23% | $63K–$515K | From $995 |
| Multifamily | 14–28% | $44K–$200K | From $995 |
| Multifamily 5+ | 14–26% | $110K–$1.0M | From $1,995 |
| Triplex | 8–26% | $25K–$165K | From $995 |
| Restaurant | 16–29% | $72K–$430K | From $2,995 |
| Vet | 19–36% | $85K–$540K | From $2,995 |
| Gym | 21–40% | $110K–$900K | From $2,995 |
| Dealership | 25–47% | $465K–$4.2M | From $2,995 |
| ADU | 7–14% | $8K–$39K | From $495 |
| Commercial | 18–34% | $94K–$765K | From $995 |
| Data center | 43–65% | $2.5M–$29M | $4,995–$54,995 (sub-$100M); $100M+ by proposal |
| Senior living | 21–39% | $315K–$2.3M | By proposal |
| Funeral homes | 18–30% | $135K–$900K | By proposal |
| Child day care | 15–28% | $56K–$630K | From $2,995 |
| Adult day care | 14–26% | $78K–$780K | From $2,995 |
| Church | 10–22% | $37K–$825K | From $2,995 |
| Farm | 8–65%† | $19K–$780K | From $995 |
Reclassification ranges from the bands we publish per property type (measured on our delivered studies where we have enough of a type, modeled elsewhere); Year-1 federal benefit assumes 37% bracket and full first-year usability. Study costs are Cost Seg Smart pricing — comparable engineering studies elsewhere range $5,000–$15,000+. The ADU figure is an ADU acquired with a house; one the owner built or converted is priced on its documented construction cost, from $995. See full provider comparison.
† Farm: the figure is property with a recovery period of 20 years or less, on a farm with one or more rental houses on it. It counts 10- and 20-year property, which no other row has, and its dollar figure is a first-year deduction, not tax saved. A farm is quoted from a list of what is on it; see how.
Illustrative, modeled properties, not client engagements. Estimates assume 37% federal bracket and full first-year usability of the loss (active income offset or REPS). Your actual benefit varies with bracket, basis allocation, and CPA's treatment.
Pre-set to Rowhouse defaults — adjust price + bracket to match your property.
Yes, and the composition is distinctive. The building fronts the public sidewalk, so there is no driveway and the 15-year land improvements are limited to a private walk, a small rear patio and any rear fencing or garden wall. The load-bearing brick party walls carry the structure rather than a frame wall with siding, so the shell takes a larger share of the replacement cost. What is left to reclassify concentrates in the removable interior content: appliances, floor coverings, window treatments and decorative lighting.
Because the site work is not there. A detached-home model assumes a driveway, an irrigation system, front landscaping and often a retaining wall, and all of those are 15-year land improvements. On matched inputs a $600,000 Philadelphia rowhouse studied as a townhome returned 10.4% and studied as a rowhouse returns 8.1%, on exactly the same depreciable basis. The difference is not a smaller deduction we chose; it is a deduction the earlier model was claiming on components the property does not have.
The lot is the same and the cost level is not. A Brooklyn or DC brownstone has a dressed brownstone or limestone facade and a more elaborate interior, and it transacts in a much higher price band, so it is modeled from a higher replacement cost per square foot and has its own page. A Baltimore or Philadelphia brick rowhouse shares the site facts and the load-bearing masonry, at a plainer level of finish. Choosing the right one matters: a rowhouse ordered as a brownstone is priced from the wrong construction model.
Only the rental share. The study allocates the depreciable basis by square footage and states that share separately on the report. Your own unit is personal-use property and gets no depreciation, so the figures relate to the rented portion rather than to the whole purchase price.
No, and the study says so in as many words. The stoop, the cornice, the ornamental plaster, the marble mantels and the pocket doors are §1250 building components recovered over 27.5 years with the building. They are identified in the schedule under the building class so a reviewer can see they were classified rather than missed.
A one-unit rowhouse is priced as a one-unit residential study, from $495 depending on purchase price. A rowhouse divided into two to four units is priced in the 2–4 unit family, even when you occupy one of the units — the study still has to model every unit in the building.
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