Equipment Appraisal Blog | Understanding Machinery Appraisals

Equipment Appraisals: Fair Market Value-Installed vs Fair Market Value

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Mon, May 31, 2021 @ 08:00 AM

Equipment Appraisal Fair Market Value Installed

In our last post, we discussed the most commonly used value definitions specific to bank financing and equipment leasing. In this installment, we are focusing on internal reasons for obtaining an appraisal, such as accounting, tax, and insurance compliance requirements.

Depending on the industry you work within, certain machinery & equipment can be large and complex, involving significant investments outside of the pure “hard cost” of the assets. These expenses include shipping, construction, installation, custom build-outs, and operator training, simply to get the equipment up and running.

For these reasons, the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) developed a definition of value to consider these costs as part of the overall capitalized value of the machinery. This expanded definition is called Fair Market Value-Installed and is similar to Fair Market Value with certain considerations added.

Here are the two definitions side by side, for comparison:

Fair Market Value (FMV)

Fair Market Value is an opinion expressed in terms of money, at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts, as of a specific date.

Fair Market Value-Installed

Fair Market Value-Installed is an opinion, expressed in terms of money, at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts, independent of earnings generated by the business in which the property is or will be installed, as of a specific date.

The highlighted words in the expanded definition are what allows the appraiser to include expenses, commonly referred to as “soft costs”, as a complement to the actual purchase price of the equipment. These additional investments will add value as part of the overall asset, as long as it remains installed, which is a consideration when valuing for any internal business purpose specific to your company.

Most machinery-intensive industrial manufacturing facilities and large process production plants will see these types of costs associated with their equipment. The requirements necessary to ship large assets, often overseas, add extra foundations to safely install the equipment on the facility floor, the electrical, plumbing, and process piping needed to work with the equipment, and paying the manufacturer representatives for weeks of on-site training, are some of these costs that can be capitalized as part of the overall value of the assets.

Not every business has equipment with high installation costs associated with it, but if yours does, don’t forget to consider these additional investments as part of the overall value when working on internal compliance projects related to accounting, tax, and insurance.

Tags: accredited appraisers, fair market value, Machinery & Equipment Appraisals, fair market value - installed

How do Banks and Leasing Companies Measure Equipment Value?

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Mon, May 17, 2021 @ 08:00 AM

Equipment Appraisal Financing Leasing

In a recent blog post in early May, we talked about the many reasons a company will need to obtain an updated equipment appraisal to get the most out of a business goal or requirement. One of the primary issues we discussed pertained to traditional bank financing and equipment leasing.

The next step in understanding how these appraisals can work best for your business, we will need to see through the eyes of your bank and leasing company as they determine the right level of value to consider when making investment decisions.

Here are the most commonly utilized values and their American Society of Appraisers (ASA) definitions.

Fair Market Value (FMV)

Fair Market Value is an opinion expressed in terms of money, at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts, as of a specific date.

Orderly Liquidation Value (OLV)

Orderly Liquidation Value is an opinion of the gross amount, expressed in terms of money, that typically could be realized from a liquidation sale, given a reasonable period of time to find a purchaser (or purchasers), with the seller being compelled to sell on an as-is, where-is basis, as of a specific date.

Forced Liquidation Value (FLV)

Forced Liquidation Value is an opinion of the gross amount, expressed in terms of money, that typically could be realized from a properly advertised and conducted public auction, with the seller being compelled to sell with a sense of immediacy on an as-is, where-is basis, as of a specific date.

When any type of financing or leasing is involved, these parties may independently determine which value they would prefer to weigh, and in many cases, they look at all three. Every private and government-owned (ex.: SBA) financial institution has its own internal policies to abide by. What we most commonly see when appraisals pertain to bank financing is that Orderly Liquidation Value tends to be the primary focus. A lot of banks also have percentage tables they are willing to lend from, such as 70% of Fair Market Value or 80% of Orderly Liquidation, for example.

Equipment leasing companies may take a slightly more aggressive stance on valuing machinery & equipment as they are technically the owners of the assets and may have more extensive experience and knowledge in certain industries. A “sale-leaseback” is a common term where the business purchases your assets and leases them back to you under a monthly rental payment plan. This sale may be completed at Fair Market Value and, to offset their potential investment risk, they might collect a security deposit or similar resource as “additional collateral” in the transaction. Any sale back to the business at the end of the lease term is almost always at Fair Market Value.

In any of these cases, I would suggest having the appraiser estimate both FMV & OLV and try to avoid FLV, as this value is akin to an auction, which is at a lower value level, and doesn’t pertain to an ongoing business where your machinery & equipment is hard at work. And as always, ensure the appraiser you hire is accredited by the ASA.

Tags: equipment leasing, equipment valuation, Machinery & Equipment Appraisals, financing

Effective Age vs. Chronological Age with Machinery & Equipment

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Mon, May 03, 2021 @ 08:00 AM

Machinery and Equipment Effective Chronological Age

Image source: FNQ at en.wikipedia license

When you are considering buying, selling, investing in, or financing machinery & equipment, the age of the assets will play an important role in determining the fair market value and ultimately, the price you are willing to pay or accept for it.

Useful Life

The useful life of equipment is generally considered just a guideline that estimates when the asset would need to either retire from service or need refurbishing and reinvestment to prolong its life. Many factors can affect this estimate such as usage, maintenance, technology, and overall manufacturing quality.

Chronological Age

The chronological age of machinery & equipment is simply calculated from the date of its original manufacturing to the effective date you are considering, usually a current date. So, as an example, if a used Caterpillar excavator was originally built in 2011 and you want to purchase it today, the chronological age of that asset would be 10 years.

Effective Age

Using that same example, over the 10 year period from 2011-2021, the specific Caterpillar excavator you’re looking to purchase, sell or finance, will have a certain number of hours logged, will have a specific prior sales history (1 owner or multiple), been under a good or not so good maintenance program each year and possibly had certain major components replaced over that time.

All of these factors will play a part in considering an adjustment to the chronological age which would create a more realistic effective age.

If the excavator was only used 1,000 hours per year, that might be construed as half or even less than normal usage, while being maintained on a daily basis. On the flip side, if the machine had over 20,000 hours on it with no component replacements over the 10 year period, you would take a hard look at what would need to be invested into it to bring the machine into good operating condition and extend its life.

In many industries, you will see certain types of equipment originally manufactured decades ago while still in good operating condition. These machines have likely not been affected by changes in technology and have been well maintained with component parts replaced as needed over their lifetime.

There are also plenty of examples of machinery in heavy usage environments such as mining and aggregate, that well exceed normal operating hours which could have an adverse effect on value. However, as long as these machines are well maintained with components replaced as needed, these assets are durably built and designed to last a long time.

In summary, effective age is an important component to understanding machinery & equipment value. While it is a subjective estimate based on a number of variables, it provides a working guideline to appraising and ultimately understanding what you should be buying and selling these assets for at any given time.

Tags: effective age, Machinery & Equipment Appraisals, useful life, chronological age