Summary
Engineered cost segregation studies are priced for buildings, and they are seldom economic on a single rental house. That leaves most of a small practice's rental-owning clients with no study at all. Per-study pricing and same-hour delivery change the arithmetic: a study on a long-term or short-term rental can be offered at a fee the client accepts, reviewed in the preparer's own time, and repeated on each acquisition. This paper sets out where the demand sits in an existing client base, works through the economics with round numbers, and is specific about which properties belong in-house and which should be referred out.
The demand is already in the file drawer
The clients are the ones whose returns the firm already prepares. Owners of long-term rentals depreciating the whole purchase price over 27.5 years. Owners of furnished short-term rentals (STRs) with an average customer stay of seven days or less, where the building is nonresidential at 39 years and the furnishings and equipment qualify for 5-year treatment. Business owners who hold the small building their company operates from. Clients who bought or renovated in the past few years and never segregated.
Two features of current law make the demand recurring rather than one-time. The 2025 budget reconciliation law (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) made 100% bonus depreciation permanent for qualifying property acquired after January 19, 2025, so every new acquisition carries a first-year deduction proportional to the reclassified basis. And a property placed in service in a prior year can be studied now: the preparer files Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, and takes the catch-up as a §481(a) adjustment in the year of change without amending prior returns. That look-back option applies to a large share of any rental portfolio.
Per-study economics
SegFlow charges per study, with no subscription and no tiers.
| Study type | Price | From the sixth paid study on the account |
|---|---|---|
| Residential, one to four units, including short-term rentals | $299 | $249 |
| Light commercial and multifamily: five or more units, or a small office, retail, warehouse, flex or medical building | $699 | $649 |
| Large or specialized commercial (above 50 units or $10 million of basis), or more than about 25 studies a year | Talk to us | Talk to us |
The first study is half price with a code, for either type, on request by email to admin@segflowai.com.
An illustrative year, with round numbers and not a client result. A three-preparer firm identifies 30 long-term and short-term rentals among its clients and completes a study on each during the year. Platform cost is the first five paid studies at $299 and the next twenty-five at $249, $7,720 in total. Review time averages an hour and a half per study, 45 hours for the year. If the firm bills $600 per study, inclusive of the review and the depreciation schedule update, gross fees are $18,000 against $7,720 of platform cost and 45 hours of professional time, about $230 per hour of review after the platform. The fee is the firm's decision. The arithmetic still works at a lower fee on residential volume, and at a higher one where the firm also prepares the Form 3115 for a look-back. A light commercial study on a 12-unit building at $699 follows the same pattern at a higher fee.
Those 30 studies were not going to an engineering firm at any price. They were going unstudied.
Which studies belong in-house
The study is a detailed workpaper produced from documents and images for the licensed preparer's review and signature. It is not an engineered site-visit study and carries no engineer's signature. That boundary defines the scope.
In-house: one-to-four-unit rentals, furnished STRs, small multifamily, and small commercial buildings with a clean closing statement, an assessor record and a full set of photos. These properties have modest basis, repeating component types and a predictable reclassifiable range, and the preparer already holds the client's facts.
Refer out: property above 50 units or $10 million of basis, industrial or process-heavy buildings, properties where an examination is under way or expected, and cases where the client wants an engineer's signature on the study. For those, an engineered study is the appropriate instrument, and the fee it commands reflects the site work it includes.
The firm that draws that line in its engagement letter has a service it can defend. The one that does not has a liability it cannot price.
Engagement mechanics
Three documents carry the service. The engagement letter states that the study is prepared with software assistance from owner-supplied documents and images, that no site inspection is performed, that the preparer reviews and signs, and that the deductibility of any resulting loss depends on the passive activity rules of IRC (Internal Revenue Code) §469. The owner photo checklist goes to the client by email; there is no client portal, so the owner replies with photos and the preparer uploads them. The review notes for the CPA (certified public accountant) that arrive with the study become part of the firm's workpapers, with the preparer's response to each verify item written beside it.
Before the study runs, the intake card shows what the uploads support, the assumptions that will be made, and the two or three questions that change the result. One update is included after delivery, when the preparer adds documents, photos or comments; version 2 arrives with a page describing what changed and why. There is no third run, and the ledger is edited in Excel or Word after download, so final judgments live in the firm's file.
The client experience
The owner is asked for a closing statement, an assessor printout and a set of phone photos against a checklist. The preparer uploads, confirms the intake card, and downloads the PDF (Portable Document Format) study, the Word version and the Excel ledger in under an hour. The client sees a study delivered on the firm's schedule, explained by the person who prepares the return, with the first-year deduction stated with and without the study on the first page. There is no engineering firm in the conversation and no multi-week wait. Questions go to admin@segflowai.com and are answered within one business day.
What this means for your firm
The opportunity is not a new client base. It is the rental properties already in your returns. The economics do not depend on high fees, because the platform cost per study is small and the professional time is review time you control. The risk is managed by scope: small properties in-house, large or contested ones referred to an engineered study, and an engagement letter that says which is which. Run a first study at half price with a code on a client whose property you know well, read the review notes, and decide from your own workpaper whether the service belongs in your practice.