Does an equipment valuation include selling and removal costs?

Take the relevant report section and note the following beside it:

• The assets and included items covered by the figure.
• The assumed sale circumstances, including whether removal is required.
• Whether seller fees or other selling expenses have already been reflected.
• How removal, reinstatement or related costs are treated, if relevant.
• Whether the figure includes or excludes VAT, or leaves that treatment unstated.
• Costs or liabilities expressly outside the valuation scope.
• The evidence supporting any cost allowances.

Mark an unclear item as a question for the valuer. Do not insert your preferred assumption to make the budget work.

Suppose an adviser explicitly estimates £10,000 remaining after a stated £1,000 selling charge. Those figures are fictional. Subtracting that same £1,000 again would produce £9,000 for no valid reason.

Conversely, if £10,000 is a figure before that charge, failing to deduct it would overstate the example net proceeds. The arithmetic is easy once the starting point is understood. The mistake is using the same label for two different starting points.

Use the net-proceeds worksheet only after you have identified that basis. It contains the fuller budgeting exercise; this article is about interpreting the opinion you feed into it.

A buyer who must arrange removal may consider that cost when deciding what to offer. A seller may also have separately agreed site work to fund. Avoid subtracting a buyer's whole cost from a valuation if the opinion already reflects the assumed removal sale.

The in-place and removal valuation guide explains that premise question. Ask the valuer and sale adviser how the proposed transaction allocates the work and how the figure reflects it.

Keep VAT separate unless its treatment is explicit. HMRC's VAT guide explains why business asset disposals can raise VAT obligations, but your accountant must assess the actual transaction.

Read the assumptions guide and keep any written clarification with the report. If the figure is an auction estimate, remember the difference between estimate, reserve and hammer price as well.

Ask UK Auction Group to identify the basis of its proposed estimate or valuation and the costs outside it. You can then compare offers and plan cash using the same understood starting point.

Explore the valuations guides.

Professional reference: RICS.