What are the typical fees?
| Engagement | Typical fee |
|---|---|
| SIRS, one building of three habitable stories or morePer building. Oceanfront towers, garages and long component lists sit at the top or above it. | $5,000 to $16,500+ |
| Full reserve study, high-rise condominiumEvery common component, not only the SIRS items, with a 30-year funding plan. | $7,000 to $15,000+ |
| Full reserve study, 50 to 150 units, low or mid-riseGarden-style and mid-rise buildings off the water. | $2,000 to $8,000 |
| Full reserve study, under 50 unitsFew amenities, one or two buildings. | $1,500 to $5,000 |
| Update with a site visitThe provider walks the property again and resets remaining lives. | roughly two thirds of a full study, give or take |
| Update without a site visitNumbers refreshed from the last report; not enough on its own for a SIRS cycle. | often under $1,000 |
Typical ranges, rounded: a guide, not a quote. Nobody official publishes reserve study prices, and the ranges are not Miami-specific; towers here tend to sit in the upper half. Below, CAI's standards are referenced for one thing: the difference between the levels of study.
Why do Miami buildings cost more?
The fee follows the hours a provider spends on site and at the desk, and Miami's building stock adds hours in predictable places.
- Height and facade area. Every floor adds windows, sliders, balcony edges and stucco to inspect and to cost. A 30-story tower is not ten times a 3-story building, but it is several times the work.
- Salt air. Oceanfront and bayfront buildings on Collins Avenue, Brickell Bay Drive or Key Biscayne carry more concrete spalling, rebar corrosion and coating wear, which means more components with short remaining lives.
- Parking garages. Podium and underground garages bring slabs, post-tensioning, waterproofing and drainage, all inside the SIRS.
- Several buildings. A SIRS is per building. A complex with three mid-rise buildings usually pays for three inspections, priced with a discount if they are alike.
- Records. A board that hands over drawings, past studies, the milestone report and repair invoices gets a faster and cheaper study than one where the provider has to reconstruct the building's history.
SIRS alone, or SIRS plus a full study?
A SIRS on its own meets the statute but leaves elevators, the pool, the lobby and the air conditioning plant out of the reserve schedule. Many boards in Miami now order a combined report: the SIRS items as the law requires, plus every other component, from one site visit. A combined engagement usually costs less than buying the two separately, and it gives the budget committee one funding plan instead of two that disagree.
How should the board compare proposals?
- Ask every provider to quote the same scope: SIRS only, or SIRS plus full study, and how many buildings.
- Check who signs. The statute accepts a Florida engineer or architect, or an analyst with one of the two named national credentials (Fla. Stat. 718.112(2)(g)).
- Ask what level of service you are buying. The CAI standards separate a full study with a site visit from updates with and without one.
- Ask for the turnaround from site visit to draft, and whether a revision after board questions is included.
- Ask whether the provider would also want the repair work. As we read the 2025 law, a SIRS preparer should not take it; confirm with the association's attorney.
Updates between full studies are cheaper, and CAI's standards regard a fresh walk-through every three years or so as good practice. The SIRS itself only has to be redone every 10 years, but the budget it feeds changes every year.