A Fee Structure That Actually Scales
The property tax consulting industry has charged a flat 25% contingency fee for decades — regardless of property size, tax liability, or the actual work involved. We think that's broken. SVA was founded on a different model.
The Industry Has Changed. Pricing Hasn't.
The flat 25% contingency made some sense decades ago. Assessment work was uniformly labor-intensive, technology was limited, and the property tax burden was more evenly distributed across taxpayers.
Today, none of that holds. Industry consolidation has reduced competition. Technology has made our work dramatically more efficient.
Yet contingency fees haven't moved. Property tax has gotten more concentrated, more efficient to consult on, and more lucrative for firms — while taxpayers continue to pay the same flat 25% they paid in 2005. And the flat rate hides its worst behavior at the top: a quarter of every dollar saved is a tolerable fee on a $60,000 win — and a $750,000 windfall on a $3 million one, for what is substantially the same work.
We built SVA around the idea that the model needs an update. Two principles guide our fees: scale should benefit the taxpayer, not just the consultant — and fees should reflect the work performed, never the windfall delivered.
Estimate Your Potential Savings
A 60-second estimate of what an appeal could be worth — and what you'd keep with SVA versus a standard 25% firm.
The Contingency Fee Matrix
Our contingency rate decreases as a property's tax liability grows. Larger and higher-taxed properties pay a lower rate — because a fair fee should reflect the full picture, not just the savings number.
| Property Tax Liability | SVA Rate | Industry Standard | You Keep More per $1M of tax savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 — $200K | 20% | 25% | +$50,000 |
| $200K — $500K | 18% | 25% | +$70,000 |
| $500K — $750K | 15% | 25% | +$100,000 |
| $750K — $1M | 12% | 25% | +$130,000 |
| $1M — $2M | 10% | 25% | +$150,000 |
| $2M+ | 8% | 25% | +$170,000 |
The "You Keep More" figure shows the additional savings you retain for every $1,000,000 of tax savings, versus the industry-standard flat 25%. The applicable rate is set by the property's annual tax liability tier — and at institutional scale, the difference is not a discount. It's the fee.
What This Looks Like in Dollars
At every liability tier, our matrix delivers materially lower fees than the industry standard. The larger the property, the more you keep.
The institutional math
An extra point of fee is noise on a small engagement. At portfolio scale it is the entire negotiation: on a $15M combined annual liability, a 12% average reduction produces $3.6M of savings across the two-year cycle. The flat-fee model takes $900,000 of it. Ours takes $288,000 — for the same filings, the same hearings, the same result.
And appeals recur. Over three assessment cycles, that single fee difference compounds past $1.8 million — capital that stays in the portfolio, not in the consultant's pocket. Portfolios with aggregate liability above these tiers price on custom terms, always below the matrix.
Fees That Reflect the Work — Not the Windfall
Property tax appeals can produce extraordinary outcomes — sometimes from a single corrected square-footage figure or one reclassified asset. Under the industry's flat 25%, the larger and easier the win, the bigger the windfall the consultant collects.
Our matrix is built to prevent exactly that. The larger your tax bill, the lower our rate falls — to as little as 8%. The fee scales down precisely where the old model lets it balloon, so a major reduction never turns into a windfall fee. In dollars: on a $3 million savings outcome, the flat model collects $750,000; ours collects $240,000. The work was the same.
That's the fairness principle in practice: you keep the overwhelming majority of every dollar we recover, and the biggest wins are charged the least.
Aligned by design
We only earn when you save — and the more you save, the smaller our share. No minimums, no retainers, no windfalls.
FAQ
Curious what your fee would actually be?
Tell us about your property and we'll walk you through what an SVA engagement would cost — and what you'd save versus the industry standard. No commitment, no pressure.