Cost segregation offers property owners a powerful tax strategy: by analyzing building components like fixtures, wiring, and flooring, it identifies assets that can be depreciated much faster than the building structure, often significantly reducing taxable income. Yet, conducting these detailed studies traditionally has been slow, expensive, and reliant on manual processes. CPA and software veteran Greg DiNardo recognized the need for a better way, co-founding SegTax in November 2023. His mission is clear: leverage accessible technology like Polycam to deliver faster, more affordable, and highly accurate cost segregation services.

"We felt we had to build something," DiNardo shares, reflecting on the market shifts. "Our aim is to automate about 80% of the cost segregation process. This elevates our skilled professionals, freeing them from tedious data collection and manual processes so they can transition from manual 'doers' to efficient 'reviewers' focused on high-value analysis and expert oversight."

The Burden of Traditional Cost Segregation

Historically, performing a cost segregation study has been a labor-intensive and costly affair. It demanded that engineers or CPAs physically travel to each property, equipped with little more than a tape measure, camera, and notepad. Documenting a building involved hours of meticulous manual measurements and photo-taking – often 4 to 8 hours on-site, not counting travel time.

"Collecting detailed measurements and asset information required someone on-site," explains DiNardo. This manual approach was not just slow; it was susceptible to errors. "With multiple properties, recalling exact details accurately from notes and photos alone becomes challenging, risking missed data or inconsistencies." Forgetting even one measurement could mean an expensive return trip.

The inefficiency extended beyond the site visit. Back in the office, the team faced the painstaking task of translating handwritten notes and correlating photos with cost estimation databases like RSMeans. This involved manually looking up costs for hundreds of components, from flooring types to light fixtures, then meticulously entering this data into spreadsheets for calculation – a process ripe for transcription errors and consuming dozens of hours. Consequently, traditional studies could easily cost over $10,000 and stretch over weeks or months.

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Finding an Accessible, Data-Rich Solution in Polycam

SegTax needed a way to capture accurate, comprehensive property data digitally, bypassing the manual bottlenecks. The increasing availability of LiDAR scanners on standard devices like iPhones presented a possibility, but they needed the right software partner. "The technology has been getting better and better, more reliable, more accurate," DiNardo notes.

After evaluating about ten providers, Polycam emerged as the clear choice. "When evaluating solutions, Polycam impressed us with the quality of its scan outputs, the speed of processing, and its intuitive user experience," DiNardo recalls. Most importantly, Polycam provided the crucial data backbone SegTax required. "Being able to export detailed measurements and asset data directly from Polycam into our software was honestly the number one driver for choosing them." Unlike other solutions with prohibitive per-scan or area-based pricing, Polycam’s subscription model aligned perfectly with SegTax's scalable approach. From its inception, SegTax integrated Polycam into its core workflow.

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Streamlining Studies with LiDAR Scans and Smart Data

SegTax utilizes Polycam's Space Mode on LiDAR-equipped iPhones to conduct all interior property scans. In about one to two hours – a 75% time reduction on-site compared to traditional methods – they capture a detailed, dimensionally accurate 3D model and floor plan, eliminating the need for manual measuring and note-taking entirely.

The true efficiency gains occur post-scan. SegTax exports comprehensive data directly from Polycam's Spatial Reports – square footages, linear measurements for items like cabinetry, window dimensions, and automatically identifies assets such as appliances. "Polycam provides a great output of the measurements," DiNardo states, "...vital for us to input that into our software and automate a lot of the cost segregation process." "With Polycam," he adds, "you can literally just go back to your desk and you have the entire property right there at your fingertips – a complete digital record."

While SegTax's software automates much of the data processing and analysis, an expert performs a crucial review step comparing the visual Polycam scan with the exported data. This allows them to accurately identify specific materials – distinguishing, for instance, between standard carpeting and vinyl plank flooring – ensuring correct classification for depreciation calculations. This human oversight ensures accuracy, enhanced by Polycam's detailed visuals, a step SegTax plans to further streamline with machine learning.

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Delivering Measurable Value

By integrating Polycam and automating heavily, SegTax dramatically reduces the manual effort involved, allowing them to offer studies at approximately one-third the cost of traditional providers. This makes the benefits of cost segregation accessible to a much broader range of property owners. Furthermore, eliminating the need for expensive, time-consuming travel for primary data collection enables SegTax to serve clients nationwide efficiently.

Accuracy and documentation see a significant upgrade. "Traditional methods have a human error component baked in," says DiNardo. "Polycam helps eliminate a lot of that, ensuring the data we capture is accurate from the start." The Polycam scan serves as an accurate digital record of the property at the time of the study. "If an audit were to ever happen years down the line, you have this amazing Polycam documentation showing the property in the exact state it was during the study," DiNardo explains, minimizing ambiguity and providing robust support.

Clients receive faster results through a less intrusive process, enjoy significant cost savings, and gain peace of mind from the high-fidelity digital documentation.

Future Vision: Beyond Cost Segregation

SegTax is well on its way to achieving 80-90% automation for most studies, targeting a total report generation time of just 3-5 hours, compared to the 30-50 hours common traditionally. Polycam remains central to this vision, especially with future AI integration for tasks like material identification.

DiNardo sees the potential extending even further. "We see cost segregation as our entry point. The way we leverage Polycam's LiDAR data opens doors to applying a similar automated approach to other real estate tax strategies and potentially serving entirely new markets."

SegTax exemplifies how innovative startups can leverage accessible, powerful tools like Polycam to modernize established industries. By automating tedious processes, they empower experts, deliver exceptional value, and redefine efficiency in real estate tax services.

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