Unlevered vs RE Cost Seg
RE Cost Seg is a transparent, STR-native provider with tiered pricing — a questionnaire-based Rapid Report and a fully engineered study with a virtual inspection. Unlevered is a single engineered, deterministic study you can read end to end before you buy. Both are built for short-term rentals; here's how they actually differ.
What RE Cost Seg is good at
RE Cost Seg publishes clear, tiered pricing and is built for residential and short-term rentals. Its Rapid Report (from $950) comes from an online questionnaire with no site visit; its Fully Engineered study (from $2,320) uses a virtual inspection by video call, is engineer-performed, works with your CPA, and includes a fixed-asset schedule. Turnaround is fast — roughly 5 to 20 business days. If you want transparent, tiered pricing and an STR-native provider, RE Cost Seg is a strong, straightforward choice.
RE Cost Seg vs Unlevered, head to head
Every price shown is a figure the provider publishes; where a firm doesn’t publish pricing, it says so. Marketing and performance claims are left off deliberately — this compares what you can verify.
| Criterion | RE Cost Seg | Unlevered |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Rapid Report from an online questionnaire (no site visit); Fully Engineered uses a virtual inspection by video call | Engineered and deterministic — the property is rebuilt from its own source documents, room by room, before anything is estimated |
| Sign-off & audit posture | Engineer-performed; works with your CPA; includes a fixed-asset schedule | Unlevered prepares and signs the engineering study; your CPA is optional and, when involved, remains the sole return preparer |
| Read a real report first? | No ungated public sample — the interactive delivery is gated | Yes — full anonymized studies you can read page by page |
| Turnaround | About 5–20 business days | Engineered, then human-reviewed before delivery |
| Residential / STR price | Rapid Report from $950; Fully Engineered from $2,320 | $5,000 single-unit / $10,000 multifamily, billed to the owner (published) |
| Property fit | Residential and short-term rentals — a tiered choice between a fast questionnaire and a fuller engineered study | Residential rentals and short-term rentals, with the full study readable before you buy |
Figures current as of August 2026; check RE Cost Seg’s site for the latest.
Where Unlevered differs
The honest case for choosing Unlevered over RE Cost Seg — not a claim that it wins on every axis. The table above says where RE Cost Seg is the better fit.
Item-level component pricing, verified against the property's own evidence
RE Cost Seg's Rapid tier estimates from a questionnaire; its engineered tier adds a video-call inspection. Unlevered prices the deduction component by component from a governed cost catalog, verifies each component against the property's own documents and photos, and matches every component to its room. That item-level, evidence-checked build is designed to capture more defensible short-life 5- and 15-year basis than a questionnaire-driven estimate, because the dollars are engineered per component rather than approximated.
The number your CPA can stand behind — with the work shown
Every component classification carries its citation; the study is engineered from the property's own documents and is fully reproducible — the same inputs produce the same study; and it ships with filing-ready workpapers (the §481(a) catch-up, the depreciation schedule, and the fixed-asset schedule) that reconcile to the tax forms. Built to the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide, your CPA can stand behind every number in an audit — and you can read all of it before you buy, which is what a single engineered, signed tier is priced for.
You can read the whole study, not just a gated delivery
Both are STR-friendly, but RE Cost Seg's delivery is interactive and gated — you see it after you engage. Unlevered publishes complete anonymized studies end to end, so you can read the basis walk, the room-by-room reclassification and the depreciation schedule before you decide.
One flat published price, CPA optional
RE Cost Seg's tiered pricing — $950 rapid, $2,320-plus engineered — is genuinely transparent, and for many owners the Rapid Report is the lower-cost path. Unlevered is a single engineered tier at a published $5,000 / $10,000: fewer choices, always the full engineered method. It signs the engineering study and lets you loop your CPA in or not — and when involved, your CPA remains the sole return preparer.
Unlevered’s founder made the case for the deterministic method in Accounting Today: the core calculation must be reproducible from the same inputs, with AI kept to peripheral verification rather than the number itself.
The case study
The difference shows up in a second look.
A client brought us a $3,000 top-down study they no longer trusted. Reverse-engineering it, we found $120,425 it had buried in the 39-year line — a movable gym and sauna that belong in the 5-year class. Across the studies we price component by component, we find roughly 5–15% more in identified deductions than a top-down study. That is what hyper-granular pricing, verification against the property’s own documents, and component-to-room matching buy you — and why an engineered study is worth more than a template estimate.
Read the full case studySee a full engineered sample study
The best way to compare providers is to read one finished study, page by page. These are real, anonymized Unlevered studies — the basis walk, the room-by-room reclassification with citations, and the full depreciation schedule. They’re free to read; tell us where to send them.
The studies are free to read. We’ll only use your email to follow up about a cost segregation study — no spam.
Common questions
- Is RE Cost Seg or Unlevered better for a short-term rental?
- Both are built for short-term rentals. RE Cost Seg gives you a tiered choice — a questionnaire-based Rapid Report from $950 or a fully engineered study from $2,320 with a virtual video inspection — with fast 5–20 business-day turnaround. Unlevered runs one engineered, deterministic study, prices it component by component against the property's own evidence, and lets you read a full anonymized STR study page by page before you buy. If tiered pricing and speed matter most, RE Cost Seg fits; if reading the finished work first and a single engineered method matter most, Unlevered does.
- What's a good RE Cost Seg alternative?
- If you like that RE Cost Seg is STR-native and transparent on price but want to read a complete study before buying and have the provider sign the engineering work, Unlevered is a close alternative — engineered, deterministic, signed, with full anonymized studies published and component-level pricing verified against the property's own documents and photos. Overline is another engineered residential option; the comparison hub covers all three.
- How does Unlevered compare to RE Cost Seg?
- RE Cost Seg offers tiered, published pricing (Rapid Report from $950; Fully Engineered from $2,320), engineer-performed studies with a fixed-asset schedule, and 5–20 business-day turnaround. Unlevered is a single engineered, deterministic tier at a published $5,000 / $10,000, prepared and signed by Unlevered with your CPA optional, and you can read a full anonymized study first. RE Cost Seg wins on tiered price flexibility; Unlevered wins on published transparency and reading the study before you buy.
Compare on the work, not the pitch.
Read a real Unlevered study end to end, or see what your property qualifies for. CPAs and advisors can apply for access.
See what your property qualifies for and read a full sample study.
Refer a client and get filing-ready schedules with audit-ready documentation.