Equipment Appraiser Qualifications
Heavy Equipment Appraisal is led by Rhett Crites, CMEA, CAGA. The firm has been signing USPAP-compliant heavy equipment valuation reports for lenders, attorneys, CPAs, insurance carriers, business owners, and government buyers since 2009.
The credentials below answer the questions a credit committee, defense attorney, IRS reviewer, or business buyer typically asks before relying on a report.
Who Signs the Reports?
Rhett Crites, founder and principal heavy equipment appraiser of HeavyEquipmentAppraisal.com.
Designations:
- Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser (CMEA) from NEBB Institute
- Certified Personal Property Appraiser from the Certified Appraisers Guild of America (CAGA)
USPAP-compliant. Recognized as an IRS Qualified Appraiser for Form 8283, estate, and charitable contribution work.
What is a CMEA, and what does it cover?
CMEA stands for Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser, the machinery-and-equipment-specific designation issued by NEBB Institute. It is the credential business owners, lenders, CPAs, attorneys, courts, and insurance adjusters call on when they need a substantiated machinery and equipment value.
To earn the CMEA, an appraiser completes NEBB Institute’s intensive training program, passes a comprehensive written examination, and prepares a sample appraisal report that is peer-reviewed by two Certified Appraisers and the Institute’s Peer Review Committee. CMEAs attend annual refresher courses, complete required continuing education, and are bound by the ethics rule of USPAP.
The designation matters when the report leaves the appraiser’s hands. A credit committee, an SBA reviewer, an underwriter, or opposing counsel needs to know what standard the report was written to before they can rely on it.
What is the CAGA Designation?
CAGA stands for the Certified Appraisers Guild of America. Accreditation requires coursework, continuing education, and standards exams, and it binds the appraiser to USPAP. CAGA-accredited appraisers are recognized as IRS Qualified Appraisers, which is the standard required for non-cash charitable contributions on Form 8283, estate work, and other tax-related filings.
What Does USPAP-Compliant Mean?
The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice are the national standards every certified appraiser is required to follow. USPAP governs report scope, methodology, ethics, and disclosure. When an SBA reviewer asks what standard a report was written to, USPAP is the answer. USPAP compliance is also a condition of IRS Qualified Appraiser recognition.
What Credentials and Standards Back the Reports?
Heavy Equipment Appraisal reports are prepared in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), published by The Appraisal Foundation, and signed by Rhett Crites, CMEA, CAGA.
Rhett holds the Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraiser (CMEA) designation through NEBB Institute and the CAGA designation from the Certified Appraisers Guild of America.
How Long Has the Firm Been Operating?
Since 2009. HeavyEquipmentAppraisal.com has been the firm’s home and the category-defining .com for heavy equipment valuation for more than fifteen years.
Operating record across that history:
- 206,060+ individual equipment units appraised
- All 50 U.S. markets served
- Engagement mix of roughly 44% desktop, 56% on-site, and 35% rush
- Perfect five-star Google rating maintained continuously since opening
The length of the record matters because review-pressure work depends on a pattern of reports that have already been read and accepted by tough reviewers.
What Kinds of Equipment and Assignments Has the Firm Handled?
Representative work, by category:
- Contractor fleets and single-unit construction equipment: excavators, dozers, loaders, skid steers, compactors
- Trucks and transportation equipment: semi-trucks, dump trucks, grain haulers, vocational trucks
- Farm equipment, including a recent 90-piece collateral schedule for SBA financing
- Aggregate, mining, and landfill equipment, including a recent landfill compactor purchase decision supported for White County, Tennessee
- Oilfield and energy equipment across the Permian and Eagle Ford regions
- Specialty assets, including a recent valuation of a 330 dredge barge near Lamar, Colorado that required boat access to inspect
- Multi-unit partner buyout and dissolution schedules of up to 150 units
Common purposes:
- SBA 7(a) and 504 collateral
- Asset-based lending
- IRS Form 8283
- Estate
- Divorce and partnership dissolution
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Insurance loss appraisals
- Litigation/Legal support
Has the Firm Served As An Expert Witness?
Yes, here’s a representative example:
In late 2016, defense counsel Kristin Cummings of Zelle LLP retained the firm to provide equipment-valuation expert testimony in a Colorado roof-collapse insurance matter for ARCH Insurance Group and adjuster Engle Martin & Associates. The underlying appraisal concluded an Actual Cash Value of $148,350 and a salvage value of $28,000 plus scrap on machine-shop equipment and electric forklifts damaged in a Roswell, New Mexico facility loss.
Expert witness retention is a different kind of credential proof than a wall designation. Opposing counsel chose not to challenge the appraiser’s qualifications.
What Is an Independent Equipment Appraiser?
Heavy Equipment Appraisal does not buy or sell equipment, does not operate an auction house, and does not accept assignments where the value has been pre-decided.
The credential bodies require independence as a condition of accreditation. The practice would hold that position regardless.
What Professional Organizations Is the Firm Affiliated With?
- Turnaround Management Association (TMA), the global membership organization for restructuring and distressed-asset professionals. Relevant for partner buyouts, liquidation valuations, and equipment-heavy businesses in workout situations.
- SBA-recognized appraiser for collateral support on 7(a) and 504 equipment files.
- Bylined author at Academia.edu, where I published “Equipment Appraisal 101: 5 Steps to Machinery and Equipment Valuation” back in 2015.
How Can Your Credentials Be Verified?
- CAGA: Certified Appraisers Guild Appraiser search
- CMEA: NEBB Institute member directory
- Certified Equipment Appraiser Directory: Equipment Appraisal Near Me Directory search
- USPAP: Appraisal Institute
- IRS Qualified Appraiser standard: https://appraisalfoundation.sharefile.com/share/view/se88e19d655740efb
Proof / Case Results / Testimonials
Our equipment appraisal reports don’t just check a box, they get used in real decisions. SBA and community lenders, local governments, contractors, turnaround teams and donors have used our equipment appraisals to support lending, purchases, and charitable contributions. Here are a few examples of how our work has been put to use:
Community bank lending
“I was very pleased with the speed and thoroughness of your work and will recommend you to others needing appraisal services.”
Case result: Supported a loan modification for a local farm with collateral coverage of roughly 300% of the loan, using a desktop appraisal of ~90 pieces of equipment and trucks that satisfied internal audit, credit and appraisal review requirements.
Local government finance
“The information provided was timely and assisted tremendously in our decision on the machine. We will look to Heavy Equipment Appraisal for future needs of our organization.”
Case result: Enabled the Solid Waste Committee to purchase used Bomag compactors within the 5% price tolerance required by Tennessee law, based on a series of desktop appraisals on landfill compactors and a dozer documenting fair market value under Tennessee Code Annotated.SBA / business lending
“Thanks for the quick turn and the professional approach to getting this done for all concerned.”
Case result: Allowed CRF to satisfy SBA requirements and close a business loan before month end, using a rush on-site appraisal of a 100+ unit excavation fleet after a prior desktop review was rejected by the SBA.
Construction contractor
“I am looking to buy another machine and NEED your equipment appraisal services again.”
Case result: Helped his credit union finance two used machines at prices thousands below supported fair market value, through desktop appraisals of a 2005 Ingersoll-Rand ZX-75 midi excavator and a 1995 Cat D3C LGP dozer that reinforced his negotiations.Non-profit & tax documentation
“Their staff is very professional, responsive and detailed. We couldn’t be more pleased and highly recommend their services.”
Case result: Documented a like-kind charitable contribution to a religious non-profit for income tax reporting, via a desktop appraisal of a low-hour 2007 Case 580M II loader backhoe and a completed IRS Form 8283.Turnaround / partner buyout
“The report looks good to everyone. Thank you for being so professional and accommodating throughout the process.”
Case result: Provided a USPAP-compliant third-party valuation to price a partner buyout, with an on-site appraisal of ~150 trucks, trailers, loaders, tractors and lifts in New Mexico that was shared with the owners’ attorney, accountant and lenders.
If you’re facing a similar lending, tax or transaction decision and need defensible equipment values, you can start an appraisal now.