A Phase I environmental site assessment costs $2,100 to $4,000, and what you are buying is not really the report itself. It is the liability shield. Completing the EPA's All Appropriate Inquiries process is the precondition for the CERCLA landowner protections, and it comes with an expiry date: four components must be done within 180 days of acquisition, and the rest within a year.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Phase I environmental site assessmentNational range | $2,100 to $4,000 per property, flat fee |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
The EPA's All Appropriate Inquiries rule, at 40 CFR Part 312, is the process for evaluating a property's environmental conditions and assessing potential liability for contamination. Completing it is the precondition for four CERCLA landowner liability protections: innocent landowner, contiguous property owner, bona fide prospective purchaser for property acquired after 11 January 2002, and government entity acquiring involuntarily.
The EPA recognizes ASTM E1527-21 as a compliant standard, and ASTM E2247-23 for forestland and rural property. Note what is not on that list. A consultant still delivering to the older E1527-13 standard is delivering something the EPA does not currently list as compliant, which is a question to ask before engaging rather than after closing.
The full investigation must be completed within one year before acquisition. But four specific components have a much shorter clock: the interviews, the records review, the visual inspection and the environmental lien search must all be conducted within 180 days before acquisition.
On a slow transaction that is a real problem rather than a technicality. A report commissioned at the start of a deal that then takes eight months to close has gone stale in its most important parts, and needs updating to preserve the protection it was bought for. Anyone budgeting for a Phase I on a long deal should budget for the update too.
Under 40 CFR 312.10, an environmental professional must meet one of four qualification routes: a current professional engineer or professional geologist license plus three years of relevant full-time experience; a bachelor's degree or higher in engineering or science plus five years; ten years of relevant full-time experience; or state licensure or certification to perform environmental inquiries plus three years.
Those are materially different backgrounds. Asking which route the signing professional qualifies under is a reasonable question and the answer is on file.
Ask which standard the report will be delivered to, and confirm it is one the EPA currently recognizes.
Ask when the 180-day components will be performed, and diarize the date they expire.
Ask which qualification route the environmental professional signing the report meets.
Budget for Phase II. One source puts the proportion of Phase I assessments that go on to subsurface work at around seventy percent, which makes Phase I a gateway more often than an endpoint.
Ask what is excluded. Asbestos, lead paint, radon and wetlands are separate scopes and a Phase I does not cover them.
Two sources converge at $2,100 to $4,000 for a typical commercial property, and $4,500 to $7,000 for large or complex sites. Turnaround is two to three weeks simple, four to six where archived records must be pulled.
The CERCLA landowner liability protections. Completing the EPA's All Appropriate Inquiries process under 40 CFR Part 312 is the precondition for the innocent landowner, contiguous property owner, bona fide prospective purchaser and government entity defenses.
Yes, and in two stages. The full investigation must be completed within one year before acquisition, but the interviews, records review, visual inspection and environmental lien search must each be done within 180 days before acquisition.
ASTM E1527-21, or ASTM E2247-23 for forestland and rural property. Those are what the EPA currently recognizes. A consultant delivering to the older E1527-13 is not delivering to a currently listed standard.
An environmental professional meeting one of four routes under 40 CFR 312.10: a PE or PG license plus three years, a science or engineering degree plus five years, ten years of relevant experience, or state certification plus three years.
No. A Phase I is non-intrusive: no drilling and no sampling. Subsurface work is a Phase II, and one source puts the proportion of Phase I assessments that go on to one at around 70 percent.
Asbestos, lead-based paint, radon and wetlands surveys are all separate scopes and are not part of a Phase I.