How the detective costs of your case are calculated will depend on several factors:
- What is your case about?
- Which billing model is suitable for your case?
- How specific is the suspicion?
- What exactly is already known?
The best way to clarify these many questions is in a personal appointment, where you can draw on the specialist knowledge and experience of Lukas Helmberger, who has been an investigator since 1994, the owner of his own file since 2003 and the processor of more than 18,000 business cases.
Billing model?
You want to know how much the detective costs will be in your case. Understandable, but in the best case scenario an estimate will be possible or the average costs of comparable cases will be taken into account. The best place to read about this is: Average detective costs
But back to the billing models, what does that mean and which ones are there?
Detective costs based on effort
Those cases in which work is done more or less to order will be charged based on effort, i.e. hours worked, kilometers driven and expenses. This means that the client defines when and where work will take place.
Example: “My girlfriend is supposedly going out with friends today, but I think she’s seeing a man.”
In such a case, the client will specify the place and time when the observation begins, the end will depend on the friend’s behavior and the billing will be based on effort. The detective costs are in principle specified by the client.
The costs will depend on the agreed hourly rate and the frequency of the observations. We will discuss which of our hourly rates are suitable for you. Because we want to help, the hourly rate also depends on your possibilities.
Step-by-step processing of your case – investigation steps & budget steps
If you leave it to us how and when we handle a case, we recommend an investigation plan that will include a step-by-step approach. When the order is placed, the goal of the order becomes clear and we develop a plan that gradually approaches this goal. We will first take more cost-effective steps in order to later use more expensive measures more accurately.
Example: A landlord thinks that his tenant does not use the rented apartment himself, but rather sublets it. The aim is therefore to clarify the use of the apartment and the whereabouts of the tenant.
Step 1: General research in order to perhaps find out about the tenant’s other addresses or names of potential subtenants.
Step 2: On-site investigations, whereby the addresses served are sorted so that those that are more suitable are processed first.
Step 3: More extensive surveillance measures may be necessary if, for example, the tenant is actively hiding. Observations could also be carried out.
Each step is discussed and given a budget. In 80% of cases, step 2 will result in a successful investigation, so step 3 is not necessary.
Example: an employer suspects that one of his field employees is falsifying the accounting of his working hours and his logbook. When you contact him, the first question is: How much does the detective cost for a week of observation?
We were able to convince this client that we had ways to clarify the basic suspicion without a week-long observation. The aim of our first step was to examine the need for direct observation very cost-effectively. In fact, it turned out that the suspicion was justified, so in a second step we documented a working week. When the client commissioned the second step, the success of the measure was already certain.
Example: A lawyer instructs us in a matrimonial matter. The husband has moved out and is apparently living with his mother. There are suspicions that he is having an extramarital relationship.
Step 1: we create a movement profile of the husband in which only 2 unclear addresses appear.
Step 2: we carry out selective observations in order to be able to classify the two unclear addresses. One turns out to be therapy, the other a visit to relatives.
Here, too, the gradual processing of the case saved more detective costs than it cost.
The advantage of step-by-step processing: if you are wrong in your suspicions, the processing is usually significantly cheaper than with a frontal attack.
Disadvantage: you have to take a little more time because gaining knowledge takes time.
BUT: Time required has nothing to do with costs! Almost any case can be handled this way if the client trusts our expertise and experience. However, many believe that they know best when, how and where to monitor… Don’t do that, talk to us and let us present our plan.