The quick answer is anywhere from $50-$200 per hour. But this is depends on you state and even city, as well it depends on what service you are hiring the private investigator for.
Read our FAQ on How to hire a private investigator for a more in depth commentary.
But there are other things to ask when researching this.
- Does that rate include miles traveled during case or mileage to and from the location? Some investigators charge a flat rate to cover all mileage
- When does the hourly rate start?
- What happens when nothing is seen or there is no activity.
- Is there a minimum on case?
- Is there any additional charges for photos, videos, reports?
At Michael Budenz & Associates, here is what we do.
- We charge an hourly rate and then additional mileage. It is a more balanced fee since if your case is local and there is not a lot of driving, you only pay for actual miles instead of an inflated hourly rate. If we did an 8 hour surveillance and drove 30 miles, you pay for actual miles. if you paid a higher hourly rate you would have a bigger bill if those miles were rolled into the hourly rate. We are only covering the vehicle expenses with this arrangement. It is a fair compromise for expense vs. costs.
- We do start charging once we get in a vehicle and start traveling to a location for that case.
- No one can guarantee activity on a case, we can only be in place at the right place and time. The other aspects cannot be promised.
- Cases themselves do not have minimums, but our in-field surveillances are minimum of 4 hours.
- No charges for videos, photos, reports. That is what you are hiring us for. Sometimes long terms electronic storage can have an additional cost. Ask us for more details.