Why nobody can quote you a price in the first phone call
A fee in this work is built from field hours, travel, record access and the number of separate claims being verified. None of that is knowable until someone has asked what you need established and what you already know.
When an agency quotes immediately, one of three things is happening. The number is padded enough to be safe regardless of what the case turns out to involve. Or it is low enough to win the enquiry, with a request for more money arriving once you are committed. Or the work being quoted for is not what you think it is — a two-day observation when the question needs ten.
The six variables that actually set the price
How many questions. Verifying one employment claim is a different job from checking identity, job, income, family, prior marriage, property and conduct. Each additional claim adds either field time or a separate record search.
How many cities. A single-city enquiry is the cheapest work we run. Each additional city adds an investigator, travel and coordination. In practice many cases that clients describe as single-city are not — the subject works in one place and their family and property sit somewhere else.
How many field days. Surveillance is priced in observation days. Establishing a repeating pattern genuinely needs more days than documenting a single event, and the pattern is usually what carries weight.
How much you already know. A full name, approximate age, locality and workplace can halve a case. A first name and a city means the first several days are spent establishing who is being looked at.
How fast you need it. Compressing two weeks of fieldwork into five days means more people working in parallel.
What the output must be. A verbal briefing is one thing. A documented report structured for an advocate, with exhibit referencing and recorded provenance, is more work.
Honest 2026 ranges
These are working ranges for a straightforward case of each type, based on our own recent casework. They are not a rate card — your quote depends on the variables above.
| Enquiry | Typical range | What pushes it higher |
|---|---|---|
| Background / employment verification | ₹8,000 – ₹25,000 | Senior role, multiple employers and cities |
| Pre-matrimonial verification | ₹20,000 – ₹55,000 | Multi-city, NRI party, property and financial checks |
| Surveillance (per field day) | ₹8,000 – ₹18,000 | Extended hours, mobile subject, two operatives |
| Post-matrimonial investigation | ₹35,000 – ₹1,20,000 | Weeks of observation, documentation for court |
| Asset / property verification | ₹18,000 – ₹60,000 | Multiple holdings, several districts, poor digitisation |
| Corporate investigation | ₹45,000 – ₹3,00,000+ | Multiple entities and sites, forensic scope |
| Missing person tracing | ₹25,000 – ₹90,000 | Cold trail, interstate, thin identifiers |
| Process serving | ₹5,000 – ₹20,000 | Evasive respondent requiring tracing first |
Jaipur and Rajasthan cases typically sit at the lower end of each range, because our own team does the fieldwork and there is no travel or coordination loading. Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru typically run 20–40% higher than the Jaipur equivalent.
Five pricing practices that should end the conversation
If you take one thing from this guide, take this list.
- A firm price before anyone asked what you need. It is a guess, and guesses get corrected later at your expense.
- Full payment upfront, in cash, with nothing in writing. There is no legitimate reason for this.
- Any guarantee of a specific finding. "We will get you proof" is a promise about facts nobody has seen. It means either the promise is empty or the evidence will be manufactured.
- A fee that rises if the result is the one you wanted. Success-based pricing gives the investigator a direct financial interest in telling you what you hope to hear — in a matter this consequential, that is precisely the wrong incentive.
- An offer to obtain call records, bank statements or account access. The quoted price includes committing not something we offer in your name, and the material is unusable in court anyway.
How to compare two quotes properly
Quotes in this industry are frequently not comparable, because they are for different amounts of work. Before comparing numbers, ask each agency the same five questions.
How many field days are included, and what happens if more are needed? Which specific claims will be verified, and by what method — document review or verification at source? Which cities does the quote cover? Who does the fieldwork, and is it subcontracted? And what exactly is the deliverable — a phone call, a summary, or a documented report?
In our experience a quote that is 40% lower than the others is usually lower because it includes fewer field days than the question requires, or because the verification is document review rather than source confirmation. Both produce a report that looks complete and establishes very little.
Talk it through before you commit to anything
If this guide leaves you unsure whether your situation needs an investigator, the quickest way to find out is a short call. It is free, and you will get a direct answer — including when the answer is that nothing should be commissioned.