The Multifamily Build: Small Decisions × 200 Units

What's different here

The parts that aren't like other buildouts

Entitlements dominate the calendar

Zoning, density, parking, neighborhood process — approvals can take longer than the building. Bring your contractor in during entitlements: early constructability and cost input shapes what you promise the city.

Construction type is a business decision

Garden walk-ups, wrap, podium — each construction type carries different costs, heights, and code requirements. It's a pro-forma decision wearing a hard hat; model it before falling in love with a rendering.

Build one before you build two hundred

A mockup unit (even one room) settles finishes, catches conflicts, and calibrates quality while changes cost hundreds instead of hundreds-of-thousands. Best money on the whole job.

Time is a line item

On a long build, carry costs make the schedule itself a budget line. Sequencing that opens leasing early — models first, phased turnover — is worth real money.

Inspections come by the hundred

Per-unit inspections and punch at scale demand systems, not heroics: checklists, unit-status tracking, photo records. Ask any GC how they run 200-unit punch; the answer tells you everything.

Timeline reality

Multifamily runs on a multi-year arc where entitlements and structure set the pace and interior units become a production line. The lever: freeze the unit design at the mockup and protect the freeze — one ‘small’ change times 200 units is how proformas die.

The three mistakes

Underestimating entitlementsThe approvals phase isn't overhead before the project; it IS the project's first year. Staff it that way.

Changing the unit after production startsThe multiplier works both directions. Late changes cost at scale.

Skipping the mockupEvery conflict the mockup catches was about to be built 200 times.

Terms you’ll meet on this one

Entitlements Draw Schedule of Values Retainage Punch List