The project team for a multifamily building

A multifamily building draws on more than a dozen licensed disciplines. The owner contracts each of them directly; a development manager assembles the team, sets the sequence and holds every discipline to the schedule and the pro forma.

The disciplines

• Architecture: the architect of record, landscape, interiors and lighting.
• Engineering: structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and geotechnical.
• Site: boundary and topographic survey, environmental, traffic and arborist.
• Code and approvals: fire and life safety, accessibility, energy compliance, land use counsel and cost estimating.

The sequence

Survey, geotechnical and the zoning read come first, because every drawing depends on them. The architect and the structural engineer set the scheme with the construction type; civil and the utilities follow the site plan; mechanical, electrical and plumbing coordinate inside the design development set; code and energy consultants review before the plans go to plan check.

Held to the pro forma

Each design decision is priced in the feasibility model before it is committed, and the cost per SF is tracked at each milestone, so the drawings stay inside the envelope that justified the project.

Questions

Who does an owner hire for a multifamily project?

The architect and engineers of record, the site consultants (survey, geotechnical, environmental, traffic, arborist) and the code consultants, each contracted directly, with a development manager directing them.

Sources