A typical 30-unit multifamily buildout in 2026 is a garden-style 3-story wood-frame apartment on a suburban infill site, with a unit mix of 6 studios, 12 one-bedroom, 9 two-bedroom, and 3 three-bedroom units. Total gross area lands around 32,000 sq ft. This article walks through the line-by-line breakdown so a developer, lender, or commercial GC can sanity-check the budget against typical 2026 ranges before submitting.
These are typical ranges, not your specific project. Use them to sanity-check the rolled-up budget; calibrate to your historical actuals via the BidFlow upload flow for project-specific accuracy.
Project Assumptions
- Building type: Type VA (wood frame), 3-story garden-style
- Footprint: ~10,500 sq ft per floor; ~32,000 sq ft gross
- Unit mix: 6 studios (525 sf avg) + 12 1BR (725 sf) + 9 2BR (1,025 sf) + 3 3BR (1,225 sf)
- Common area: ~3,200 sq ft (lobby, mail, fitness, leasing, corridors)
- Parking: Surface lot, 45 spaces, asphalt
- Site: Suburban infill, utilities to property line, moderate stormwater requirement
- Finish tier: Mid-tier (LVT, painted GWB, granite kitchen, tub/shower combo, stock cabinets)
- MEP: Individual unit metering, gas-fired DHW, package HVAC per unit
- Schedule: 14 months from NTP to first CO
- Region: US national average (apply local cost index for calibration)
Cost Breakdown by Bucket
| Cost Bucket | Scope | Subtotal | $/sf | $/unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site work + utilities | Excavation, utilities, paving, landscaping, stormwater | $720,000 | $22.50 | $24,000 |
| Foundation | Footings, slab on grade, foundation walls | $420,000 | $13.13 | $14,000 |
| Structure + framing | Wood framing, sheathing, trusses, stairs | $960,000 | $30.00 | $32,000 |
| Envelope | Roofing, siding, windows, ext doors, weather barrier | $680,000 | $21.25 | $22,667 |
| Plumbing | Fixtures, rough-in, gas, water meter, DHW | $520,000 | $16.25 | $17,333 |
| Electrical | Service, panels, devices, lighting, meter bank | $580,000 | $18.13 | $19,333 |
| HVAC | Unit packaged systems, ducts, controls, ventilation | $460,000 | $14.38 | $15,333 |
| Fire protection | NFPA 13R sprinkler system, alarm, monitoring | $280,000 | $8.75 | $9,333 |
| Drywall + insulation + acoustic | Insulation, GWB, taping, finish, sound assemblies | $540,000 | $16.88 | $18,000 |
| Flooring | LVT in living areas, carpet in bedrooms, tile in bath | $320,000 | $10.00 | $10,667 |
| Cabinets + countertops | Stock cabinets, granite or quartz tops, hardware | $340,000 | $10.63 | $11,333 |
| Appliances | Range, fridge, dishwasher, microwave, in-unit W/D | $210,000 | $6.56 | $7,000 |
| Doors + hardware + millwork | Interior doors, trim, baseboard, casing | $240,000 | $7.50 | $8,000 |
| Paint + final finishes | Interior paint, exterior paint, touch-up | $160,000 | $5.00 | $5,333 |
| Common area finishes | Lobby, fitness, leasing, mail (premium tier) | $280,000 | $8.75 | $9,333 |
| General conditions | Site supervision, trailer, dumpsters, temp utilities | $420,000 | $13.13 | $14,000 |
| Insurance + bonds | Builder's risk, GL, P&P bonds | $170,000 | $5.31 | $5,667 |
| GC fee (5%) | Indirect overhead and profit | $370,000 | $11.56 | $12,333 |
| Contingency (4%) | GC contingency, pre-construction | $300,000 | $9.38 | $10,000 |
| Total hard cost | $7,990,000 | $249.69 | $266,333 |
Per-unit hard cost lands at roughly $266K, which is consistent with garden-style multifamily benchmarks for mid-tier finish in a US national-average market. High-cost metros (Bay Area, NYC, Boston) push the same project to $340K–$420K per unit. Low-cost metros (Memphis, Indianapolis, Phoenix) trim to $210K–$240K per unit.
Soft Costs and Total Development Cost
Hard cost is what the GC bids. Total development cost includes soft costs and land. For a project this size:
| Cost Category | Typical Range | Mid Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Hard cost (above) | $7.5M – $8.5M | $8.0M |
| Architecture + engineering | 5–8% of hard cost | $520K |
| Permits + impact fees | 2–6% of hard cost | $280K |
| Legal + financing fees | 2–4% of hard cost | $240K |
| Marketing + lease-up | 1–3% of hard cost | $160K |
| Construction interest | 4–7% of hard cost | $440K |
| Developer fee | 3–5% of total dev cost | $300K |
| Land | Highly variable by metro | $1.2M (assumed) |
| Total development cost | ~$11.1M | |
| Per unit (TDC) | ~$370K |
Lenders evaluate per-unit TDC. Equity evaluates per-unit untrended yield-on-cost. The hard cost number is the GC's responsibility. Coordinating the ratio between hard cost and TDC is where the developer earns their fee.
Where the Hard Cost Lands Wrong
The most common reasons a $8M garden-style multifamily bid lands at $9.2M actual cost:
- Stormwater and offsite improvements scope creeps. $80K–$300K typical overage.
- Sound attenuation assemblies underestimated. Code-required STC 50 / IIC 50 minimums add $4–$8 per square foot of demising area not in the base bid.
- Common area finishes get bid at unit-level $/sf instead of common-area $/sf. Common areas run 30–60% above unit cost.
- Material escalation across a 14-month schedule. 3–7% on lumber, 4–8% on steel, 2–5% on finishes is typical even in stable years.
- Punch-list and warranty work overrun. $400–$800 per unit is the typical line; rush projects land $1,200–$2,000 per unit on punch alone.
Want this calibrated to your firm's actual multifamily numbers?
The benchmarks above are typical 2026 ranges. Your actual cost per unit depends on your framing sub, your finish tier, your region, and the metro market you build in. BidFlow reads your last 3–5 multifamily estimates and builds a private cost library calibrated to your numbers — so your next bid starts from your real data instead of a generic average.
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FAQs
What is the typical cost per unit for a 30-unit garden-style apartment in 2026?
Garden-style 3-story wood-frame multifamily with mid-tier finishes typically lands $230K–$290K per unit hard cost in a US national-average market in 2026. Add 35–45% for soft costs and land to reach total development cost.
Why is the per-unit cost lower than the per-square-foot cost suggests?
Per-unit cost includes a share of common areas, site work, and parking that don't add rentable square footage. A 30-unit garden building might have 28,800 sq ft of unit space inside 32,000 sq ft of gross construction. Per-unit hard cost reflects all 32,000 sq ft of construction divided by the 30 units.
What's the most expensive division on multifamily?
Structure plus framing typically lands at the top, around $30–$35/sf on garden-style and $45–$60/sf on podium. MEP combined (plumbing + electrical + HVAC + fire protection) is the second-largest bucket at 22–30% of hard cost. Finishes are third.
How does this scale to a 100-unit project?
Larger multifamily projects benefit from per-unit cost compression on framing, MEP rough-in, and common areas (the lobby is the same size on a 100-unit building as on a 30-unit). Typical per-unit savings going from 30 to 100 units on garden-style is 8–15%, before accounting for sub-pricing breaks on volume.
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