Rising land, labor, and material costs have made multi-family development more challenging than ever, especially in California, where codes are strict, sites are tight, and schedules are unforgiving. In that environment, the fastest way to blow a pro forma is to discover coordination conflicts after the General Contractor mobilizes. A single design coordination issue can ripple across dozens or hundreds of identical dwelling units, turning a small oversight into weeks of rework and six-figure or even seven-figure change orders.

Constructability reviews shift those discoveries to the front of the job. By stress-testing the documents during pre-construction, incomplete or inconsistent information is identified early, and constructability considerations are factored into design. The thesis is simple: a disciplined constructability review in pre-con prevents costly surprises, increases certainty of project outcomes, and protects lease-up dates.

What Is a Constructability Review?

A constructability review is a structured, multidisciplinary check focused on inter- and multi-disciplinary coordination. The goal is not to critique the architect’s concept. The goal is to ensure that what is communicated on paper is constructible, consistent, complete, and in conformance with the owner's project requirements.

When it happens:

During pre-construction, as soon as there is enough design detail to test. This typically means late DD through CD phases.

Why It’s Critical for Multi-Family Projects

Multi-family projects amplify both risk and opportunity. Small coordination misses can repeat across many units and floors, making early reviews essential to prevent widespread issues and costly rework, especially in California's strict regulatory environment.

High density and repeatability

Missing kitchen cabinetry details for a typical unit type can propagate through each affected key and result in misses at the time of buyout, leading to substantial change orders.

Complex MEP and Structure

Multi-family stacks kitchens and bathrooms for efficiency, which concentrates MEP. Routing risers, vents, duct trunks, and fire sprinklers through shear walls and transfer beams requires careful planning. A review confirms that the disciplines are conceptually coordinated, enabling smooth, detailed follow-on clash detection and detailing.

Drawings vs. Specifications Requirements

Do the plans, schedules, and specifications align with the unit finishes and appliances? A constructability review validates alignment among the different design elements to avoid inconsistencies that may lead to added costs and schedule delays during project execution.

Procurement Strategy Alignment

Often in Multi-Family projects, the owner pursues complex procurement strategies for certain scopes of work, such as Owner Furnished Contractor Install (OFCI) or Owner Furnished Owner Installed (OFOI) approaches. Do the design documents clearly and consistently align with the owner's desired approach? Misalignment can create scope gaps and/or scope double-ups, leading to unforeseen cost implications.

Key Benefits

Minimise Change Orders

Example: a review catches that the selected unitised window system conflicts with the shear wall hold-down locations at balcony edges. The team shifts to a compatible anchor pattern during design development demonstrating thorough planning and eliminating future field fixes and chargeable extras.

Reduce Schedule Delays

Example: the riser layout for domestic water and fire is re-stacked so framing can close on time while mains are installed one level below. Drywall starts earlier, and the critical path shortens by two weeks.

Improve Cost Certainty

Example: by validating that the design is coordinated and complete in conformance with Owner Project Requirements (OPR), the project team can be more confident in their project construction budget.

Enhance Alignment Among Owner, Designer, and GC

Example: By ensuring consistency of information presented in the 2-D documentation and modelling the entire team, and having a clear understanding of the exact project requirements to meet the Owner's desired finish product condition.

Avoid Unplanned Redesign during Construction

Example: Verify DFH coordination with Access Control Requirements during the CD Phase to avoid potential cost and schedule implications of performing this task post-award during the submittal process.

Faster Lease-Up

Fewer conflicts and redesign during the construction process, as it increases chances of achieving project schedule and cost objectives, streamlining the overall timeline for asset utilisation for leasing operations.

Typical Review Focus Areas

Drawing Overlays 

Cross-Discipline Drawing Overlays to verify background alignment and system consistency at demarcation points.

MEP and vertical circulation

Shaft sizes, chase widths, cleanout access, duct routing through transfer beams, elevator clearances, and egress paths that stay code-compliant when real doors and hardware are installed.

Unit layouts and repeatability issues

Appliance clearances, door swings vs. switches, bathroom fixture spacing, ADA turning radii, balcony drainage, and any detail that repeats dozens of times.

Real-World Example

A five-over-two multi-family project planned fibre-cement panels over a wood frame with a continuous exterior insulation layer. During review, the team modelled the panel fastener schedule against the sheathing and stud layout and found that half the fasteners would miss the structure under standard tolerances. The fix was simple on paper but expensive in the field. Pre-construction coordination changed stud spacing and specified a clip system compatible with the insulation thickness. Procurement was pulled forward so the clips arrived with the first framed elevations. Result: no field shimming, no added scaffolding days, and a four-week reduction in the exterior critical path. The saved time protected weather-sensitive interior trades and helped the project hold its lease-up date.

Conclusion

Multi-family projects succeed when project documents are complete and coordinated prior to Construction mobilization. A constructability review during pre-construction converts uncertainty into a realistic build plan, reduces change orders and delays, and protects your lease-up calendar. If you are planning a California multi-family or podium-over-wood development, the right time to stress-test the project documents is during the design development stage prior to bidding.