Multifamily takeoff
Stacked wood-frame and podium buildings with corridor, stair, and unit-by-unit quantity breakdowns.
SF · EA · LFPassaic, NJ
Construction estimating services in Passaic, NJ
Passaic issued 76 new privately-owned residential units in 2025, 71% of them multifamily. We produce CSI-organized takeoffs and estimates for builders working Passaic County's tight infill lots and warehouse conversions.
24–48 hours for most projectsTypical turnaround
Every CSI divisionSitework through MEP
Passaic ZIP pricingLocal material and labor
Price confirmed firstBefore any work starts
Census BPS · Passaic · 2025Real permit data
Passaic new housing permits2025
New housing units76Change vs. 2024+3%Permitted construction value$12MAverage value per unit$153,100Rank among covered New Jersey cities#11
Single-family: 22 (29%)Multifamily: 54 (71%)
U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2025. Residential only.
What makes construction estimating in Passaic, NJ different?
Passaic's 71% multifamily share drives stacked wood-frame and podium scopes; dense infill lots limit staging, so excavation and haul-off carry real cost; Passaic River floodplain and glacial soils affect foundation design; and ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing reflects North Jersey supplier and union rates.
- Passaic permitted 76 new housing units in 2025, #11 among the New Jersey cities we cover.
- About 71% were in multifamily buildings; 29% were single-family.
- Permit volume was up 3% compared with 2024.
Passaic sits in Passaic County, hemmed by the Passaic River and built out at roughly 3.3 square miles. That geography shapes what you bid: narrow lots, shared walls, limited laydown area, and a steady flow of gut renovations alongside new multifamily. Of the 76 new privately-owned residential units permitted here in 2025, 54 were multifamily — 71% of the year's total — so most of the takeoffs we run for this city are three- and four-story wood-frame or podium buildings on tight urban footprints. The permitted value came to $12M, an average of $153,100 per unit.
We price from ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor data, so a Passaic estimate reflects what suppliers in this corridor actually quote rather than a national average. Deliverables come in Excel and PDF, organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets showing what we measured. Turnaround is 24–48 hours for most projects, with rush available. If you are comparing scopes across the county, our New Jersey construction estimating page covers the statewide picture, and multi-family estimating covers the stacked-building line items in detail.
- Coverage
- Passaic and nearby New Jersey communities
- Deliverable
- Excel estimate + marked-up PDF plans
- Pricing basis
- Passaic ZIP-code material and labor costs
- Turnaround
- 24–48 hours for most projects
- Software
- Bluebeam Revu, PlanSwift, RSMeans data
01
For bidders. You need quantities you can defend line by line at a bid opening. We return marked-up plan sets, waste factors stated per material, and a division-by-division breakdown so you can adjust labor or markup without rebuilding the takeoff.
02
For builders. Change orders and self-perform scopes need fast numbers. Send a revised sheet or a sketch and we reprice the affected divisions, keeping your original CSI structure so the comparison stays clean.
03
For owners. You want a budget before drawings are final. We estimate from schematic sets, flag scope gaps, and separate hard cost from allowances so your pro forma shows where contingency belongs.
Passaic by the numbers
Passaic's residential construction pipeline
Select a bar to compare Passaic with the largest New Jersey markets we cover.
76New housing units, 2025
1.2%Of all units in the New Jersey cities we cover
$12MPermitted residential value
71%In multifamily buildings
New housing units permitted in 2025. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
This city
Passaic
76 new housing units in 2025 (+2.7% vs 2024).
22 single-family · 54 multifamily (71%).
Multifamily drives the permit volume
Passaic permitted 76 new privately-owned residential units in 2025, up from 74 in 2024 — about a 3% increase. The composition matters more than the total: 54 units were multifamily, 71% of the year, with 22 single-family. For bidders, that means the recurring scope here is a three- or four-story building with a shared egress stair, a common corridor, and typically a parking level or grade-level garage under the units. Those buildings repeat line items fast — Type X drywall on corridor walls, rated door assemblies, fire-stopping at floor penetrations, and a sprinkler system under NFPA 13 where the building height or area triggers it. Confirm the adopted code edition and sprinkler threshold with the Passaic building department before you finalize. The $12M permitted value works out to $153,100 per unit, which is a useful sanity check when your own budget runs far above or below it. Statewide, New Jersey permitted 6,503 units in the same year; Passaic's 76 units rank 11th of 25 covered cities and represent 1.2% of that total. See the statewide estimating overview for how the other cities compare.
Infill logistics and riverfront soil
Most Passaic work happens on lots that were subdivided decades ago. There is no room for a 40-yard roll-off plus a material drop plus a pump truck at the same time, so excavation spoil often gets hauled twice and concrete placement gets scheduled in short pours. Those are real dollars in Division 31 and 03, and a takeoff that ignores them will underbid. The Passaic River corridor also brings floodplain requirements and, in places, fill and glacial soils that push you toward deeper footings or piles. We carry those quantities explicitly — bank yards versus compacted yards, over-excavation under footings, dewatering allowance — rather than burying them in a lump sum. If your project is primarily sitework, our sitework estimating and foundation estimating pages show the line-item structure we use. Builders working adjacent towns such as Union City and West New York face the same density with different soil.
Services
Construction estimating services in Passaic
These are the scopes we measure most often for Passaic and Passaic County projects. Each estimate arrives in CSI MasterFormat divisions with quantities, units, and stated waste factors.
Sitework and excavation
Tight-lot cut and fill, spoil haul-off, sheeting, and dewatering priced for urban access limits.
CY · TON · LFConcrete and foundations
Footings, pile caps, slab-on-grade, and garage slabs with over-excavation carried separately.
CY · SF · LBFraming
Floor joists, stud walls, sheathing, and roof trusses counted from the framing plans, not the architectural set.
LF · EA · BFRoofing
TPO and modified bitumen on low-slope multifamily roofs, including tapered insulation and flashing.
SF · LFMEP systems
Split-system or VRF HVAC, domestic water and DWV risers, and electrical panels and branch wiring.
EA · LF · TONResidential renovation
Gut rehab of Passaic's older two- and three-family stock, with demolition and disposal quantified.
SF · CY · EACommercial and warehouse
Tenant fit-out and warehouse shell work, including racking clear heights and dock equipment.
SF · EA · LFWho we provide estimates for
Who sends Passaic plans to us
General contractors bidding gut rehabs
Passaic's 1920s–1950s two- and three-family stock hides knob-and-tube, undersized joists and party-wall surprises. You need demolition and structural repair quantities you can defend before the walls open.
Multifamily developers
With 54 of 76 permitted units in multifamily, podium and four-story wood-frame buildings dominate. We break out unit-by-unit repetition, balcony framing and Type III vs. Type V assemblies so your bid holds.
Framing subcontractors
Narrow lots off Main Avenue and Lexington Avenue leave no laydown space, so you buy in staged drops. We count studs, plates, headers and sheathing by floor and building section, not by rule of thumb.
Concrete and foundation crews
River-corridor soils and tight access drive mat-slab, footing and retaining-wall quantities. We take off formwork, rebar and concrete by placement sequence so your pump and truck schedule matches the pour.
MEP subcontractors
Conversions and additions mean new risers threaded through old chases. We measure fixture counts, pipe runs and panel schedules from the drawings so your labor hours reflect the actual routing, not a per-square-foot guess.
Owners and property managers
You are budgeting a roof replacement or a two-family conversion before drawings are final. We estimate from schematic sets, separate hard cost from allowances, and flag scope gaps before you sign a contract.
Where we provide estimates
Passaic areas and nearby communities we cover
We estimate for projects across Passaic County and the surrounding corridor, from the dense blocks near the river to the suburbs along Route 21 and Route 3. If your job is in one of these areas, the ZIP-adjusted pricing already reflects the local supplier and labor market.
Central and downtown Passaic
- Downtown Passaic
- Main Avenue corridor
- Third Ward
- Fourth Ward
- Passaic River waterfront
Passaic neighborhoods
- Second Ward
- First Ward
- Monroe Street area
- Passaic Avenue corridor
- Market Street area
Nearby cities we cover
Property types
Types of Passaic properties we estimate
The permit mix here is 71% multifamily, with the rest split between single-family infill and small commercial. That means most of our takeoffs are stacked residential buildings on tight lots, plus the renovation work that keeps older stock in service.
Three- and four-story multifamily
Wood-frame or podium buildings with repeated unit plans. We count floor-by-floor framing, sheathing, stairs and balcony assemblies, then apply repetition factors so your per-unit cost is consistent across the building.
Watch for: Verify fire-rated assemblies and shaft-wall details; they drive framing and drywall quantities.
Two-family conversions
Older homes split into two units require new egress, separate utilities and fire separation. We take off the added walls, doors, risers and panels, and flag where existing structure cannot carry the new layout.
Watch for: Confirm egress window sizes and stair headroom before pricing the framing.
Single-family infill
Narrow-lot houses on the remaining vacant parcels. We estimate excavation, foundation, framing and roofing by the actual lot dimensions, including the extra cost of hand-digging and small equipment where a machine cannot reach.
Watch for: Check lot coverage and setback limits with the local building department.
Gut renovations
Full interior demolition of older two- and three-family homes. We measure demolition, disposal, new partitions, MEP rough-in and finishes, and carry allowances for concealed conditions that only open up during construction.
Watch for: Carry a contingency for lead and asbestos abatement if the building predates 1978.
Mixed-use buildings
Ground-floor retail with apartments above, common along Main Avenue. We separate commercial and residential scopes, count separate utility services and egress paths, and price the structural transfer at the retail ceiling.
Watch for: Confirm occupancy separation and sprinkler requirements with the local code official.
Small commercial and warehouse
Light industrial, self-storage and warehouse buildings on the city's east side. We take off slab, tilt-up or masonry walls, roof structure and MEP, and price the site work separately from the building shell.
Watch for: Verify truck turning radii and loading-dock dimensions against the site plan.
Local factors
What changes a construction estimate in Passaic
Passaic is built out, so almost every project is an infill, a conversion or a teardown. That reality, plus the river and the older housing stock, moves numbers in ways a generic estimate will miss.
Code and permitting
Passaic enforces the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code, which adopts the IBC and IRC with state amendments. For a three- or four-story multifamily building, the adopted edition governs fire separation, egress and sprinkler thresholds, and those decisions change wall, door and MEP quantities. Confirm the adopted edition and any local amendments with the Passaic building department before you lock your bid.
New Jersey Uniform Construction Code · IBC · IRC · Passaic building departmentSoils and foundations
The Passaic River corridor includes fill and alluvial soils, so foundation design often calls for deeper footings, engineered fill or piles where a simple spread footing would work elsewhere. On tight lots, the excavation and shoring method also changes the cost. A geotechnical report is the first input we ask for on any new foundation.
Passaic River · geotechnical report · engineered fill · pilesClimate and hazards
Passaic County sees nor'easters, heavy rain and river flooding. Roof snow loads, wind uplift and flood-zone elevation requirements all affect structural and envelope quantities. If any part of the site lies in a FEMA flood zone, the lowest-floor elevation and foundation type can change the whole budget. Verify the current FIRM panel with the local floodplain administrator.
FEMA flood zone · FIRM panel · nor'easter · snow loadLabor market
Passaic sits inside the New York–Newark labor shed, so union and prevailing-wage rates here run above national averages. Trade availability also tightens when large projects pull crews toward Manhattan or Newark. We price with ZIP-code-adjusted labor and note where a scope depends on a specialty trade that may need to be scheduled weeks out.
New York–Newark labor shed · prevailing wage · specialty trades · ZIP-code adjustmentSite and land use
Most Passaic lots are 25 to 50 feet wide with no staging area, so material handling, crane or pump placement and disposal logistics add cost. The city's zoning and site-plan review also govern parking, loading and impervious coverage, which can force underground detention or limited site work. Confirm the current zoning and review thresholds with the planning office.
zoning · site-plan review · impervious coverage · underground detentionMaterials and logistics
Suppliers in the Passaic–Clifton–Paterson corridor quote locally, but narrow streets and permit parking rules affect delivery windows and truck size. For renovations, matching old brick, trim or window profiles can push lead times. We build the estimate from current local quotes and note long-lead items so you can order early.
Passaic–Clifton–Paterson corridor · delivery windows · long-lead items · material quotesPassaic estimating guide
How Passaic conditions show up in a takeoff, trade by trade
Passaic sits in Passaic County on the east bank of the Passaic River, where a dense mix of two- and three-family infill, mid-rise multifamily, and warehouse conversions drives the takeoff. Each trade below is where local conditions change the line items, not just the totals.
Sitework and demolition
Most Passaic infill lots held a prior structure, so your takeoff starts with demolition, hauling, and utility disconnects before any new work. On the east side near the river, you are often cutting through fill and old foundations, which means rock excavation is rare but unclassified debris is common. Track separate line items for concrete slab removal, foundation wall removal, and off-site disposal by tonnage rather than a lump sum. Confirm the city's demolition permit sequence and any required dust control before you price hauling. For quantity takeoff on these scopes, see our sitework estimating services.
Framing and wood structures
The bulk of Passaic's residential permits are multifamily, and much of that is wood-frame over a concrete podium or a conventional three-story walk-up. In a takeoff, count floor joists, rim board, headers, and sheathing separately by floor, and price engineered lumber from the supplier's layout rather than a rule-of-thumb board-foot figure. Party walls between units need double-stud or shaft-wall assemblies with fire-rated sheathing, which adds layers that a generic framing takeoff misses. Roof framing on these buildings is often a mix of pre-engineered trusses and hand-framed hips. See our framing estimating services for line-item formats.
MEP and fire protection
Multifamily and mixed-use buildings in Passaic trigger sprinkler and standpipe scopes under NFPA 13 and NFPA 14, plus separate domestic water, sanitary, and gas risers. In a takeoff, count sprinkler heads by hazard classification and floor, not by square foot, and price the riser, backflow preventer, and fire pump as discrete items. HVAC on these buildings is typically split-system or VRF, so refrigerant piping and condensate runs need linear-foot quantities. Electrical includes house panels, meter stacks, and common-area lighting. Our MEP estimating services page covers these divisions.
Concrete and foundations
Passaic's soils include river-deposited sands and silts with localized fill, so foundation design often lands on spread footings with a deeper frost depth than southern New Jersey. In a takeoff, that shows up as additional footing depth, more formwork, and sometimes a mat or grade beam system on tighter lots. Watch for underpinning or sheeting where a new foundation sits within a few feet of an existing party wall. Concrete volumes should be broken out by footing, stem wall, slab-on-grade, and suspended slab, each with its own waste factor. Our concrete estimating services and foundation estimating services cover these scopes in detail.
Roofing and envelope
Passaic roofs take freeze-thaw cycles, summer humidity, and wind-driven rain, so membrane selection and flashing details matter. On flat roofs over multifamily, the takeoff should separate insulation thickness, cover board, membrane, and tapered crickets at drains. On steep-slope sections, count underlayment, ice barrier at eaves, drip edge, and step flashing by linear foot. Envelope scopes like air barrier, rigid insulation, and window flashing are frequently under-measured because they are not part of the roof package. Our roofing estimating services page shows how we split these line items.
Scope gaps we see on Passaic bids
- Demolition and debris hauling left out because the old foundation and slab were assumed to be reused.
- Underpinning or sheeting on tight lots where the new footing sits within a few feet of a party wall.
- Fire-rated party-wall assemblies and shaft-wall layers omitted from the framing package.
- Sprinkler heads, riser, and backflow preventer carried as an allowance instead of a counted scope.
- Air barrier, rigid insulation, and window flashing left out of the roofing or envelope bid.
- Final cleaning, temporary utilities, and permit-related inspections not assigned to any trade.
Free tool
Concrete volume calculator
Quick check for a single element. For a full drawing set, send the plans and we measure everything, including the items calculators miss.
Typical waste: 3–5% for slabs, 5–10% for footings and walls. Truck count assumes 10 CY loads; confirm load size with your ready-mix supplier.
Result
19.4CY
Net volume18.5 CY
Cubic feet500 CF
Ready-mix trucks (10 CY)2
80 lb bags (premix)875
Need the full takeoff with pricing? Upload your plans.
How it works
How we estimate a Passaic project
- Read the full setArchitectural, structural, civil and MEP drawings, the geotechnical report and every addendum.
- Check Passaic conditionsLocal code edition, site and drainage requirements, soils and any hazard rules are confirmed before the takeoff starts.
- Take off by CSI sectionQuantities measured and color-coded on the plans, so every number traces to a sheet.
- Price to PassaicMaterial and labor costs adjusted to the project ZIP code, or to your own supplier quotes and crew rates.
- Check and deliverA second estimator checks quantities before the estimate goes out.
Sample output
Sample takeoff: three-story wood-frame multifamily building in Passaic
| Section | Line item | Qty | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 30 00 | Footing concrete, 24 in. wide x 12 in. deep | 38 | CY |
| 03 30 00 | Slab-on-grade, 5 in. thick, vapor barrier | 4200 | SF |
| 05 12 00 | Structural steel lintels and posts | 1.8 | TON |
| 06 10 00 | Floor joists, I-joist, 16 in. o.c. | 9600 | LF |
| 06 16 00 | Wall sheathing, 7/16 in. OSB | 7400 | SF |
| 07 21 00 | Batt insulation, exterior walls, R-21 | 6100 | SF |
| 09 29 00 | Gypsum board, 5/8 in. Type X, walls | 12800 | SF |
| 21 13 19 | Sprinkler heads, light hazard, per floor | 186 | EA |
Worked example: footing concrete for a Passaic three-story multifamily building
This example shows how we build a footing concrete quantity from a foundation plan. The dimensions are illustrative and are not taken from a specific Passaic project.
Assume a continuous strip footing under the perimeter and interior bearing walls. The plan shows a total footing length of 320 linear feet, a footing width of 24 inches, and a footing depth of 12 inches. We convert each dimension to feet, multiply for volume, and then apply a waste factor. For a small residential footing, typical waste is 5 to 10 percent; we use 8 percent here to account for over-excavation and spillage.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Footing length | Given | 320 LF |
| Width | 24 in. ÷ 12 | 2.00 ft |
| Depth | 12 in. ÷ 12 | 1.00 ft |
| Net volume | 320 × 2.00 × 1.00 | 640 CF |
| Convert to cubic yards | 640 ÷ 27 | 23.70 CY |
| Waste at 8% | 23.70 × 1.08 | 25.60 CY |
| Order quantity | Round up to nearest 0.5 CY | 26.0 CY |
From there, we add separate line items for footing forms (linear feet of form contact area), reinforcing steel (pounds per cubic yard from the structural drawings), and any thickened slabs or pier pads. If the drawings show a stepped footing on a sloped lot, we break the run into segments and calculate each step separately rather than averaging the depth.
For a Passaic project, the same footing might also require a deeper frost depth than the illustrative 12 inches, and the soil report may call for a granular base or a mud slab. Those items do not change the arithmetic, but they change the total cubic yards and the formwork hours. We price the concrete and the formwork as separate scopes so you can see where the cost sits. Our foundation estimating services page shows the full format.
FAQ
Passaic construction estimating questions
Where does the Passaic permit data on this page come from?
The figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey for 2025, which counts permits issued by the city itself for new privately-owned residential units only. That means the 76 total units, the 22 single-family units, and the 54 multifamily units reflect new residential construction, not additions, alterations, or commercial permits. If you need commercial or renovation permit counts, those come from a different source and should be confirmed with the city's construction office.
What is the typical turnaround for a Passaic takeoff?
Most projects are returned in 24 to 48 hours, with rush service available. The schedule depends on the number of sheets, the number of trades you want priced, and whether the drawings are fully coordinated. A single-family set is faster than a three-story multifamily set with MEP and sprinkler drawings. If you send a partial set, we can start on the divisions you have and add the rest when the remaining sheets arrive.
Do you price Passaic work with local labor and material rates?
Yes. We use ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing, drawing on RSMeans data and our own recent bid experience in Passaic County. That means the concrete, framing, roofing, and MEP rates reflect what contractors in this part of New Jersey are actually paying, not a national average. If your project has union labor requirements or prevailing wage, tell us up front so we can adjust the labor burden accordingly.
What formats do you deliver?
Deliverables are Excel and PDF, organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets showing where each quantity was measured. The Excel file is set up so you can adjust waste factors, add your own markup, and export to your estimating software. The PDF gives you a checkable record. If you use Bluebeam Revu or PlanSwift, the marked-up set will open cleanly in those tools.
Can you handle a Passaic multifamily project with a podium and wood-frame upper floors?
Yes. That is one of the most common building types in Passaic right now, and we take it off in two parts: the concrete podium and the wood-frame floors above. We count the podium slab, columns, and walls separately from the joists, sheathing, and party walls above. Fire-rated assemblies and sprinkler scopes are priced as their own divisions. See our multi-family estimating services page for the typical breakdown.
Do you take off sprinkler and standpipe scopes?
We do. For Passaic multifamily and mixed-use buildings, we count sprinkler heads by hazard classification and floor, and we price the riser, backflow preventer, fire pump, and standpipe as separate line items. We do not treat the sprinkler scope as a square-foot allowance. If the drawings include hydraulic calculations, we use the head counts from those sheets. Confirm the adopted code edition and any local amendments with the Passaic building department before finalizing the design.
What do you need from me to start a Passaic estimate?
Send the architectural, structural, and MEP drawings you have, plus any specifications, soil report, and survey. If you have a scope sheet or a bid form, include it so we match your line items. Tell us the building type, the number of units, and whether the project is new construction or a renovation. The more complete the set, the fewer assumptions we have to flag in the estimate.
How do you handle Passaic's older infill lots with unknown fill?
We flag the risk instead of burying it in a unit price. On lots with prior structures, we add line items for unclassified excavation, debris disposal by tonnage, and a separate allowance for unsuitable soil replacement. We do not assume the existing fill is suitable for bearing. If you have a geotechnical report, we use the recommended bearing capacity and footing depths. If you do not, we note the assumption and recommend a test pit before you commit to a foundation price.
Do you cover nearby cities in Passaic County and the surrounding area?
Yes. We cover Passaic and the surrounding region, including Union City, West New York, Perth Amboy, Vineland, Union, and Piscataway. The building types and code requirements vary by municipality, so we adjust the takeoff to the local jurisdiction. If your project is just outside Passaic, send the address and we will confirm coverage. Our New Jersey construction estimating page lists the full service area.
Can you estimate a warehouse or industrial conversion in Passaic?
Yes. Passaic has a stock of older industrial and warehouse buildings, and conversions to residential or mixed-use are common. Those projects need a different takeoff than ground-up construction: selective demolition, structural upgrades, new floor slabs, and full MEP replacement. We price the demolition and the new work as separate scopes so you can see the cost of each. Our industrial estimating services page covers the typical divisions.
Other New Jersey cities we cover
Popular services in Passaic
Send your Passaic project plans for a quote
Send your drawings and we will return a division-by-division takeoff in 24 to 48 hours, with marked-up plan sets and ZIP-code-adjusted pricing.
- We review the set and check for missing sheets or addenda.
- You get a quote with a price and a delivery date.
- You approve and we start the takeoff.
- You receive the Excel estimate and marked-up plans.