Multifamily takeoff
Unit-mix repetition, demising and shaft walls, podium decks and elevator counts for Everett's mid-rise residential pipeline.
SF · EA · LFEverett permits run heavily multifamily, and much of the work sits on fill or tide-influenced ground near the Snohomish River. We produce CSI-organized takeoffs and estimates for bidders, builders and owners across Snohomish County.
Everett pricing turns on soft ground and high groundwater near the Snohomish River and Port Gardner, which drives over-excavation, shoring and dewatering; steep lots in the Cascade View and View Ridge areas that add retaining walls and export haul; multifamily density that pushes fire-rated assemblies, elevators and NFPA 13 sprinklers; and marine-air exposure near the waterfront that changes exterior material and coating selections.
Everett is the seventh-largest city in Washington and the Snohomish County seat, and its permit mix is not a typical suburban profile. Of the 565 new privately-owned residential units permitted by the city in 2025, 435 were multifamily — about 77% — against 130 single-family units, on a permitted value of roughly $100M. That means most of the plans we see here are three-to-six-story wood-frame-over-podium or wrap buildings, not custom homes, and the estimate has to be built around podiums, fire-rated separations, elevators and commercial kitchens rather than a single set of residential assemblies.
Geography does the rest. Sites near the Snohomish River, the waterfront and the former mill areas often carry fill, high groundwater and old pilings, so we price over-excavation, structural fill, dewatering and shoring as line items instead of allowances. Sloped lots toward the south and east bring retaining walls, shoring and export haul into the sitework package. If you are bidding in Everett or anywhere across the county, start from our Washington construction estimating overview, and see how we handle the same conditions in Kent and Renton.
For bidders. You get a CSI MasterFormat takeoff with marked-up plan sets, so you can see exactly which sheets each quantity came from before you adjust your bid. Quantities are broken out by assembly — footing CY, slab SF, wall LF — not lumped into a single number.
For builders. We price ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor so your budget reflects Everett, not a national average. Deliverables arrive in Excel and PDF within 24–48 hours for most projects, which keeps a change order or a scope revision from stalling a submittal.
For owners. Use the estimate to compare bids, check a contractor's numbers, or test a pro forma before you commit to a site. We flag scope gaps and alternates explicitly, so you can see what is excluded and what a design change will actually cost.
Select a bar to compare Everett with the largest Washington markets we cover.
565 new housing units in 2025 (-4.6% vs 2024).
130 single-family · 435 multifamily (77%).
The 2025 numbers tell you where the estimating work is. Everett permitted 565 new privately-owned residential units, down about 5% from 592 in 2024, with 435 of those units multifamily and 130 single-family. Multifamily is roughly 77% of the total, and the average permitted value works out to about $176,300 per unit across a permitted value near $100M. For a bidder, that means the competitive set is other multifamily GCs, and the estimate has to be accurate at the assembly level: unit-mix repetition, typical-floor takeoffs, and a clear count of wet walls, shaft walls and demising walls. Everett ranks 13th of 25 covered state cities by units and accounts for about 3.5% of the 16,004 units permitted across those cities, so it is a steady market rather than a spike. Compare that with the mix in Bellevue, where commercial and podium work dominates.
Two items move Everett budgets more than finishes do. First, ground: near the Snohomish River delta, the waterfront and older industrial parcels, you should expect fill, high groundwater and possible buried debris, which turns excavation, shoring, dewatering and disposal into priced line items. Second, code scope: mid-rise multifamily here typically requires NFPA 13 sprinklers, fire-rated floor and wall assemblies, elevator and stair pressurization scope, and Washington energy-code envelope values that raise insulation and glazing quantities. Confirm the adopted code editions with the city building department before you lock the scope, because the edition in effect at permit submittal governs. Our multi-family estimating services and sitework estimating services pages cover how we structure those packages.
We estimate the scopes that dominate Everett and Snohomish County — multifamily, marine-adjacent industrial, and the sitework that comes with both.
Unit-mix repetition, demising and shaft walls, podium decks and elevator counts for Everett's mid-rise residential pipeline.
SF · EA · LFOver-excavation, structural fill, dewatering and export haul for fill and high-groundwater parcels near the river.
CY · TON · LFFootings, slab-on-grade, mat slabs and retaining walls priced with formwork, rebar and pump access in mind.
CY · SF · TONWood-frame floors, roofs and shear walls for wrap and podium buildings, including hold-downs and hardware.
LF · SF · EATPO and modified-bitumen systems, tapered insulation and flashing quantities for low-slope multifamily roofs.
SF · LFPlumbing, HVAC and electrical counts for unit types, corridors and common areas, with sprinkler and riser scope noted.
EA · LF · TONTenant improvement takeoffs for retail, office and light industrial spaces in Everett's older building stock.
SF · LFLine-by-line comparison of subcontractor bids against our takeoff so scope gaps surface before award.
LS · EAYou are bidding wood-frame-over-podium and wrap buildings against GCs who know the Everett podium market. We give you footing CY, slab SF and wall LF by assembly so you can adjust markups instead of guessing at the shell.
Snohomish County subs bid against a short list of familiar competitors. A division-level takeoff with marked-up sheets lets you price your scope, exclude what you do not carry, and defend the number at buyout.
You are testing multifamily infill and port-adjacent sites before committing. We price over-excavation, dewatering and shoring as line items, so the pro forma reflects the fill and groundwater actually present under the site.
Your Everett permit set needs a cost check before it goes to the city. We read the drawings by CSI division and return quantities in Excel so your spec sections and your budget agree.
You are comparing bids or planning a capital repair on an older Everett building. We separate alternates and exclusions, so you can see what a scope change or a deferred item actually costs.
Everett and Snohomish County solicitations require unit-price backup. We format quantities by MasterFormat division so your bid form, schedule of values and buyout all trace to the same takeoff.
We take off plans for projects across Snohomish County and the wider Puget Sound region. If your site is in one of these areas, the sitework and foundation pricing will reflect the local ground conditions.
The city permitted 565 new privately-owned residential units in 2025, and 435 of them were multifamily. That mix drives what we price most often here: podium and wrap buildings, not detached houses.
Three-to-six-story wood frame over a concrete podium, common in Everett's multifamily pipeline. We take off the podium slab, transfer beams, fire-rated separations, elevator shaft and commercial shell separately from the residential floors above.
Watch for: Podium slab thickness, transfer beams, elevator pit waterproofing.
Stick-built apartments and townhome flats with tuck-under or surface parking. Quantities run by floor: plates, studs, sheathing, trusses or I-joists, and the fire-resistive assemblies between units and along property lines.
Watch for: Fire-rated wall assemblies, floor-ceiling ratings, shear nailing.
Ground-floor retail or restaurant under residential floors, often near Downtown Everett and the station area. The commercial kitchen, grease interceptor, hood and makeup air are priced as separate scopes from the residential MEP above.
Watch for: Kitchen exhaust, grease interceptor, separate utility metering.
Detached and attached homes on remaining lots and short plats, including narrow-lot and alley-access configurations. We price foundation, framing, roof and finishes by assembly, with sitework separated from the building.
Watch for: Narrow-lot access, retaining walls, utility trenching.
Buildings tied to the port, rail and Paine Field industrial areas, plus tenant improvements inside existing shells. Slab flatness, dock equipment, racking loads and fire protection drive the numbers more than the walls.
Watch for: Slab flatness, dock levelers, ESFR sprinkler demand.
Retail, office, clinic and school work across Snohomish County, including renovations of older downtown buildings. Renovation takeoffs require existing-condition verification, selective demolition quantities and phasing.
Watch for: Hazardous materials, existing structure, occupied-building phasing.
Everett sits on fill, tide-influenced ground and a hillside, and it permits under its own adopted codes. Those two facts move more of the estimate than finish selections do.
The city of Everett issues its own permits and enforces adopted editions of the International Building Code, International Residential Code, International Fire Code and Washington energy code. Plan review comments on fire-rated assemblies, egress and stormwater can require drawing revisions that change quantities. Confirm the adopted code edition and any local amendments with the Everett building department before you lock the estimate, and carry plan-review duration in the schedule.
City of Everett building department · IBC/IRC · Washington State Energy CodeSites near the Snohomish River, the waterfront and the former mill areas often sit on fill, old pilings and high groundwater. That means over-excavation, structural fill, dewatering, shoring and possibly deep foundations are real line items, not allowances. We price them from the geotechnical report and the site plan, and we flag where the report is silent so you can request clarification before bid.
Geotechnical report · Snohomish River · waterfront fillPuget Sound's wet season compresses the exterior envelope and sitework window, and western Washington seismic design categories drive hold-downs, anchor bolts and continuous load path detailing. Wind exposure on taller wood-frame buildings adds shear nailing and diaphragm fastening. We carry weather protection, temporary heat and sequencing costs that a dry-climate estimate would miss.
Seismic Design Category · wind exposure · wet-season sequencingEverett draws from the Seattle-area labor pool, and the Boeing, port and tech campuses compete for the same trades. Framers, electricians and sprinkler fitters can be tight, so we price realistic crew sizes and overtime where the schedule demands it. On public or tax-credit work, prevailing wage and certified payroll requirements change the labor rate we apply.
Prevailing wage · certified payroll · Snohomish County tradesEverett and Snohomish County stormwater rules can require flow control, water quality treatment, detention or infiltration, and the site plan may need low-impact development features. On sloped lots toward the south and east, retaining walls, shoring and export haul are priced separately. Critical areas near the river or shoreline can add buffers, setbacks and mitigation that change the usable footprint.
Stormwater manual · critical areas · low-impact developmentMost material reaches Everett by truck from Puget Sound suppliers, and disposal or export haul runs to regional facilities, so trucking distance and tip fees are visible in the sitework and demolition numbers. Downtown and station-area sites have limited laydown and lane closures to plan around. Washington's sales tax applies to materials, and we keep it as a separate line so you can see it.
Washington sales tax · disposal tip fees · downtown laydown limitsEverett's mix of hillside single-family, port-adjacent industrial, and dense multifamily infill means your takeoff has to handle steep sites, wet weather, and Snohomish County soils at the same time. Here is how that plays out division by division.
Much of Everett sits on glacial till, recessional outwash, and older fill near the waterfront and the Snohomish River delta. A takeoff that assumes balanced cut and fill usually misses the export line. We carry separate items for topsoil strip, unsuitable fill removal, structural fill import, and shoring or temporary slopes on hillside lots. On Port Gardner and north-end hillside parcels, you also see retaining walls and pin piles in the site package rather than the foundation package. Stormwater items — detention vaults, flow-control structures, and treatment — are driven by the local drainage manual, so confirm the adopted manual and thresholds with the city before you price. See our sitework estimating services for how we break these out.
Most Everett residential framing is dimension lumber with engineered floor systems and trussed roofs. We take off wall framing by linear foot of plate, count studs at the specified spacing, and add plates, headers, and blocking as separate items. Sheathing is measured by sheet with a waste factor that runs higher on steep or cut-up roofs. Hold-downs, shear nailing, and continuous load path hardware show up heavily in this market because of seismic and wind requirements, and they are commonly missed on first-pass bids. If you are pricing a multifamily building, our framing estimating services and multi-family estimating services pages show the level of detail we carry.
Everett residential work is largely forced-air heating with a heat pump or gas furnace, and multifamily projects often use VRF or split systems with dedicated ventilation. We take off ductwork by linear foot and fitting count, refrigerant line sets by run, and equipment by schedule. Plumbing is counted fixture by fixture with supply and drain lines measured separately, and we note whether the jurisdiction is on the Uniform Plumbing Code or the International Plumbing Code for the adopted edition. Electrical is taken off by device, fixture, panel, and feeder, with the service size driven by the load calculation. Our MEP estimating services team prices these divisions from the same plan set.
Slab-on-grade is common on flat lots, but hillside and delta-edge lots in Everett often go to crawlspace or pier-and-grade-beam. We take off footings by linear foot with width and depth, then convert to cubic yards, and we keep slab area separate from vapor barrier, rigid insulation, and welded-wire or fiber reinforcement. On multifamily podiums, post-tensioned slabs and mat foundations change the reinforcing ratio enough that we price them as their own line. Cold, wet curing conditions from October through April affect cure time and blanket requirements, so we note them rather than bury them in general conditions. Our concrete estimating services and foundation estimating services cover both residential and commercial scopes.
Everett's rain and wind exposure means the envelope package is not a place to round. We take off roofing by square, separating field, hips, ridges, valleys, and penetrations, and we add underlayment, ice-and-water membrane at eaves and valleys, and ventilation as their own lines. On steep or complex roofs, waste runs higher than the typical range you see quoted, so we show the factor instead of hiding it. Wall assemblies usually include a weather-resistive barrier, flashing at openings, and rainscreen detailing on multifamily. Windows and doors are counted by type and size, with flashing tape and sealant tracked separately. Our roofing estimating services page covers the takeoff format we use.
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.
Need the full takeoff with pricing? Upload your plans.
| Section | Line item | Qty | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 30 00 | Cast-in-place concrete, elevated slab | 1,850 | CY |
| 05 12 00 | Structural steel, podium framing | 42 | TON |
| 06 10 00 | Rough carpentry, wall framing | 18,400 | LF |
| 07 21 00 | Thermal insulation, exterior walls | 32,500 | SF |
| 07 30 00 | Steep-slope roofing, asphalt shingle | 118 | SQ |
| 08 11 00 | Metal doors and frames | 64 | EA |
| 09 29 00 | Gypsum board assemblies | 96,200 | SF |
| 23 31 00 | HVAC ductwork, galvanized | 3,750 | LF |
This walkthrough uses illustrative dimensions for a two-story duplex on a hillside lot near Port Gardner, not a specific project. The method is what matters: convert wall length to plate feet, then to studs, then apply waste.
Step 1 — Exterior wall length. Take the perimeter from the floor plan. For this example, the first floor is 32 ft by 44 ft, so the perimeter is 2 × (32 + 44) = 152 LF. The second floor is 24 ft by 44 ft, perimeter 2 × (24 + 44) = 136 LF. Total exterior wall length is 152 + 136 = 288 LF.
Step 2 — Plate feet. With 9-ft walls, each wall line has a bottom plate, a top plate, and a second top plate, so 3 plate lines × 9 ft = 27 LF of plate per LF of wall. Total plate feet is 288 × 27 = 7,776 LF. Add 5% for corners and openings: 7,776 × 1.05 = 8,165 LF.
Step 3 — Studs. At 16 in. on center, studs per foot of wall is 12 ÷ 16 = 0.75. Stud count is 288 × 0.75 = 216 studs, plus one extra stud at each end and each opening. For this example, assume 12 openings and 8 corners, so 216 + 20 = 236 studs. Add 10% waste for cutting and culling: 236 × 1.10 = 260 studs.
Step 4 — Sheathing. Wall area is 288 LF × 9 ft = 2,592 SF. Subtract openings: 12 openings averaging 20 SF each = 240 SF, leaving 2,352 SF. At 32 SF per 4x8 sheet, that is 2,352 ÷ 32 = 73.5 sheets. Add 10% waste for gable ends and cuts: 73.5 × 1.10 = 81 sheets.
Step 5 — Hardware. Hold-downs, anchor bolts, and shear nailing are counted from the structural sheets, not estimated. On this hillside site, expect extra hardware at the stepped foundation and at the garage-to-house connection.
| Step | Calculation | Result | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall length | 2 × (32+44) + 2 × (24+44) | 288 | LF |
| Plate feet | 288 × 27 × 1.05 | 8,165 | LF |
| Studs | 288 × 0.75 + 20, × 1.10 | 260 | EA |
| Sheathing | (2,592 − 240) ÷ 32 × 1.10 | 81 | SH |
If you are pricing a similar duplex, send the plans and we will return a takeoff organized by division with the same line-item detail. Our residential estimating services page shows the format.
Yes. We read the geotechnical report and the civil sheets before we price earthwork. On hillside lots near Port Gardner and along the Snohomish River delta, that usually means separate lines for unsuitable fill removal, structural fill import, shoring or temporary slopes, and retaining walls. If the geotech report is not available, we note the assumption and flag the risk so you can carry a contingency. We do not guess at soil conditions; we price what the documents show and list what is missing.
We do not price permit fees or system development charges unless you ask us to. What we do is list the permit and plan review items as exclusions so they do not disappear from your bid. We also note the code edition the drawings reference — IBC, IRC, IECC, NEC, and the plumbing and mechanical codes — because the adopted edition affects insulation, ventilation, and seismic detailing. Confirm the current adopted editions and any local amendments with the City of Everett building department before you finalize your number.
Most Everett projects are returned in 24 to 48 hours. That covers residential, commercial, and multifamily plan sets of typical size. Rush turnaround is available if your bid date is tight. We deliver Excel and PDF files organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets so you can see what we measured. If your project is large or the drawings are incomplete, we will tell you upfront what the realistic schedule is rather than promise a date we cannot meet.
Yes. We cover the greater Puget Sound region, including Bellevue, Kent, Renton, Federal Way, Vancouver, and Spokane Valley. Pricing is adjusted by ZIP code for material and labor, so an estimate for Bellevue will not carry the same unit costs as one for Everett. If your project is in another part of Washington, start with our Washington construction estimating page and we will confirm coverage and pricing basis for that location.
The permit figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey for 2025. They count new privately-owned residential units permitted by the city itself. That means the 565 total units, 130 single-family units, and 435 multifamily units are residential only. They do not include commercial, industrial, or public projects, and they do not include unincorporated Snohomish County. Use them as a signal of residential volume, not as a full picture of construction activity in Everett.
Yes. Multifamily is a large share of Everett's residential permits, and we regularly take off podium and post-tensioned structures. That means separating mat or spread footings from slab-on-grade, pricing post-tensioned reinforcing by weight rather than by area, and carrying the shoring and formwork as their own lines. We also break out the above-grade framing, envelope, and MEP by building type. Our multi-family estimating services page describes the deliverable in more detail.
We use ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing with RSMeans data as the base, then adjust for the local market. That means the labor rates reflect the Everett area rather than a national average. We do not publish wage rates because they change and because prevailing wage projects follow a different schedule. If your project is subject to prevailing wage or a project labor agreement, tell us at the start so we price the correct labor basis.
Send the plan set, specifications, and any geotechnical or civil reports you have. If there is a bid form or a scope narrative, include that too. We will confirm the project type, the square footage, and the bid date, then return a takeoff organized by CSI MasterFormat division with marked-up plans. If the drawings are missing a sheet or a detail, we will list it as a clarification rather than assume a scope. The more complete the documents, the fewer assumptions end up in your bid.
Yes. Everett's port and waterfront support industrial and logistics work, and we take those projects off the same way we take off commercial work: by division, with equipment, foundations, and process systems broken out. Industrial scopes often include heavy foundations, structural steel, and process piping that do not appear on residential or commercial plans. If your project is industrial, send the drawings and we will confirm the divisions we will carry. Our industrial estimating services page covers the typical scope.
We price material and labor by ZIP code, using RSMeans data as the baseline and adjusting for the Everett market. That means concrete, lumber, and mechanical equipment reflect local costs rather than a national average. We do not publish a starting price because project scope varies too much. What we do publish is the deliverable: Excel and PDF files organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets. If you want a quote for a specific project, send the plans through our get an estimate page.
Send your plan set and bid date, and we will return a division-organized takeoff in 24 to 48 hours.