Work record / Estimating / Nevada multifamily value engineering
Panel system against stick framing on a 204-unit Nevada multifamily
A developer's budget assumed stick framing, the method every lender in that market already knows how to underwrite. We were asked to price the panel system against it, and I wanted every constant where a reader could check it.
The seat
I did the value engineering for LÏEF Development in January 2026. The project is in Nevada.
| Sector | Multifamily development |
|---|---|
| Type of work | Value engineering and system comparison |
| Where | Nevada |
| Years | January 2026 |
| How long | Under one month |
| Through | LÏEF Development |
| Credits | Common Ground Jesse Fowler, Value engineering, LÏEF Development |
What I was brought in to decide
A developer carried a 204-unit multifamily project in Nevada: two-story duplex buildings sharing a party wall. The budget was stick-framed, the assumption that every contractor, appraiser and lender there already knows how to underwrite.
A manufacturer of a structural panel system, one LÏEF prices and builds, brought us the project. The ask was a budgetary comparison: the same building framed conventionally, then on the system. LÏEF had an interest in the low side, so the comparison said so up front and kept every constant where an outside reader could check it.
What we did
- Before pricing anything I fixed the basis: slab plus structure, vertical construction only. Site work, amenities and off-site utilities stayed out on both sides, and finish allowances were identical, so any gap could only come from the structure.
- For the stick side I took the midpoint of the market's budgetary range for wood-frame multifamily and printed the range next to it, so it would not be read as a hard bid.
- I listed what the system can physically affect: wall insulation, exterior paint, trim, siding, roofing, roof sheathing, and the structural and roof framing. I pinned everything else as unchanged for both sides.
- Full scope on the developer's own plan set priced the system side: 102 two-story buildings with two dwellings each. That replaced the manufacturer's sample-wall arithmetic.
- I stated the variance on the difference between the two numbers, at subcontractor buyout, which is where a budgetary figure meets the market.
- My work ended at a per-square-foot rate, with the basis and the variance beside it. A project total has to wait until there is a measured quantity and a bottom-up trade build.
- LÏEF took two standing rules from this for its own estimating. A basis sheet goes in front of every system comparison, and a project total never leaves the shop as a rate times an area.
Results
- In January 2026, on identical scope, the panel system priced at $154.70 per square foot, system-adjusted, and the stick-framed midpoint was $167.50. The margin held through its buyout variance.
- The difference was smaller than the benchmark's own budgetary range is wide. My recommendation was a hard bid on each side before anyone banked the figure.
- The choice of structural system stayed with the developer, who made it with the constants and the width of every number in view.
The lesson
A rate is not a total. Give the number with its basis and stop, because a total is a separate claim that nobody has asked for yet.
Firm record
Common Ground keeps its own account of this engagement: Nevada multifamily value engineering on the Common Ground wiki.