Multi-Family Renovations

Treating the building as one project

A triple-decker or a six-unit building is not three or six separate jobs. The roof, the porches, the stairs, the basement and the building's systems serve everybody, and the units sit stacked on the same framing and the same drain lines. We start with a walk of the whole building, top to bottom, including the basement and any attic space, before anyone talks about cabinets.

That walk turns into a written scope organized by building and by unit: the work that serves everyone, then each unit's own list. It shows you where the money goes and what depends on what. A new bathroom on the third floor, for example, may depend on the condition of a waste stack that runs through the two units below it.

Owners and investors often come to us with a plan that assumes a certain number of units back online by a certain month. We would rather be honest early about whether the building supports that plan than discover halfway through that the second-floor joists were notched for plumbing decades ago.

Basements in these buildings say a lot. Fieldstone or brick foundations, old cast iron and galvanized lines, several generations of wiring, and sometimes three heating systems side by side. We look at all of it on the first walk, because what we find down there changes how the upper floors get planned.

Stairs, halls and the way out

In a multi-family building, egress matters most to the building department and to the people who live there. Rear stairs and porches on older triple-deckers are often the second way out of each unit, and they take a beating from New England weather. Rotted stringers, loose railings and porch framing pulling away from the house are common, and we look at them first, because everything else comes second to people getting out.

Common halls get their own attention: treads and risers that are uneven, handrails that stop short of the full flight, doors that do not close and latch. Work on fire separations between units or on alarm systems is permitted and inspected, and fire alarm and sprinkler work is done by the licensed trades that hold those licenses. We coordinate them and keep you informed.

Under the Massachusetts building code, 780 CMR, a renovation of this size usually brings the building department into the conversation early, and many projects on buildings of three or more units need drawings from a registered design professional. We tell you at the start if your scope is likely to need them.

Basement and attic stairs count too, especially where tenants use them for storage or laundry. Uneven risers and missing handrails there cause as many falls as the main stairs do.

You also get the products, colors and fixture models used in each unit, so future turnovers match.

Renovating with tenants still at home

Very few owners can empty a whole building. So the work gets phased: one unit at a time while it is vacant, common areas on a schedule the tenants know about, exterior work when the weather allows. Tenants get notice before work affects their unit, their water or their power, and shutoffs are kept as short as the licensed trades can make them.

Most triple-deckers in Massachusetts cities were built well before 1978, so lead-safe work practices under the EPA renovation rule are the default in common halls and occupied units alike. Containment and cleanup matter more when people are living on the other side of the plastic.

We leave the halls clear and walkable at the end of every day. A tenant coming home at night should not find a pile of lumber on the landing or an open hole where a stair tread used to be. If something has to stay open overnight, it gets blocked off, marked and lit.

Some tenants need a little more. An older resident who cannot manage stairs while a rear porch is being rebuilt, a family with a baby during a week of noisy demo. We work with you on schedules and notice so those situations are handled ahead of time rather than in a phone call to you at dinner.

Porches, siding and the outside of a three-decker

The outside of an older multi-family building usually needs as much as the inside. Siding laid over original clapboard, trim rotted at the porch roofs, windows that rattle, and gutters that let ice dams build along the eaves are all typical. Buildings on the South Coast also see faster wear from salt air on fasteners and paint.

Exterior work on a three-story building means staging or lifts, and that means planning around the yard, the driveway and the tenants' cars. We lay out the sequence so the porches are rebuilt before the siding goes back around them, and so the roof is tight before the interior ceilings below it get finished.

If the building sits in a local historic district, the commission reviews exterior changes, and that review comes before the building permit. We put it in the schedule rather than treating it as a surprise.

Insulation and air sealing done while walls are open follows the energy code your town has adopted, and many Massachusetts towns use the stretch energy code. It is easier to meet while the siding is off than at any later point.

Keeping an owner informed on a long job

A whole-building renovation runs longer than a single unit, and owners deserve to know where it stands without chasing anyone. You get regular updates in plain words: what got done, what was found, what the next inspection is and whether the date for the next unit is holding. Changes get written down and agreed before the work happens.

Steve started this company after years of working for contractors who did not keep their customers informed. On a building with tenants, a lender and sometimes a partner involved, that habit of clear updates is worth as much as the carpentry.

When the last unit is done, we walk the whole building with you, common areas included, and finish every item on the list before calling it complete. You also get the products, colors and fixture models used in each unit, so future turnovers match.

See the rest of our commercial work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.