Multifamily projects
A multifamily job repeats itself: the same trades, in the same order, on every floor of every building. That repetition is what makes it manageable and also what makes it easy to lose track of, because a problem on one floor looks exactly like the same problem on the next. This page is about structure. It shows how to set up the schedule, the folders and the records in Fidrel so that each activity, drawing and defect belongs to a building and a floor from the start.
30 days free · No long-term contract.
The framing crew finishes level 2 of building A while level 4 of building B has barely started. A single flat list of activities hides which floor is ahead and which is behind, and the superintendent has to carry that picture in memory.
A report says the drywall is damaged on the third floor. Which building? Reports that name no location are sorted by memory, and the fix is delayed by a phone call that should not have been needed.
Typical drawings are reused with small changes between buildings. A folder tree that does not separate them makes it too easy to hand a crew a sheet from the wrong building, with the right sheet number.
The schedule is built in several levels. A group’s progress is calculated from its subactivities, and its dates follow them, so a floor shows how far it has come without anyone typing a percentage on the group. Because a copied floor arrives with its internal dependencies and no progress, the second floor costs minutes, not an afternoon. Pasted rows keep the dates they were copied with, so move the new group to its place by dragging it. A schedule can hold up to 3,000 activities, which is room for a campus of several buildings at the level of detail described here.
Scheduling
Documents sit in folders, and a folder or a single document can be locked to selected people. The Import center can build the whole tree from a CSV with one folder path per line, such as a building, then a discipline, and it creates the folders without files. On the records, Work area / location is a text field, and the list of daily reports, NCRs and change orders can be filtered by typing part of it. Fidrel keeps no list of buildings to choose from, so the discipline is yours: write Building A, Level 3 the same way every time and the filter will find it.
Step 1
Use one schedule with a branch for each building, or one schedule for each building. A project can have several schedules. One schedule with branches gives a single view of the whole job; separate schedules keep each building simple.
Step 2
Add an activity for the building, then use New activity here and Make subactivity of the one above to put a floor under it and the trades under the floor. Move up one level and Detach from the group fix a row that landed in the wrong place.
Step 3
Finish the rows of one floor, with their dependencies. Select them, copy with Ctrl+C and paste after the last row you want them under. The pasted rows keep their structure and the links among them, and come back as new work with nothing done.
Step 4
Set dependencies between the floors, with a lag in working days where one trade must clear before the next arrives. Then save a baseline, and Variance shows the difference in days against the baseline finish.
Step 5
Create a folder for each building, or load the tree from a CSV of folder paths in the Import center. On a daily report, NCR or RFI, type the building and floor in the Work area / location field so the list can be filtered by it.
The schedule can be filtered by status, responsible person and discipline, and groups can be collapsed to one line per building. An RFI or issue that is linked to an activity as blocking makes it show as Blocked while that question is open, so a stuck floor stands out. On a phone, the schedule can be shown as a list grouped by overdue, this week, next week and later, which is how a superintendent on the third floor tends to read it. A daily report that points to a defect can start an NCR with the location already filled in.
Fidrel does not track individual apartments or units, residents or leasing. It has no separate unit-level punch list module; a deficiency is an NCR or an issue with a location you type. Nothing in the schedule is created from the building’s drawings, and the structure above is something the team builds.
Your trial applies to your first own project and starts when that project is created. No card required. Afterwards, choose card or invoice to continue.
The project system of the future connects people, documents and decisions. Discover the thinking behind Fidrel.
Read more
On site, answers need to be close at hand. Fidrel displays DWG drawings in your mobile browser, within the project’s document structure.
Read more
When everyone can see the next step, moving the project forward becomes easier. Fidrel brings activities, dates and reported progress together in a shared Gantt view.
Read moreMultifamily projects
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usPut the building at the top of an outline, each floor under it, and the trades under each floor. Build one floor with its dependencies, then copy and paste it for the others and move each copy to its dates.
Either works. One schedule with a branch for each building gives a single view of the job, and a project can also hold several schedules if each building is easier to manage on its own.
Type it in the Work area / location field of the daily report, NCR or RFI, and filter the list by part of it. The location carries over when you start a change order or an NCR from a report.
Yes. The Import center creates folders from a CSV with one path per line, without any files, and merges them with folders of the same name that already exist.
No. Fidrel organizes the job by building and floor and by the location you type on a record. It has no list of units, no resident or leasing records and no unit-level punch list.
