Multifamily FF&E budget per door: real Class A/B/C numbers for 2026
Jose Cabrera · May 27, 2026
A developer in Doral walked into an 80-unit Class B value-add deal last quarter with $8,000 per door pencilled in for FF&E. He had benchmarked against the last project his cousin built in 2023, added a buffer, and felt comfortable. The GC came back with $14,000 per door. The gap was not unit pricing. It was scope. He had budgeted cabinets, countertops, tile, vanities and doors. He had not budgeted lighting, plumbing fixtures, or door and cabinet hardware. Those three categories alone add $2,100 to $3,600 per door at the Class B tier, and at 80 units that is $168,000 to $288,000 in scope he simply never put on the spreadsheet.
This is the most common reason multifamily FF&E budgets fail. Not bad quotes. Forgotten categories.
Use the Multifamily FF&E Budget Per Door Calculator to build the full eight-category number for your tier before you set the budget. This article walks through what the real ranges look like, what each tier feels like in a finished unit, and where import sourcing actually changes the math.
What FF&E actually means in multifamily
FF&E stands for Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment. In multifamily ground-up and value-add work, the term has a narrower working definition than the textbook one: it is everything that is bolted, mounted, or installed inside the unit that is not part of the structure or the mechanical systems.
Eight categories carry the bulk of the spend, and the per-door budget rises or falls based on these:
- Cabinets (kitchen uppers, lowers, and any built-in storage)
- Countertops (kitchen and bath, in stone, quartz, or solid surface)
- Tile (kitchen backsplash, bathroom floors and walls, sometimes entry foyer)
- Vanities (bathroom vanity cabinets, sinks installed in them)
- Doors (interior unit doors, closet doors, the unit entry door is sometimes separate)
- Sanitary (toilets, tubs, showers, faucets, drains)
- Lighting (fixtures, ceiling fans, vanity bars, recessed cans)
- Hardware (door knobs, cabinet pulls, towel bars, robe hooks)
Appliances (range, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer) are almost always tracked on a separate line. They have their own supply chains, their own warranty handling, and a different procurement cycle. If a developer hands you a "$12k per door FF&E" number, ask whether appliances are inside or outside that figure. The answer changes the total budget by $1,800 to $3,500 per unit.
The three tiers, defined
The word "multifamily" hides a 5x spread in finish budget. The difference is the rent tier the asset is built for, and the rent tier dictates the finish vocabulary.
Class C, workforce housing. Rents in the $1,000 to $1,600 range in most Sun Belt markets. Built or renovated for working renters who care about square footage and price, not finish flash. The finish vocabulary is durable, plain, and replaceable: white shaker thermofoil cabinets, granite or laminate countertops, ceramic floor tile, basic chrome hardware. Owners and asset managers underwrite to a long hold and a steady cash flow. They are buying products that survive five years of tenant turnover without needing replacement.
Class B, mid-market. Rents $1,600 to $2,800. Built for young professionals, dual-income households, families moving up from Class C. The finish vocabulary upgrades meaningfully: plywood-carcass shaker cabinets with soft-close hardware, low-tier quartz countertops, wood-look porcelain tile in baths, undermount sinks, mid-tier plumbing fixtures from Moen or Delta. The look is contemporary, the materials are real but not extravagant. This is the deepest part of the multifamily market and where most value-add capital is deployed.
Class A, luxury. Rents $2,800 and up, often well above $4,000 in core urban submarkets. Built for high-income renters who are choosing not to buy, or choosing to rent in a specific neighborhood. The finish vocabulary is full custom feel even when products are spec-grade: paneled or thermofoil-with-edge-banding shaker cabinets, premium quartz or natural stone, large-format porcelain or imported ceramic tile, glass shower enclosures, designer-brand lighting, smart locks and integrated controls. The unit must feel like a condo.
Confusing these tiers in the budget is the second most common mistake after forgotten categories. A Class A spec on a Class B asset destroys returns. A Class C spec on a Class A asset destroys lease-up.
The per-door numbers by tier
These are the working ranges that multifamily developers in Florida, Texas, and Georgia are quoting against in 2026, broken out by category. The ranges reflect actual GC quotes from Nexo verified suppliers and from Class A/B/C developer case studies tracked over the last twelve months.
| Category | Class C workforce | Class B mid-market | Class A luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabinets | $1,200 to $2,200 | $2,200 to $3,800 | $4,000 to $7,000 |
| Countertops | $600 to $1,100 | $1,200 to $2,200 | $2,500 to $4,500 |
| Tile | $500 to $1,000 | $1,000 to $1,800 | $2,000 to $3,500 |
| Vanities | $400 to $800 | $800 to $1,400 | $1,500 to $2,500 |
| Doors | $400 to $700 | $700 to $1,200 | $1,200 to $2,000 |
| Sanitary | $500 to $900 | $900 to $1,500 | $1,500 to $2,500 |
| Lighting | $400 to $700 | $800 to $1,400 | $1,500 to $2,500 |
| Hardware | $200 to $400 | $400 to $700 | $800 to $1,500 |
| Per-door total | $5,500 to $9,500 | $10,000 to $16,000 | $18,000 to $28,000 |
Source: Nexo verified supplier quotes + 5 developer case studies, 2025-2026. Excludes appliances, paint, flooring (LVT/carpet), and millwork.
What each tier feels like when you walk a finished unit:
Class C. The kitchen has a 9-foot run of shaker uppers and lowers with a 30-inch range, granite or laminate counter, a single basin stainless sink, chrome faucet. The bathroom has a 30-inch vanity with cultured marble top, ceramic tile floor, a chrome shower trim, a basic round-globe vanity light. It is clean and functional, not memorable.
Class B. The kitchen has 10 to 12 feet of plywood-carcass shaker cabinets, soft-close drawers, low-tier quartz with a 4-inch backsplash or a simple subway tile run, a stainless undermount sink, a brushed-nickel pull-down faucet. The bathroom has a 36-inch vanity, quartz top, wood-look porcelain floor, a frameless mirror, a 3-bulb vanity bar. The look is contemporary and the products are real. This is what most renters in the $2,000 range expect.
Class A. The kitchen is paneled or has integrated handle pulls, full-height backsplash, premium quartz or marble-look porcelain slab counters, a workstation sink, a Moen Smart or Delta Trinsic-class faucet. The bathroom has a 48-inch float vanity, frameless glass shower enclosure, large-format tile to the ceiling, a designer-brand pendant or sconce. Every surface signals price.
Common areas: the budget line developers under-count
The per-door numbers above are unit-only. They do not include the lobby, the corridors, the amenity deck, the fitness room, the package room, the leasing center. Common areas are budgeted on top of the per-door FF&E figure, and the working benchmarks are:
- Lobby-only common area finishes: roughly $250 per door amortized across the unit count
- Lobby + corridors + amenity room + leasing center: roughly $800 per door amortized
A 100-unit Class B project with a lobby plus standard amenity package is therefore looking at $80,000 of additional FF&E spend on common areas, on top of the $1.0 million to $1.6 million in unit-level FF&E. A 100-unit Class B project with lobby only is looking at $25,000.
If you are running the math on a value-add deal where the common areas are also being refreshed, do not skip this line. It is small enough to forget and large enough to derail the close.
The import-savings layer
The per-door ranges above reflect domestic supplier pricing: distributors, wholesalers, and design centers that mark up imported product two to four times over factory cost. Direct-from-factory sourcing through a verified supplier compresses those margins meaningfully, but the savings rate is different at each tier.
Class C: roughly 50 percent savings on the FF&E line. Workforce-tier products are commodity SKUs. Standard shaker thermofoil cabinets, basic granite, ceramic tile, chrome plumbing trim. There is no spec compromise required to source these direct. The Vietnam and Mexico factories that produce them for US distributors will sell to a developer at the same factory price the distributor pays. A Class C project budgeted at $7,500 per door domestically lands closer to $3,800 per door direct, on the same spec.
Class B: roughly 40 percent savings on the FF&E line. Mid-market spec carries some custom requirements (specific quartz veining, soft-close brand specification, CARB Phase 2 certification), but the products are still mostly imported. The factories Nexo works with in Vietnam, Mexico, and Spain can hit Class B spec at the price points a US distributor pays. A 100-unit Class B project budgeted at $1.0 million to $1.6 million domestically lands at $600,000 to $960,000 imported direct.
Class A: roughly 30 percent savings on the FF&E line. Luxury spec mixes imported and domestic-only product. Designer-brand lighting, certain premium plumbing trim, and select natural stones are sourced from US or European brand reps that do not sell direct at factory cost. The savings on cabinets, countertops, tile, vanities, and basic plumbing still apply, but a portion of the FF&E budget remains at distributor pricing.
The caveat on all three tiers is the cost of going direct: storage at a Miami or Houston warehouse, working capital tied up in inventory 60 to 90 days before installation, and lead times that require the project schedule to be built around procurement instead of the other way around. A developer who does not have warehouse space or the cash flow to fund inventory before draw cycles cannot capture these savings.
Run your specific savings on the Import vs Domestic Savings Calculator before you budget either way. For the cabinet-specific cost breakdown that drives most of the savings, cabinets direct-manufacturer sourcing walks through where each dollar of distributor margin goes.
What kills FF&E budgets
Three patterns account for the majority of FF&E overruns on multifamily projects.
Forgotten categories. The Doral developer at the top of this article. He budgeted five categories out of eight. Lighting, plumbing fixtures, and hardware add $1,400 to $3,600 per door at Class B. At 80 units, that is six figures of scope that was never in the budget. The fix is mechanical: use the full eight-category checklist on every budget pass.
Spec creep mid-project. A Class B development that decides at month four to upgrade to glass shower enclosures and large-format tile in the master baths because the leasing team is worried about a competing lease-up across the street. That single decision adds $1,500 to $2,500 per door. On 100 units, $150,000 to $250,000 of unbudgeted spend. Spec creep is rarely a single dramatic decision. It is six small decisions made over four months, each defensible in isolation, each adding $100 to $400 per door.
Assuming the GC quote includes import savings. It never does. A GC who quotes $14,000 per door is quoting against the distributors they have credit relationships with. They are not buying direct from Vietnam or Mexico. The 30 to 50 percent savings on the FF&E line is captured only if the developer or the owner controls the sourcing and ships the product to the GC for installation. The GC quote and the imported FF&E quote are two different exercises and need to be priced separately.
The mechanical fix for all three: build the budget category-by-category using the full eight-category framework, lock the spec on a per-tier basis before procurement starts, and run the imported vs domestic comparison before signing the GC contract. The Multifamily FF&E Budget Per Door Calculator handles the first part. The Import vs Domestic Savings Calculator handles the third. For vanity-specific sourcing where the savings tend to be largest on a per-unit basis, the RTA bathroom vanities sourcing guide covers the factory-direct path in detail.
Source FF&E direct through Nexo
Nexo sources cabinets, countertops, tile, vanities, doors, and sanitary fixtures from verified factories in Vietnam, Mexico, Spain, and Italy for multifamily developers in the Southeast US. Every quote is landed Miami, includes the per-tier spec verification, and covers pre-shipment inspection.
For projects of 50 doors or more, we will run a landed cost comparison across the eight FF&E categories against your current GC or distributor pricing. Submit your project details here.