Announcing: AVAproject Multifamily Module

Multifamily construction has become the single fastest growing segment of the architectural industry in recent years. Driven primarily by rising market prices, increased construction of multifamily housing is a trend that looks to continue well into the future.

Multifamily housing is a broad term which encompasses a variety of residences, but usually refers to a single building containing multiple units to accommodate several families - or individuals - living separately. The most common examples of multifamily projects include duplexes, townhouses, and mixed-use low- and high-rise apartments and condominiums.

Even as housing becomes increasingly unaffordable for many, large metropolitan cities remain popular destinations for employment opportunities, convenient access to public transportation, and variety of shopping and entertainment options. Multifamily housing bridges the gap between cost and demand.

From a construction perspective, constructing multiple units on a single lot offers a more lucrative solution over building a single-family dwelling on the same amount of land. Further, multifamily units are often built according to standardized plans and processes which, when used repeatedly over multiple projects, offers additional cost savings.

AVAware is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the AVAproject Multifamily Module. This optional add-on package for AVAproject provides a powerful set of tools and features specifically designed to ease and assist in the detailing, estimating and management of multifamily construction projects.

Openings Lists

Building upon the popular division 8 'hardware list' and division 10 'accessory' and 'partition' lists currently found in AVAproject, the 'openings list' allows users to define standard opening types that can be referenced throughout a given project.

Standard openings can be established based on architects' definitions or by the estimator to facilitate the repetitive entry of common opening types. As is the case with hardware list items, changes made to items in the openings list are instantly reflected throughout the project where those items are used. This ensures that these standard opening types remain consistent throughout and prevents errors caused by missed items when changes are made.

The new openings "short codes" can be used to quickly add these predefined openings types to both openings schedules and the newly added 'openings groups'.

Openings Groups

Undoubtedly the most powerful feature of the AVAproject Multifamily Module is the ability to create 'openings groups'. As the name implies, openings groups are groups of the openings that can be reused throughout a project. In practice, these "groups" are used to define standard "suites" or "units" within a multifamily project.

Once a "group" or "suite" has been defined, it can be added to an openings schedule simply by referencing the assigned group name and assigning it an openings (suite) number within the project. It's no longer necessary to copy and paste openings for each and every suite in a multifamily project. With a single openings group reference, the work is done! Best of all, when changes are made to the openings within the group/suite, those changes are propagated throughout the project with no chance of error. AVAproject will even mirror suite handing automatically to provide normal and reversed versions of suites.

These powerful new features along with a variety of enhanced reporting and exporting tools make the AVAproject Multifamily Module an essential add-on for any distributor servicing the multifamily construction segment.

The module itself is scheduled for release in the fall of 2022, along with the newest release of AVAproject. In the interim, early demonstrations are available on request for existing users of AVAproject.

For additional information on the AVAware Multifamily add-on module, please contact your AVAware support representative, or visit the AVAware website at: www.AVAware.com