Every sign in a multi-family package: a takeoff checklist by area

A large multi-family project means a sign for every unit, amenity and door, a takeoff before every bid and a permit set for every building. That's the work our workflows were built on at Zealot Signs. The checklist below goes area by area and says, for each sign, whether a code requires it or the owner's program does.

Who requires what

The rule that trips up multi-family takeoffs: the ADA doesn't apply to strictly residential facilities. A rental office is a place of public accommodation, and common areas are covered only if they aren't limited to residents and their guests. The Fair Housing Act's design rules cover public and common use areas and the units, but they list no signage. The building and fire codes cover the stairs, elevators, exits and address numbers wherever they're adopted.

The checklist, area by area

Site and parking

• Entry or monument sign: the owner's program, with a sign permit where the zoning code requires one.
• Address numbers on every building: visible from the street, contrasting with the background, at least 4 inches high with a 1/2-inch stroke, and never spelled out (IFC 505.1).
• Accessible parking signs: the International Symbol of Accessibility, "van accessible" at van spaces, and the bottom of the sign at least 60 inches above the ground (ADA 502.6). Lots with four or fewer spaces, and spaces assigned to specific units, are exempt (216.5).
• Building, entrance and visitor signs: the owner's program.

Leasing office and amenities

• Leasing office room IDs and restrooms: raised characters and braille under the ADA (216.2), because the office is a public accommodation.
• Amenity room IDs (clubroom, fitness, business center): tactile where the ADA applies, and the owner's standard where it doesn't.
• Posted occupant load in assembly rooms such as a clubroom, where the building code requires it (IBC 1004.9).
• Pool signs: the state or county health code sets them; check it before you price the package.

Corridors and apartments

• Apartment entry signs: the owner's program. The ADA doesn't cover private apartment doors and the Fair Housing Act lists no signage, so the size, the copy and whether they're tactile are the owner's spec.
• Directional signs to unit ranges, amenities, elevators and stairs, at each corridor decision point.
• Room IDs for trash, mail and package rooms and other resident common rooms.

Stairs and elevators

• Stair identification signs at each floor landing in interior exit stairways connecting more than three stories: the floor level, the top and bottom terminus, the stair's ID, the story of and direction to the exit discharge, and roof access. The bottom of the sign sits at least 5 feet above the landing, and the sign is at least 18 by 12 inches (IBC 1023.9).
• Tactile floor-level signs in visual characters, raised characters and braille at each floor-level landing beside the door into the corridor, where floor-level signs are provided (IBC 1023.11).
• Raised-character and braille EXIT signs at the doors to exit stairways, exit passageways and exit discharge (IBC 1013.4).
• Elevator fire signs beside every call station on every floor: IN CASE OF FIRE, ELEVATORS ARE OUT OF SERVICE. USE EXIT STAIRS. (IBC 3002.3). Elevators that are part of an accessible means of egress are an exception.
• Area of refuge signs, directions and instructions, where the building has areas of refuge (IBC 1009.9 to 1009.11).

Back of house

• Fire riser and fire alarm control rooms, identified for the fire department, durable and readily visible, in the wording the fire official approves (IFC 509.1).
• Electrical, mechanical, telecom and storage rooms: the owner's program, unless the space is in an ADA-covered area.

How to count it

1. 01

   Count by building, then floor

   So the takeoff lines up with phasing, and with a permit set for every building.

2. 02

   Take apartment signs from the unit matrix

   Not from one floor plan. Confirm the unit numbers the owner will use; they can differ from the plan's.

3. 03

   Count stairs by landing

   One stair identification sign per floor landing per stair, and one tactile floor-level sign per corridor door.

4. 04

   Count elevators by call station

   One fire sign per call station on every floor.

5. 05

   Count directional signs by decision point

   Every elevator lobby and corridor junction, on every floor.

6. 06

   Sort the list

   Mark each line code-required, the owner's program or open, so the client sees what they're choosing and what they aren't.

What changes with a takeoff workflow

On a multi-family job the takeoff multiplies: the same sign family repeats on every floor of every building, and one missed stair landing repeats with it. The takeoff workflow reads the plans floor by floor, places and counts every sign, schedules the copy and braille and lists the open items, and your estimator checks it. See a real takeoff, sheet by sheet, on the sign takeoff workflow page, and the rules behind tactile signs in the ADA sign takeoff checklist.