What order should lease-up furniture be installed in?
Lease-up furniture should be installed in the order the leasing team needs it: the leasing office and the model units first, the amenity spaces next and the unit-level furniture last. Each space is finished before the first person is shown it.
- The leasing office: where the team works and where every tour starts
- The model units: what is shown on every tour and used in the marketing
- The amenity spaces: the lounge and clubhouse, the fitness center, the outdoor amenity areas
- The unit-level furniture: floor by floor, in the order units are released and leased
That order is the default, not a rule. A building whose clubhouse is released before its model units starts with the clubhouse. What does not change is the method behind multifamily furniture installation: work back from the day each space has to be shown, and install to that.
Why does the install order follow the opening date and the tours?
The install order follows the opening date and the tours because a lease-up is usually leased before it is finished. The leasing team signs residents while the building is still being built, so the spaces on the tour have to be ready first, and the opening date sets the order for everything after them.
Work back from the dates. The first tour fixes the date for the leasing office and the models, the grand opening fixes it for the amenities, and each move-in date fixes it for its unit. Put them on one calendar and the install order follows from it.
Then ask the suppliers to deliver in that order. A delivery schedule set item by item can land the unit packages before the leasing office furniture, and a crew can only build what has arrived. Pre-opening deadlines and grand openings are what we plan around, and the plan holds when the deliveries are booked to it.
What goes into the leasing office, and why is it first?
The leasing office takes desks and task chairs for the team, reception and lounge seating for prospects, and storage. It goes first because the leasing team works from it on its first day, and a building can open with floors still being furnished but not with a leasing team that has nowhere to sit.
Where the leasing office sits inside the clubhouse, the two can be one zone, built together.
Pre-leasing often starts before the permanent office is ready, from a model unit or a temporary space on site. That space is furnished first. When the permanent office opens, the furniture can be taken apart and rebuilt there, since moving pieces between areas of the same site is part of the job.
What does a model unit install involve?
A model unit install is the unit's furniture package built and placed to the designer's plan, then cleared of packaging so it can be toured and photographed. Models come early because prospects lease from them, so a late model holds up the whole leasing calendar, not one apartment.
Each piece is built in the manufacturer's order, leveled to the floor and placed to the layout, not where the cartons landed. The approach is the same as our model unit setup work, where rooms are ready for photography the same day.
Models are often finished while the floor around them is still a construction site. Tell us when the tours run, and the work in the units next to a model is sequenced around the tour times rather than through them.
When do the amenity spaces get furnished?
The amenity spaces are furnished once the general contractor releases them, and before the tours or the residents reach them. They are often among the last parts of a building to be finished, which is why they sit third in the order rather than first.
Each is a different kind of install. The lounge and clubhouse are furniture placed to the designer's plan, and they are the rooms a prospect remembers. The fitness center is heavy equipment, built in the room in the manufacturer's order, leveled and placed to the floor plan. Outdoor amenity furniture on the pool deck or in the courtyard is set to the surface it stands on, which is rarely flat.
A coworking room, if the building has one, goes in with them.
How is unit-level furniture sequenced in a lease-up?
Unit-level furniture goes in floor by floor or building by building, after each area is released and before its first residents move in. The first move-ins are finished first.
On a furnished building each unit type has its own package, and the same package is built again in every unit of that type. That makes the work countable: every package is checked against its list before anything is joined, and any missing or damaged part goes into a written report with the unit it belongs to, so one short delivery does not hold up the floor.
Packaging adds up across a building. It is broken down and stacked wherever you want it, off the routes residents and trades use, and full haul-away is a paid add-on, set at booking.
How do the dock and the service lift shape a lease-up install?
The dock and the service lift decide how fast furniture reaches each floor, so the install is sequenced to them. Before the first move-ins, the general contractor usually controls both, and furniture shares them with every trade still finishing the building.
Get the windows in writing and send them with the scope: which days the dock is free, when the lift can be reserved, and if it has to be padded before furniture travels in it. Those answers set how many hands a day needs, and manpower is scaled to the size of the project and the deadline, so large deliveries and multi-day installs are normal.
Once residents start moving in, the building is occupied, and the install is phased around the occupied floors from then on.
What paperwork does a property manager need before the crew arrives?
A property manager usually wants a COI and a W-9 on file before the first crew is on site. On a lease-up the property manager, the developer and the general contractor may each ask for both, and the dock is often not released until they have them.
Masterwork Assembly is commercially insured with general liability coverage, and issues a COI and a W-9 on request. You can have both before you commit to anything, and what a COI and a W-9 are, and why property managers ask for both explains each document.
Unit access is the other half. Units in a new building open with codes, keys or a master key held by the leasing team or the general contractor, so agree who holds them and how the crew gets them each day. A finished floor should not be waiting at a locked door.
How do you get a lease-up furniture install planned?
Send the opening date, the unit mix, the furniture packages and the delivery schedule through the quote form or to service@masterworkassembly.com, or call or text (512) 333-8525. Anthony or Logan will call you back in business hours, usually the same day, with questions before anything is quoted.
If the dates are still moving, send the order you expect and the first tour date. The sequence can start from that and firm up with the general contractor's schedule. Apartment lease-ups are regular work for us across Austin and Central Texas, Round Rock included.
Common questions
Who sets the schedule for a lease-up install, the general contractor or the property manager?
Both, and the install needs both calendars. The general contractor decides when each floor, the clubhouse and the outdoor areas are released, and controls the dock and the service lift until then. The property manager and the leasing team decide when tours start, when the building opens and when each resident moves in. The furniture goes in between the two dates for each space: after it is released, before it is shown or occupied. Send both schedules with the scope.
Can furniture go into units after residents have started moving in?
Yes. Once residents are in, the install is phased around the occupied floors, zone by zone, and run to the windows the property manager sets, so resident move-ins keep their slots at the dock and the service lift. Cartons are broken down and stacked away from the resident routes, wherever you want them, and full haul-away is a paid add-on. Tell us which floors are occupied and which are still to be furnished, and the sequence works around the residents rather than through them.
Can the amenity spaces be furnished one at a time?
Yes. Each amenity space is its own zone, installed when the general contractor releases it, so the clubhouse and the fitness center can be finished while the pool deck is still being built, and the outdoor amenity furniture follows once the deck is handed over. Furniture for a later zone stays packed and staged until its turn. Tell us the release order and the opening date, and each space is scheduled to be ready before it is shown.
What happens if the general contractor releases floors late?
The sequence moves with it. Floors are installed in the order they are released, so a late floor moves down the order and the next one ready moves up. When a delay squeezes the gap before move-in, the crew is scaled to the new deadline, because multi-crew capacity is what lets floors be worked in parallel. Tell us as soon as a release date changes, on (512) 333-8525, since same-day and next-day availability depends on what is already on the board.
Can lease-up furniture be installed on weekends?
Yes. We work seven days a week, so a Saturday or a Sunday is a normal booking on a lease-up, as long as the general contractor or the property manager opens the building on those days. On a site still under construction, a weekend can be when the dock and the service lift are not shared with other trades. Tell us which days the building allows, and the phases are sequenced to them rather than to our own convenience.
