Adding next-generation products into multifamily developments can provide a lot of benefits for industry professionals, including better returns on investment and higher rents. However, those products also can cause their share of challenges.

The cost of these next-gen products is the primary difficulty to overcome, revealed a recent survey of multifamily professionals. Lack of knowledge/overcoming the learning curve was the next most mentioned difficulty, followed by convincing an owner to switch to new products and the ease of installation/ability to install correctly (see bar graph above).

The Farnsworth Group, our data partner on the 2017 MFE Concept Community, conducted the survey, examining usage and perceptions regarding next-gen building performance. This year’s survey received online responses from 159 multifamily builders, developers, and architects.

Respondents who are using next-gen products cite having to promote the products despite the perception of their higher costs as the most difficult aspect of using them (see bar graph below). Also proving difficult for multifamily professionals on the next-gen product front are maintaining a return on investment from the products and tackling the more-difficult and/or lengthier installation processes the products pose.

Look for more tidbits and stats from the survey in the coming months prior to the annual Multifamily Executive Conference, which will be held Sept. 18–20 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.