This article refers to multi-family residential projects pursuing WELL Certification, not the WELL for Residential program.

Residential minimums

Multifamily residential projects may pursue WELL if they contain at least five dwelling units in a single building with common structural elements. Projects that qualify include apartments, condominiums, townhouses and other residential complexes within all market thresholds–including affordable housing, market-rate and luxury.

A quick WELL vocabulary note: Dwelling units are always considered “leased space,” even if they have been sold to their occupants. Residents are always considered “tenants,” even if they own their dwelling units.

Enrollment type

In WELL v2, multifamily residential projects utilize the WELL Certification pathways (i.e., not WELL Core), even though most of the regular occupants are tenants. In this case, the project owner may or may not complete the fit-out of the dwelling units. 

Note: mixed-use projects that include multi-family residential may be eligible to enroll in WELL Core - see the Mixed-use buildings with Multifamily-Residential section of Define your project boundary for more details.

Under the WELL v2 pilot, multifamily residential buildings are only eligible for WELL Core if they met all of the following requirements including:

• Building contains five or more dwelling units
• Building provides minimal fit-out of the dwelling units, defined as meeting at least two of the following requirements where the developer does not install:
  • Kitchen cabinets
  • Stoves/ranges, ovens or refrigerators
  • Showers/baths, toilets or sinks in the bathroom or kitchen
  • HVAC terminals
• Project owner is unable to provide access to dwelling units for performance testing

Testing scope

For precondition features, performance testing within dwelling units is not required to achieve Bronze- or Silver-level certification, but it is required to achieve Gold or Platinum certification. See Features A01 (Air Quality), W01 (Water Quality Indicators), W02 (Drinking Water Quality), L02 (Visual Lighting Design) and T01 (Thermal Performance) and the WELL Performance Verification Guidebook for more details.

For optimization features, performance testing within dwelling units is required, regardless of the certification level being pursued.

At recertification, for all levels of certification, performance testing within the dwelling units is not required. Testing will only occur in common areas and spaces dedicated to building management during recertification.