Multi-family division. Since 1978
Multi-Family Plumbing
Our multi-family division can accommodate 2-family homes all the way up to multiple unit condominiums and apartments. Karlsen works directly for the general contractors who build them.
Chapter 01
From a 2-family up to a full multi-unit building
Multi-family plumbing is its own trade inside plumbing, because the math changes as soon as one water heater or one stack has to serve more than one kitchen. Karlsen Plumbing's multi-family division can accommodate 2-family homes all the way up to multiple unit condominiums and apartments, so the same crew that runs a duplex rough-in on Monday can run a larger stacked building later that week.
That range matters in Southeast Wisconsin, where a general contractor's project list runs from small infill duplexes to larger apartment builds inside the same season. Karlsen has been doing this work since 1978, and the phone number that answers a duplex job is the same one that answers a bigger one: (262) 633-1951.
A Kohler in-wall toilet carrier system set into an open stud bay during a multi-family rough-in
Plan-and-spec or design-build, whichever the contractor is running
Karlsen handles multi-family plan and spec as well as design build projects for general contractors. On a plan-and-spec job, the drawings and the fixture specification are already set, and the work is executing them correctly floor by floor, unit by unit, with every stack lining up the way the engineer drew it. On a design-build job, Karlsen is part of shaping that plumbing plan from the start, working alongside the general contractor before a single wall is framed.
Either way, the coordination burden on a multi-unit building is higher than a single home: shared risers, shared mechanical rooms, and inspection sequencing that has to work across every unit at once rather than one house at a time. That coordination is what the multi-family division exists to carry.
Chapter 03
One fixture package, repeated correctly across every unit
Consistency across units matters more in multi-family work than almost anywhere else, since a mismatched fixture in one unit shows up the moment a property manager compares it to the one next door. Karlsen installs Kohler, Moen, Sterling, Delta and Grohe fixtures, Bradford White and Rinnai tankless water heaters, and InSinkErator disposals, on Uponor PEX, Watts, Zurn, Sioux Chief, Flow Guard Gold, Woodford and Jim Murray Pumps supply and drain components, the same standardized package on every rough-in and every trim-out on the job.
That repetition is deliberate. A general contractor running a multi-unit building doesn't want to track eight different fixture specs across eight units, and Karlsen's own listing in Kohler's Find a Pro directory reflects a fixture relationship built over the same decades as the plumbing work itself.
Karlsen Plumbing, Plumbers licensed by the State of Wisconsin and OSHA certified. Call (262) 633-1951.
Standardized across every unit
The fixtures and equipment the multi-family division installs
The same brands go into a duplex rough-in and a full apartment building, so a property manager comparing units never finds a mismatch.
Fixtures and trim
- Kohler
- Moen
- Sterling
- Delta
- Grohe Fixtures
Water heating
- Bradford White Water Heaters
- Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters
Pipe, valves and supports
- Uponor Pex Systems
- Watts
- Zurn
- Sioux Chief Products
- Flow Guard Gold
Drains, disposals and pumps
- InSinkErator
- General Wire
- Watco Drains
- Woodford Manufacturing
- Jim Murray Pumps