All Forum Posts by: Jedd Braunwarth

@Stephen Miller, are you hoping to have it completely automated or manual read each month? TrueSubmeter.com can help if you want a fully automated version. Buy the meters, have them installed and then each month tenants are automatically billed their usage. If you want to go manual read and not pay monthly monitoring fees you can literally buy a brass bodied meter, similar to the municipal meters, have those installed and record the beginning and end usage each month and bill for that usage. Depends on time and distance you are from the property. 

@Ryan Clark if you want have your PM check how many water heaters there are and any pictures. It should be pretty easy to figure it out. In Detroit the water meter will be indoors (basement or utility room) from the City. Literally all they have to do is follow the plumbing from the water meter to determine which direction the water goes and it if is split between the two units clean. If so, then you can install two submeters (I could offer our solution or just buy any mechanical meter with a dial and you can read them yourself and bill back). You should not have to run new water lines.

@Ryan Clark Ask your property manager if they actually did their due diligence with that quote or had anyone at the property. Are you in Michigan or in MN and invested in Michigan? I ask as there are a lot of ways to submeter a property without running new water lines completely. Do you know how many water heaters you have in the property? I'd be happy to help you determine the plumbing set up out there with a few questions and you could get set up for under $1,000 for actual accurate submetering. 

@Blair Ross Jr Using the actual local utility to submeter or separate utilities is the best way as they have the authority to shut the utility off if the tenant fails to pay. However, many times this is the most costly option. 3rd party or private submetering companies can help you out too and many times these will be more cost effective. We could help out on the water side only as we do not do electric or gas (as of today). There is no need to separate sewer as both private submetering companies as well as the local municipality will use the water usage to determine what went down the drain. Or in other words there is no need to add a meter on the sewer.

@Nelson Badillo, hope all is well. What type of meters are installed now? Most mechanical meters should be an easy change out or repair. Are these City owned meters? We have simple water meters that automatically log to a cloud database and generate a water bill directly to the tenant. Fair, accurate and low cost

@Anthony Nguyen. I think you are on the right track. You either have to figure something out directly with the tenant but depending on your lease agreement, how long they have left and also their temperament that may be difficult or else submeter.  Do you know if the water lines are separated between the apartment units? How many units is it? You could have running toilets as well. RUBS will not solve this problem as that will just spread the issue out to other tenants and not hold the one that matters accountable.  It will also not help you find leaks or times of high usage. Happy to help more if needed. We have been doing this awhile and sponsored some BP podcasts on the past!

@Matt Le Hope all is well! One easy and low cost solution to start with would be just schedule a walk through each unit. Most utility water meters have a small red or black dial on the face of them that is a leak detector. If all water is off in the unit but the dial is spinning you know water is moving through the pipe and going somewhere (usually a toilet). This would not solve the problem for just simple high water users with laundry, showers, water grass, etc. but it is a quick way to find those leaks that are not fixed. If you submetering is the route you are interested in we would be happy to throw our hat in the ring. We have sponsored BP podcasts, met with the late Brandon Turner in Maui, etc. We are TrueSubmeter.com. Check us out and reach out if you want advice or a quote. 

@J Newman My apologies for the delay as I never saw the notification you replied. Did you already move forward with submetering? I would be happy to help discuss. Is your water lines separated between each unit? There are a lot of options out there. Let me know if you still want to discuss. Again, sorry I missed your initial reply!

@Louis Fuqua Are your water lines separated between the units? That makes a big difference on what is available for submetering, type of technology and cost. I would be happy to walk you through all of the options out there. 

@J Newman Are you looking for submetering of all utilities or just water? Just electricity? Happy to chat. Local laws definitely come into play as well