@Phil Shelton
I owned triplexes in Queens, looked into it, and found it totally senseless for a number of reasons.
I had a boiler and hot water tank for each building. Having 3 furnaces and 3 hot water tanks would take up most of the room on the ground floor where I had a small one bedroom collecting much less rent if none at all.
I would have to replace 3 boilers and 3 hot water tanks when it's time. Thirty years ago, it cost me $600 in labor and parts to replace a 50-gallon hot water tank, currently $1,500 and often they only last 6 to 8 years.
I currently have service contracts on the boiler and hot water tanks, and I need 3 service contracts for 3 of them, for each building. I pay $571/year for one, and times that by three for a triplex. Originally, I didn't use service contracts, but with the cost of labor in NYC, it's far safer to use a service contract than to take a chance that nothing happens. With 3 boilers and tanks, chances of something happening is much greater. Plumbers charge $150 just to come out.
Now for water. For a 3-story triplex, you need to redo the plumbing as you have to run water pipes, for hot and cold water to each unit. With 3 times of many pipes on the walls, chances of leaks and ruptures multiples by 3. For multis in NYC, especially multi units, the hot and cold-water pipes would run through neighboring units.
I had discussions with a co-worker all bent out of shape that his landlord who had a duplex, takes the gas bills, and divides it by half, and have him pay his share. He said, all she has to do is add a meter and let me pay my part because she uses more gas than me. She has 2 kids, I have none and I should only pay less than half. The total gas bill at the time, 30 years ago, was $31/month for the landlord and him, so his half is about $15/month. However, almost $18/month is the service charge from the gas company and only $13/month for the use of gas. If the landlord adds a meter, he will have to pay a separate monthly service charge, $18.00 plus his use of gas, maybe $5.00 for a total of $23/month. With his logic, the landlord would spend money to re-pipe the building, add another meter, and he would pay $23/month to get a separate bill, instead of paying half of the landlord's bill which runs about $15/month. Does it make sense? There is a separate charge for each meter for providing service to a particular unit, and only one if there is one meter.
Having owned MF in NYC for nearly 40 years, discussed this issue with tenants. it's not a great idea. In the case of the co-worker mentioned above, had the landlord added $25/month to his rent, covered the gas, he would have been fine with it.
