Buying a 16 unit property. One water bill for myself now. Want to use the most current technology to put it back on the renter without having plumbing and concrete broken up etc. any suggestions?

Divide the bill by 16 and tack onto rent each month.

I agree. Just put guidelines in place about filling up swimming pools, etc. (if applicable). It's unlikely that the same tenant will consistently be the heaviest user every month. It will probably alternate; just my guess.

Are these units each for a single person, or could a family be in each unit? Because that changes things.

Should be no problem, and I think it's pretty common and preferred for them to have one less bill to pay separately. As the poster above said, multiple people in a single unit changes things. So the fairest way is to divide it by total number of tenants. More tenants means more showers, toilet flushes, dishes, laundry, etc...

As an example, 8 units have 1 person, and the other 8 have 4 people, you would split your water bill accordingly and tack onto their rent.

$1,000 water bill
40 tenants
$25/person
8 units get billed Rent + $25
8 units get billed Rent + $100

Go to biggerpockets.com and ask. It's pretty common for investors to have meters installed for each unit (depending on the plumbing) and they would know the best products that do that.

Typically when an apartment complex goes from community water bill to individual's water bill the total bill goes down 20%.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/432/topics/145587-splitting-water-bill-even-split-or-water-meters

Some ideas here

One of the many reasons I got out of 4-plex investing. You go by on a Saturday and they're having a neighborhood car wash with your water, kids playing in sprinklers from Sat morning to Sunday evening (I capped off all outside spigots and pissed everyone off), tenants fail to report leaking faucets or running toilets, and if someone gets pissed at you they've been known to just turn the water on inside and let it run for days/weeks. You can try to assess a "fee" but they'll just see it as higher rent. No desire to ever own those types of properties again. Whoever thought it was a good idea to build properties with one meter should be water boarded.

Congrats on your investment btw!!

I own duplexes with single meters and I pay the water bill each month. I can't remember the specifics but I looked into it when I bought them and you cannot simply divide the bill by the number of units and charge your tenants. You would have to have individual meters installed.

You can still use a RUBS formula to allocate billing. Looks like you have to register with a state agency though.

https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/water/watersystems/submeter.aspx

RUBS registering, thats what it was. sounded like the last thing i wanted to do. Just increase the rent a little to cover it. I told my tenants that if they exceed 4k gallons a month average (so 8k gallons a month per duplex bill) I would surcharge them. Not that I could really prove which side caused the overage, but they don't know that so it keeps them at least remembering that wasting water could result in charges.

Appreciate all the info guys. First property we are trying to close on that is mutli.

Have been looking into new technologies to install.

Thank you for your input

Don't know if I mentioned - it's a 16 unit, 4 buildings four units each

We build apartments and use sub meters at each unit. They install inline where the service entered the unit, usually around the water heater. Monitored wirelessly I believe. I think the "meter reader" drives through the complex and downloads the Info for each unit. Our subcontractor is Minol. We have also used NWP.

I think it's required for new construction but not older complexes.

We are going to look at a large plumbing store Saturday to see what they have.

Please continue any ideas/success with products you guys have

Thank you very much for all of the info

Just looked at Minol's website. Will call them Monday afternoon

JB said:

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We build apartments and use sub meters at each unit. They install inline where the service entered the unit, usually around the water heater. Monitored wirelessly I believe. I think the "meter reader" drives through the complex and downloads the Info for each unit. Our subcontractor is Minol. We have also used NWP.

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NWP was acquired last year (I worked on the transaction). Unsure if they changed the name or operate under some new service like by the acquirer.

Didn't people complain about this? 4,000 gallons is not a lot of water.

Eh, never mind. Now that I think about it, it's probably right around the level your city starts charging extra per thousand gallons if not less than that.

Drawkcab said:

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Didn't people complain about this? 4,000 gallons is not a lot of water.

Eh, never mind. Now that I think about it, it's probably right around the level your city starts charging extra per thousand gallons if not less than that.

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I am charged for 2,000 gallons minimum each month. Have yet to use that much at my house.