Hello all, it's been a while.
My side-by-side duplex in King County, WA (outside City of Seattle) needs new hot water heaters... which will need to be relocated due to space restrictions... so I might as well repipe to replace the old galvanized ones. I'm trying to scope out the project, and am considering whether or not to install submetering with the repipe. I assume the upfront marginal cost of doing so will be low because of all the other work this will require, but I am unsure of the long-term costs and benefits.
Currently, tenants are responsible for their share of the water bill, which is determined based on the number of occupants. I am computing this and billing the tenants every two months via email.
I am interested in moving to submetering because:
- I assume it will further encourage water conservation
- I suspect the current allocation of the bill by number of occupants is unfair, although I have not heard complaints (it does not consider dogs, an aquarium, long-term guests, or travel)
- it would get me out of the business of billing my tenants directly and could use a billing service instead, saving me time
I'm interested in hearing from others about the following:
- If we went with submetering, what should we do if we decide to take occupancy of one of the two units in the future? I've heard things get weird with these services when you're submetering to yourself. Ideally, I'd want the option to cancel the service and read/bill the rented unit's meter myself.
- how much do these billing services cost? Do they work at my scale with only one property of two units, considering I already bill my tenants? Most of what I've read on submetering benefits assumes a landlord that does not already bill separately.
- Is the installation something I should be more concerned about, e.g. getting the repipe specialist to correctly install the meters, planning a location for them so they're readable?
- Are there other costs or downsides I'm missing?
- would this be likely to add to the resale value of the property, i.e. would you as an investor be more interested in buying a duplex with submetering infrastructure in place?
Thanks in advance!