Water and Sewer bills are commonly the largest cost for mobile home park owners. There are three main reasons for this:
- Leaks:
Many MHP owners are under the misconception that leaks are hard to find and fix. That isn't true. There are many companies that specialize in leak detection and the cost is not too high. There are also some fairly simple ways to locate leaks yourself. - Tenant Abuse:
When a tenant is not billed on their actual water usage, they typically don't care how much water they waste. - Not Using Deduct Meters:
Deduct meters measure the amount of water that DOES NOT go into the sewer. Many municipalities allow for the use of sub-meters to record this amount and submit it for a reduction in the sewer bill.
This article will focus on a solution all three. That solution is: adding water sub-meters and a sub-metering system. This may seem like an expensive project, but it will pay for itself quickly and increase profits in the future.
Related: Water Metering Solutions for Mobile Home Parks
Related Video: Wireless Water Sub-metering System
Preventing Wasteful Water Usage by Tenants
Being able to bill tenants for actual water usage nearly eliminates this expense for park owners. And remember, it is one of the largest expenses incurred by MHP owners. The only expense paid by the park owner now is for common use water such as common land irrigation, a swimming pool, pond, or fountain - if any of those even exist.
It is estimated that once tenants are paying for their own water, their usage drops by up to 30% - that's a HUGE reduction! This allows park owners the ability to lower rent and still make more money than prior to sub-metering. New tenants will be easier to attract due to the lower rent, and the knowledge that they will not end up paying for water for their wasteful neighbors.
Detecting Leaks
When water sub-meters are used in conjunction with a wireless sub-metering system, custom alerts can be set in order to detect leaks when they occur. Whether it's a simple running toilet when the flapper doesn't close properly, a leaky faucet, or a pipe break, the water sub-metering system will send an alert via SMS text message, push notification, or email. This will identify leaks soon after they become present. This can save massive amounts of money that would be lost if the leak went unnoticed until the next bill comes - or longer.
Accounts can be set up to notify park management as well as the tenant where the leak is present. Teneants will only have access to their own usage data, while the owner.manager will have access to ALL data on the system.
Get Pricing Now: Water Metering Systems for Mobile Home Parks
Installing Sewer Deduct Meters
Many, but not all municipalities and/or water utility companies allow for the use of deduct meters on points of water use that do not end up in the sewer. Each location is different and you should check with your local authority for the requirements at your location. If deduct meters are permitted, that could be another savings of up to 30%!
We have assembled a list of municipalities at the bottom of our Deduct Water Meters post.
These meters can even be part of the water sub-metering system. Mobile Home Parks could have 3 sub-meters labeled as such:
- Deduct 1 (koi pond)
- Deduct 2 (fountain)
- Deduct 3 (landscape irrigation)
Then the usage for these can be totaled up and submitted for deduction from the sewer bill.
Related: Deduct Water Meters