Point of Use (POU) meters are designed to provide a submetering solution for those properties that cannot be submetered by conventional submeters due to plumbing designs that bring multiple pipes into the apartment or office (stacked risers). The meters were specifically designed for stacked riser plumbing configurations typically found in properties that utilize a central boiler to provide hot water.

In a typical installation very small flow meters are installed inconspicuously on each hot & cold outlet to the shower/tub, toilet, sink, dish washer and clothes washer. Depending on the manufacturer the flow meters either have a transmitter built in or are connected to an interface board/ transmitter. The transmitters report usage information to a central Processing computer that in turn forwards the usage information to a billing center where bills can be printed and sent to the end user.

Equipment and installation costs are typically higher that traditional systems but the payback is still usually less than a year. When deciding on a POU meter, a principal consideration should be that the meters can be read by any Automated Reading System (AMR). This allows the property owner to choose between many billing companies and does not tie the owner to equipment that can only be read by a few companies.

Submetering has been proven by numerous studies to reduce usage by as much as 39%. Although POU meters have been available for over ten years they have not been widely used until recently. With the current interest in green solutions and the ever rising water and sewer costs properties that in the past could not be traditionally metered are now installing POU meters and benefitting from the same type of usage reductions that properties with conventional plumbing have realized for years. Since roughly 50% of apartments and 90% of office buildings utilize stacked riser plumbing the benefits of submetering with POU meters have barely been touched.

When you start getting into rental properties, the first thing you’re going to need to do is to narrow down an area. It’s a good idea to choose an area to start building a portfolio and to stick with it. For one thing, property managers function best when they are able to stay with the area they know well. If you have properties all over the state, then you will end up either having to place some of your properties with companies too far away for them, or you’ll have to hire multiple property managers, which can turn into a headache.

Next, you’re going to want to go to local search engines for that area. You’ll want to educate yourself on what the market rent is for your type of property, as well as on what property management companies are currently handling what sorts of properties. This can prepare you for the next step, which is hiring a property management company.

You may think that renting your property is a matter of setting a price and sitting back to watch the profits roll in, but that’s just not the case. The property has to be marketed. The tenant has to be screened. The lease has to be signed and the keys turned over. Then there’s maintenance issues that must be addressed. If the tenant fails to pay rent or violates the lease in some grossly unacceptable way, there’s collection procedures, notices, and eviction processes that must be followed. There’s also the fact that landlord-tenant concerns are legal matters. All of these matters can be time consuming and stressful. They can also be the source of lawsuits for you if you do not handle them correctly.

A good management company will also have existing relationships with area vendors who can help with painting, carpet cleaning, and repairs. They may be able to get you better prices than you could get for yourself as a result, because they may also have bulk discounts that they can take advantage of. This saves you the time and expense of building those relationships yourself, and it also saves you the time and expense of having to answer those maintenance calls and then put in the purchase order to get the vendors out there. Somewhat larger management companies will even have HVAC certified maintenance people on their existing staff, ready to serve your tenants when something goes wrong.