Specialist · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2016 · 74 posts · 43 votes
I am looking at a triplex and a six unit. Both were converted from large SFH to multi family a long time ago. The landords currently pay utilities which I think is insane. I want to know if any of you have a rough idea of the cost of adding water meters, electric meters, gas meters. I know it depends upon where we are located but I was hoping to put some numbers in my analysis.
For instance, I have assumed that it will cost me $1,000 to add each meter plus any required internal plumbing/wiring to get everything run correctly. My assumption is that inside installation will cost at least $2000 per home.
I will call the local utilities because I think they have a flat rate for doing the outside work. I won't be able to get contractor quotes for the inside work until I have a contract.
These two properties are priced to sell and have some issues but I know that getting separate meters on them will be worth whatever it costs. Thanks for any suggestions.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 46 votes
6y
From personal experience- electric can be very easy, because if wired properly, all circuits should be separate already and connect to one breaker box. All you have to do is add a new box next to the old, switch over the wires for the circuits you want on the new meter. Call the utility company about adding a new meter, there is a process which can take awhile, but not that expensive. Gas and water on the other hand can be a difficult, because everything is run in a continuous circuit. Unless you have an unfinished basement and or attic where you can access the pipe connections, you will be tearing into walls to run new pipe. If I were you I would tackle the electric first.
Union, NH · Member since 2015 · 15 posts · 12 votes
10y
Hi Kevin. In New Hampshire, where I am, we run into the same situations with older converted SFH to 2,3,and4 unit buildings. In our climate, as yours I assume, its definitely worth separating utilities. When running numbers to buy a place, I plug in$5,000.00 per unit to separate. This might sound steep but in my experience that's what it usually ends up being by the time your said and done. Best wishes!
Investor · Mason City, IA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 17 votes
10y
I recently had two quotes come in at about $1,200 per meter to separate electric meters. This was on a pretty simple job with no rewiring. Remember to include the common area meter!
Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2016 · 91 posts · 46 votes
10y
Depends on municipality. Gotta file with Dept of buildings. And you can't do that without a master plumber. Maybe with an architect. Where is this place anyways?
Depends on municipality. Gotta file with Dept of buildings. And you can't do that without a master plumber. Maybe with an architect. Where is this place anyways?
Both properties are located in Indiana. I will look into permits etc.
Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2016 · 91 posts · 46 votes
10y
Generally (and Indiana may be different) the final meter install is done by the master plumber. Sometimes the service line can be inadequate Amanda a larger line bored in. That can get costly. Sometimes the utilities company doesn't charge you anything at all. Call around to some plumbers and they will give you an approximate cost. They will probably need to stop by to do an assessment.
Investor · Clatskanie, OR · Member since 2014 · 212 posts · 233 votes
10y
Longview, WA 5K just to add a second water meter to a duplex and that was cutting corners and hiring my own digger. Lots of drama as well. Once office workers get involved, add 2 weeks min. to the job. Each one wants to come out and look down into the hole and comment on what else you need to do. I will try to avoid that in the future. Not sure about power. Mine was already separated so only had to worry about separating water.
I agree though, Tenants should pay for there own power and water.
Longview, WA 5K just to add a second water meter to a duplex and that was cutting corners and hiring my own digger. Lots of drama as well. Once office workers get involved, add 2 weeks min. to the job. Each one wants to come out and look down into the hole and comment on what else you need to do. I will try to avoid that in the future. Not sure about power. Mine was already separated so only had to worry about separating water.
I agree though, Tenants should pay for there own power and water.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It seems like a contractor could specialize in doing this kind of work and maybe streamline the process a bit.
Realtor · Highland, IN · Member since 2015 · 47 posts · 29 votes
10y
Hey Kevin, I live in northwest Indiana and work for a company that is a sub of NIPSCO, the utility company up here for gas and electric. I was on a job with a gas crew and asked the same question and was told that all of the work that they would do would be of no charge because they would make more money once the units were separated. Having said this, you would then be responsible for everything that needed to be re-piped inside the house to run to the new meters and would have to meet with the town/city engineer for inspection.
Real Estate Investor · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2013 · 87 posts · 55 votes
10y
SFH in Tacoma WA, gas utility quoted free to bring a gas pipe from the street to the house and a meter. I would have had to sign a contract to convert furnace, hot water heater, stove, and clothes dryer to gas. Otherwise it was $17k without conversions.
Lender · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 283 posts · 128 votes
10y
Kevin, it will cost you a lot less to talk with your atty. and set up a prorated lease where a portion if no all of your utilities can get billed back to your tenants similar to many commercial leases that do CAM charges. I do not know if your area has any rules against this for SFR but what we have done in the past from a marketing POV is to only bill 75% of the cost so that the tenant feels that they are getting a better deal than individual meters. As a side note, in many cases, putting in individual electric meters will involve not only the meters and wiring, but upgraded fuse boxes and possibly upgrading service to the property itself. Additionally, you may not be able to get multiple meters to a SFR without violating zoning and building codes.
Investor · Redmond, WA · Member since 2016 · 267 posts · 110 votes
10y
how about dividing water bill equally among tenants. I have been through that as a tenant in seattle. I just implemented it in a rental property acquired. Will have to see how it goes through though.
Wilmington, DE · Member since 2016 · 116 posts · 59 votes
10y
I've inquired with the public works people in Wilmington, DE about how landlords separate meters for water here. The guy said it's very costly and difficult to do because you need to tap the main line. If they were to do it, he estimated at least $10k. He said what most people do, is install their own private meter somewhere along the tenants pipes. Then at the end of the month/quarter you just have to do the math to deduct their usage from the total and bill it how you want.
Best option for me going forward is to simply not look at properties that aren't individually metered already haha
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
10y
On the electric ,there is no way to guess until you have an electrician look at it . It all depends on where the new electric panels have to be located , and how the house is wired . it could be a piece of cake , or a nightmare .
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 46 votes
6y
From personal experience- electric can be very easy, because if wired properly, all circuits should be separate already and connect to one breaker box. All you have to do is add a new box next to the old, switch over the wires for the circuits you want on the new meter. Call the utility company about adding a new meter, there is a process which can take awhile, but not that expensive. Gas and water on the other hand can be a difficult, because everything is run in a continuous circuit. Unless you have an unfinished basement and or attic where you can access the pipe connections, you will be tearing into walls to run new pipe. If I were you I would tackle the electric first.
Investor · Concord, NH · Member since 2018 · 28 posts · 19 votes
4y
I just had to do this (1899 3200SF duplex in CT), and honestly it really just depends on how the house is plumbed/wired and if you are actively renovating it. Even though I re-plumbed some of the house, it was not worth the hassle to add a second water meter since a lot of the feeds were connected downstairs to up in different places and behind walls I didn't open. The water bills are so minuscule (18 bucks a month or so), so that was not a huge deal. I did separate all electrical, and gas however since that was easier to do during construction. I added a second panel to the upstairs meter and had all new electrical go to that - which of course was tied to the new second meter. It would be much harder to do any of this with existing electrical since it was giant web of a mess. Gas was easy too since I only have 2 furnaces and 2 water heaters and those could be separated in the basement. Hard to tell what the total cost was, but the new electrical double meter was 1,000, new electrical panels were much more because of the breakers (3k each), and the second gas meter was FREE (I have yet to be charged for it). All of the other major plumbing/wiring costs were the big $$$$ ( I spent 30k+ on the electrical alone including the panels). So yeah there is no easy answer without knowing how your house is set up.
Multifamily Investor and Developer · Birmingham, AL · Member since 2019 · 8 posts · 2 votes
4y
seems very expensive to me. what about RUBS? We metered all of our properties but it does not cost this at all... go to www.flows.com and find out options.
Boise, ID · Member since 2018 · 203 posts · 188 votes
4y
I'm a single family homebuilder/developer and I feel it's going to get very expensive once you pay power/water for the additional meters and then do the interior renovations to separate everything. I would agree with the ballpark of 5k per door. I think RUBS are a much better way to go.
@Kevin Farrell In my location in New Hampshire it is just common for landlords to pay water, sewer, and heating if it is on oil furnace then factor these costs into the rent for multi families. In SFH tenants pay everything.
I thought my multi unit was using a ton of water because it was 33,000 gallons in a 6 month period. Then I did the math and realized the units were averaging 33 gallons a day and decided that wasn’t bad. It only cost me $560 too for half the year which is what my other multi units cost me in another town.
Unless you can get bids for the work and cost analyze the difference between the work required and the actual bills I wouldn’t go spending thousands of dollars to separate the utilities apart unless that’s the gold standard of your area and besides saving you money is going to increase the value of your property.
Real Estate Agent · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
You really need to get bids. The issue is with everything on one meter, it also means all of the systems are shared. In order to separate the utilities, you may have to rewire and re-plumb the entire property so they are separate. This might also include new sewer lines as well depending on how you get billed. The other option to look into is sub-metering. I haven't had luck on the water side as most companies require there to be at least 20 units.