“Water included”. Who pays for laundry usage?

[Jason Butts]

I own a 3 family rental home in Cambridge OH and neither of the 3 units have laundry hookups. The baseman is accessible for 2 of the 3 units and it’s clean and safe enough to add hookups. Each electrical panel has the capacity to add an electric dryer. Heat and hot water are included in the rent because of only 1 water meter and 1 water heater. I installed a 50 amp electrical sub panel that is sub metered because there is only 3 electrical panels and not a 4th for common uses. I subtract the KWh on the sub meter from unit 1’s electrical bill because unit 1’s panel supplies the electricity to it. The electrical end is taken care of.

Long story short, how would you meter the water for a tenants laundry usage? Would you sub meter the hot and cold supplies individually? How often would you read the meters if so, to calculate the money numbers? Coin op laundry is currently unavailable because I am yet to find machines that are at a budget price.

[David Sisson]

I like the cold water only suggestion. Easy to tell the tenants that the units only have cold water, and if they don't like it they can go to the laundromat. Otherwise, invest in coin op.