Two multi-housing projects – different owners – in Miami-Dade have recently approached us with the same problem. The general contractors of these projects had not budgeted for submeters because in both cases, the MEP had not included submeters in the schematics.
It was not until these properties had displayed mock-up units to their respective Miami-Dade inspectors that they became aware that submeters are required:
Section 5. Section 8A-381 (c) of Miami-Dade County:
The provisions of this article shall apply to multiple unit properties utilizing water services. Effective July 1, 2008, all permit applications for new multi-family residential developments shall be required to include a submeter for each individual dwelling unit.
The vast majority of GCs and multifamily owners in South Florida have been aware of this for years. But in these two cases, the GCs and owners had not previously built multihousing in Miami-Dade.