Photograph: Havenpark
CASE STUDY
How Metron Helped Havenpark to Achieve a 100% Utility Recapture Rate
Manufactured housing leader is saving big with smart water metering and portfolio-wide analytics.
When it comes to managing water bills, Havenpark Communities sets a higher standard. Some water operators and manufactured housing community managers may consider a 75% utility recapture rate acceptable—but Havenpark doesn’t. As an owner-operator of 90+ communities across 25 states, Havenpark consistently achieves recapture rates between 95% and 100% across its nationwide portfolio.
The secret? It was about unlocking the full value of Metron smart meters—not just installing them, but actively using their data and reporting capabilities in conjunction with community-level and company-wide data. This gave Havenpark the insight and oversight needed to detect leaks quickly, issue accurate and timely bills, and drive meaningful reductions in operating costs. Within 12 months, Havenpark’s recapture rates increased from around 65% to well over 95%, says Gerald Van Tassell, Vice President of Revenue. “We’ve heard from others in the industry that a 75% recapture rate is often considered standard,” Van Tassell says. “But with the data and visibility provided by Metron, we’ve been able to significantly exceed that benchmark and hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
The power of WaterScope
Havenpark installed its first Metron meters in 2018, after purchasing 10 communities in Michigan that needed new metering infrastructure. They liked what they saw—but it wasn’t until Van Tassell moved into a new position overseeing utility billing that he began to realize the full power of Metron’s cellular water meters and accompanying WaterScope analytics platform.
Working with Metron VP of Corporate Development Luke Kosorok, Van Tassell began using Metron’s tools to put automated reporting processes in place across the Havenpark portfolio. “Luke took the time to demonstrate what WaterScope could do for us,” he explains. “And the more I used WaterScope, the more I realized I had the data I needed to truly drive and improve our recapture rates”.
Van Tassell’s team used the minute-by-minute flow data from WaterScope—along with broader insights from the Havenpark portfolio—to quickly identify issues like missing meters, meters not properly working, and both in-home and main-line leaks. While analyzing data from one specific community, they cross-referenced WaterScope readings with internal records and discovered that 50 occupied homes—about one in eight in that community—had been going unmetered. “Before Metron, we would have had to physically inspect every single home to uncover that,” Van Tassell says. “Now, I can sit at my desk in Utah and pinpoint issues happening in communities across the country—whether it’s a missing meter, a leak, or unaccounted-for usage—all of which directly impacts and improves our ability to recapture water costs.”
After Havenpark began actively using WaterScope in January 2021, water recapture rates rose from 65% to nearly 100% portfolio-wide within just 12 months—delivering a measurable financial impact. “Utility bills are a top-three expense at the community level—sometimes even higher than payroll,” Van Tassell says. “So improving recapture doesn’t just save money; it directly strengthens each community’s financial performance and long-term sustainability.”
Engaging community managers
Part of what makes Metron’s system so valuable is that it enables Havenpark’s leaders to monitor water use across their entire portfolio, then proactively notify community managers about leaks, billing issues, or other problems. “What I like about WaterScope is that we don’t have to rely on community managers to dig into the data themselves,” Van Tassell explains. “We can create processes and reports that make the whole thing easy and intuitive, and let managers know with certainty if they have water or meter issues on their property.”
Local teams can then notify residents of dripping taps or stuck toilets—or move quickly to address larger leaks. “It’s helpful to see the in-home leaks, but I care most about the main-line leaks, because that’s where the big dollars are going,” Van Tassell says. “Having this data lets us dig in, fix the issues that hurt us, and ultimately get much higher recapture.” In one instance, a major leak was causing Havenpark to be billed for a million gallons, but with only 450,000 billed back to the residents. “These meters let us compare daily water usage between our submeters and the master meter. That means we can detect leaks much more quickly and estimate monthly water loss more accurately, helping us manage utilities more effectively within the community.
Besides providing central oversight, Havenpark gives all its community managers direct access to WaterScope. Most embrace it—not least because their bonuses depend on their ability to effectively manage utility costs. “We’re clear about what we expect, and WaterScope helps us hold our community managers accountable,” Van Tassell says.
Many community managers have found creative ways to leverage WaterScope in their daily operations—beyond just monitoring utilities. One common use: identifying when rental homes may have been abandoned without notice. “First thing every morning, they’d pull up WaterScope and say, ‘Okay, where do we have zero usage, and is that a pattern?’” Van Tassell explains. “If it turned out the residents had abandoned the property, we could take possession quickly and jump-start the return-to-inventory process.”
Seamless integration across the tech stack
Today, Havenpark routinely adds Metron meters to its new properties. With other providers, onboarding new communities had been a major headache—but with Metron, integrating new properties into Havenpark’s management tools couldn’t be easier. “It’s completely seamless. That’s a big difference from other companies we’ve worked with in the past,” says Thomas Hess, Havenpark’s Revenue Manager.
With other providers, Havenpark would regularly encounter delays and missed deadlines when trying to onboard new communities. “Next thing you know, my meter read date has passed, and I’m having to estimate bills,” Hess says. “That hurts our relationship with residents—if the first thing they see is that we’re late getting their bills out, it makes them lose trust in us”.
With Metron, on the other hand, adding a new community’s water billing to Havenpark’s management platform takes just a few days—with no delays and no excuses. “Metron has a huge leg up on the competition with how easy it is to integrate WaterScope with Manage America for billing,” Hess says. “The fact that they can reliably get a property onboarded so quickly is a huge benefit as it avoids missing a billing cycle.”
Winning residents’ trust
Crucially, Metron gives Havenpark the tools they need to build on that good first impression by saving residents money on their utility bills. Residents are always impressed when a new manager uses WaterScope data to warn them about a leaky toilet or other easily-fixed problem that’s driving up their utility costs. “It’s a great opportunity to improve resident relations,” Hess says. “It gives us a chance to build some trust when we’re coming into a new community.” Residents can also be given access to WaterScope, allowing them to track their own water usage in real time. “This transparency gives residents peace of mind and helps build trust by keeping them informed and in control of their utility costs,” Hess says.
That’s one of the key differences between Metron’s submetering and using RUBS to simply divide up utility bills between residents. Using RUBS, Havenpark could have reduced its overheads by passing water costs along to residents—but with Metron, the company can go further, and promote effective water conservation across its entire portfolio. “Metron lets us cut our utility expenses while also reducing waste and encouraging a conservation mindset among our residents—and that’s a huge win for everyone,” Van Tassell says.
Cost Savings
Often, the savings from switching to Metron are significant. When Havenpark rolls out Metron meters across previously unmetered properties, many properties see their water utility bills fall by up to 40%, largely because residents are now billed for water and therefore reduce their usage, with leak mitigation also contributing to that number.
Metron’s technology has delivered a boost to the value of Havenpark’s rapidly growing property portfolio. “This one change has added a lot of value to our properties,” Van Tassell says.
Sticking with Metron
Given the ease of installation and use, plus the clear bottom-line benefits, Havenpark plans on sticking with Metron for all its water management needs. “I know there are other smart-meter providers out there, but we’ve been completely happy with what Metron has been able to do for us,” Hess says.
In fact, Havenpark recently moved to a 10-year contract with Metron, underscoring the value the relationship brings. “We’re committed to Metron. Even in communities that are already submetered, we’ve started replacing the existing meters with Metron meters,” Van Tassell says. “It’s a great product—the meters, WaterScope, everything—so it just makes sense for us.”