DEELS Properties Uses Smart Home IoT to Make Rental Living Better

The Challenge: The search for the perfect fit

When DEELS began considering smart home providers for its apartment portfolio, the company wasn’t starting entirely from ground zero.

“We started our smart home journey about seven years ago,” Chief Strategy Officer Noam Hameiri said. “Shawn Evenhaim, the owner of DEELS Properties and California Home Builders, demanded that all the new single-family homes be smart homes. Innovation is part of the company DNA, and we gained a lot of knowledge.”

SmartRent was just the right partner

Hameiri said DEELS knew what it wanted from a smart apartment in terms of functions, security, system capabilities, integrations and pricing.

“And last but not least,” Hameiri said, “it was clear what type of partner we needed.”

Hameiri was painstakingly thorough in his research.

“During the last four years, I spoke with almost every single decent-sized smart apartment company,” he said. “We filtered the service providers based on our criteria, and then we conducted numerous pilot projects in our apartment communities.

“The pilots helped us determine the best provider with the best hardware, software,Yardi integration and service. “In addition, they helped us to probe the market and determine the monetary value of this amenity. It’s easier to do this by offering two similar units, one smart and one standard.”

The Solution: SmartRent smart home package

In the end, SmartRent established itself as the provider DEELS wanted to move forward with on a widespread scale

“SmartRent has exceptional support—that’s why I love them so much,” Hameiri said. “The biggest differentiator is the customer service. Our installations have been a breeze.”

The Results: A win-win for DEELS and its residents

The use of SmartRent’s Smart Home IoTpackage has provided tangible benefits for both DEELS and its residents. To start with, the package enables the operator to boost rents by about $50 per unit monthly. The package also provides residents with the technology-driven living experience they crave.

“Generations Y and Z were born with smartphones in their hands,” Hameiri said. “Technology is something they want in every aspect of their lives. Also, baby boomers and Gen X’ers love tech and see the value of smart homes.”

Improving energy efficiency

Hameiri said that, prior to installing SmartRent’s smart-home package, the HVAC systems in vacant apartments wasted quite a bit of energy. Typically, the HVAC systems were turned on in the morning and off at nights, but were left running in between.

“Now, with SmartRent, we can program it where it will turn off after two hours if there is no motion in the unit,” Hameiri said. “Same thing with lights. That saves us money and wear and tear on the systems.”

Avoiding supply chain delays

Hameiri noted that, in the past, the DEELS team sometimes had to wait as long as 24 weeks just to get replacement hardware.

“Now we get parts the next day,” he said. “More than that, we need 24/7 support, and that’s what we get. [SmartRent] treats our residents as their own customers.”

What SmartRent’s IoT smart home solution does for DEELS Properties:

• Features convenience of smart locks. Doors can be locked or unlocked from anywhere using the user-friendly SmartRent app. No more tracking or losing physical keys ever again.
• Offers benefits of smart thermostats. Thermostats can be adjusted or programmed from anywhere to control temperature, which enables residents and property owners alike to save money on utility bills.
• Provides peace of mind with leak sensors. Leaks are caught so they can be addressed quickly. Automated emails and push notifications alert users when a leak is detected, and then automatic work orders arecreated to take care of the problem.
• Gives residents easy control of their smart homes from the SmartRent app. Residents can use their smartphones to remotely control smart functions as well as create Scenes, Automations and Schedules.
• Serves up full customer support. Customer care for management staff and residents is offered by SmartRent.
• Bolsters the bottom line. Justifies increasing rents per unit because of the convenient and easy-to-use technology package it puts in residents’ hands.

Moving forward

“Today, it is perfectly clear we made the right choice in picking a smart home partner,” Hameiri said. “We have a partner that provides us with the service and support that we need, at the pace that we need, while having an amazing, smart, innovative system that works as expected.”