See how a luxury high-rise prevented a seven-figure water damage event

The cost of owning and managing a Class A multi-family property has never been higher. Their residents expect high-end amenities, and the developers deliver. The capital invested into premium Class A multifamily properties is immense, but it’s the skyrocketing insurance costs that are causing the most pain for asset owners. Insurance premiums have increased by more than 300% in the past five years – some premiums are doubling year-to-year for specific Class A properties.

There’s a big difference between high-end and premiere luxury in Beverly Hills. Ten Thousand, Crescent Heights’ flagship property, is 42 stories of premiere luxury. Penthouses and breath-taking views, with top-end fixtures and features, Ten Thousand spares at no expense when catering to their residents. And with monthly rents typically exceeding $20,000, their residents expect perfection from their building and its onsite team.  Water leaks represent create massive financial and reputational risks for multi-family property owners. Unfortunately, two factors further increase water damage risk for luxury high-rise properties:

• Vertical risk. A large water leak on floor 26 could easily affect floors 25 and 24. This creates an 800% increase in water damage risk exposure due to the vertical risk inherent in mid-rise & hi-rise multifamily properties. 
• Part-Time Residents. Most residents have one domicile; residents of premium luxury properties often have multiple. These glimmering buildings are reserved for the world’s wealthiest, and these ultra-wealthy individuals often split time between multiple residences and vacation destinations. Unfortunately, even the best butler will fail to catch a leak through a locked door.

The Crescent Heights management team is practically peerless. The white-glove service is part of Ten Thousand’s allure. So, when a part-time resident experienced a laundry room leak, their leak went undetected for months, eventually causing a 7 figure loss claim, affecting multiple residences, and damaging a lobby designed to impress – not to leak.

THE SOLUTION: Brian Locks, Crescent Heights’ National Project Manager, engaged Kairos to stop the leaks, and that’s what we did. In January 2022, Kairos’ team traveled to Beverly Hills, working quickly to install 5 Noah leak sensors monitoring the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry closet in every unit, each sensor equipped with its 10yr battery-powered node. Kairos was installed discretely, professionally, and quickly: each installation took 4-5 minutes per apartment. We established a LoRaWAN network onsite by installing seven gateways at strategic points throughout the 42-story structure. Deploying over 1400 sensors, the Kairos software platform could now push real-time leak notifications to the Crescent Heights management team. 

THE RESULTS: The system detected several leaks within the first six months! Multiple kitchen leaks and separate washing machine leaks during the first six months! Many of the six leaks belonged to part-time residents, the same type/location as the million-dollar leaks that prompted Brian to call Kairos in the first place.