City water and well water--running new plumbing

[DCDiva]

Hi All
As most know we do all kinds of remodeling--mobile homes and houses--one of our current projects is dividing my mom's house into apartments--2--1800 sq ft 3 bedrooms and 1--900 sq ft--we have 2 apartments done and currently working on the basement--we have all the ceiling out and a perfect time to run new plumbing,PEX
The house has both city water--current bill is running @ 75 a month-but will go up when we rent the other apartment and a well that is great a big yield never run dry as it is very deep

Ok My question--we are thinking about running city water for the sinks(well water not the best taste) and the well for the toilet and shower,the big water use. We know it will be a little more work to plumb and cost more but Pex is easy to run. We pay the utilities,included in rent.
Advice?
Melissa

[flcruising]

My suggestion would be to home-run the PEX from each fixture to a common location. This would give the opportunity to install manifolds that would allow you to divide the apartments and/or the city & well into zones for serviceability. And also be able to switch the well fixtures over to the city just-in-case.

[Greg S]

As a landlord myself I have to ask the obvious question, why are utilities included with your rent. Tenants are notoriously wasteful with any service they do not pay for.
Generally a landlord in your situation would have the primary tenant put all utilities in there name and divide the bills proportionality between tenants (eg 60/40)
Alternately you could keep the utilities in your name and bill each proportionately.

My advice is never include utilities. Tenants leave windows open all winter, set AC far too high again with windows open and some even use ovens to add heat. Water may not be as serious of an issue but should still not be overlooked.
I personally would simply go with all city water, maybe keep the well for outside use only and have the tenants pay.