A smart thermostat has features that a regular thermostat doesn’t. You can automate a temperature schedule, making it easy for site teams to ensure a comfortable climate when showing vacant units while reducing climate-control costs at other times. Smart thermostats also connect to the internet via WiFi or Z-Wave, so you can make adjustments without needing to be inside the unit.

Similarly, residents can set an ideal temperature when they’re home and active, then program the thermostat to automatically adjust the temperature when they’re away or asleep.

Residents can program a smart thermostat ahead of time, so when they leave for work each morning, they don’t have to think about adjusting the temperature on their way out the door. They can also adjust settings remotely from an app, so if they unexpectedly find themselves with the afternoon off, their home can already be the perfect temperature by the end of their commute.

Some smart thermostats also help your teams monitor units to prevent damage caused by high humidity or extreme temperatures. SmartRent’s thermostats even generate maintenance work orders when something seems amiss so your team can proactively fix the problem.

When adjusting climate controls is fast, convenient, and remote, it’s more likely that your units will always be at the ideal temperature. The odds get even better when adjustments are completely automated.

How site teams can save energy with a smart thermostat

Consider that a member of your leasing team has many tasks on their plate in addition to showing vacant units to prospective renters. To save themselves time with a traditional thermostat, they might set a comfortable temperature in the morning and let the HVAC run all day, even though showing appointments might be hours apart.

When their day is over, they might forget to turn off the HVAC before they leave. With a traditional thermostat, that means you’ll waste energy all night. But, with a smart thermostat, staff can make adjustments to the temperature from their smartphones long after they leave for the day. They can even tell a smart thermostat to automatically shut off the HVAC after showing hours so there’s no risk of forgetting.

Some smart thermostats give you monitoring capabilities, too. If a SmartRent thermostat is set at a certain temperature but the room isn’t warming or cooling—maybe because a door or window was left open or the HVAC is malfunctioning—our app will send you an alert so you can fix the problem.

How residents can save energy with a smart thermostat

When a resident moves into a unit they enjoy the same energy-saving features as your staff. And, when they save money, that leaves more in their budget for other housing expenses, which can translate into more revenue for you. Renters might splurge on luxury amenities, or they might stick around even if you raise the rent.

The main benefits of smart thermostats are time and energy savings—and a resident experience that helps you attract and retain renters. But these are not the only reasons to adopt this smart apartment technology.

Asset protection
The ability to monitor climate conditions and energy usage in your units helps your staff keep an eye on your investments. They’ll get alerts when extreme temperatures and high humidity conditions could result in burst pipes, mold cultivation, or blistering and cracking cabinetry and finishes.

Centralization
Remote climate control can eliminate the need for your staff to walk across the property to adjust a setting—and even help you manage multiple communities from a central headquarters. By adding climate control to other remote abilities—like self-guided tours, smart access control, and mobile maintenance management—you minimize on-property staff and the inefficiencies associated with that.

Operations
Convenient platforms make for higher adoption rates among both staff and residents. That means it’s easier to keep everyone on the same page while keeping your processes simple and your residents happy.

Leasing
Automated, remote management of vacant units helps keep your team focused on more important duties. Instead of traveling from unit to unit to set temperatures, your staff can follow up with prospects, accommodate after-hours tours, and move residents in and out.

Maintenance
Reactive maintenance almost always results in higher repair costs, lost revenue, and damaged assets. But because smart thermostats alert you to possible problems (and, at least with SmartRent, auto-generate maintenance tickets), you can stay ahead of repairs and get more proactive tasks done.

Connected communities
Smart thermostats that play nice with the other smart home devices around your property help you provide a cohesive experience for your residents and help your staff stay on top of maintenance and management tasks.

Resident satisfaction
Like homeowners, more and more renters want the convenience and lifestyle that modern technology, like smart thermostats, provides. But knowing which devices to buy and getting everything to work together is a challenge for renters. Providing this technology makes living in your communities more convenient than home ownership.

Management
Property teams with access to smart thermostats and other proptech can help keep your community’s NOI healthy, no matter what the market looks like. Because smart thermostats can help you save money and attract residents, both parts of the NOI equation improve simultaneously.