News and Insights

A small water pipe leak in a wall, floor, or ceiling can easily be the costliest type of water damage you will ever experience in a commercial building.

Could anything be more stressful than knowing a pipe in your commercial building is leaking water but can't find exactly where?

Water damage costs to our homes and businesses are immense. Flooding, broken pipes and minor, hidden leaks are the leading cause of commercial property insurance claims. Allianz Global Corporate & Security, in an analysis of nearly half a million claims between 2013 and 2018 from over 200 countries and territories, found that water damage accounted for the third-highest number of insurance claims for global business.

A tiny sensor could save many large buildings enormous amounts of money and make the difficult work of facilities management substantially more straightforward.

There is no doubt that the modern workspace is evolving. New workplace attitudes, fueled by the global pandemic, have centered the office as the hub for collaborative work while also being responsible for an employee’s well-being and productivity.

Hotels are an indispensable part of today’s travel industry. Even after the impacts of the pandemic, there are more than 700,000 hotels and resorts worldwide [ref] that have a current global market worth $800 billion [ref].

When thinking about commercial buildings, the terms ‘larger-scale’, ‘more expensive’ and ‘more stakeholders’ may come to mind. These qualities are exactly why the impact of water leaks can be so devastating and is reflected in the average loss for commercial buildings at $1.4 million, compared to domestic homes at just under $4,000 [ref].

Water leaks are a serious issue

Domestically in the US, leaks can waste more than one trillion gallons of water per year [ref] and every day 14,000 Americans face a water damage emergency [ref]. This is reflected by how 1 in 50 US homes will make a water claim each year amounting to a huge strain of $13 billion in annual insurance payouts (2017). Behind these payouts, the added detriments of water leaks to homeowners and utility providers expand to damage of the surrounding property, higher water bills and dealing with secondary effects such as mold.