Water is the quiet threat in connected buildings. It does not announce itself with an alarm the way smoke does, and by the time a resident notices a stain on a ceiling, the damage may already span several floors. That is the problem behind a partnership announced on November 3, 2026, between Eddy Solutions and FirstService Residential, which will bring monitored water leak detection to residential communities managed by FirstService across the United States and Canada.
Eddy Smart Home Solutions Ltd. (TSXV: EDY) is a Toronto-based company that builds smart water sensors, automatic shutoff valves and a 24/7 monitoring service for multi-family buildings, commercial properties, hotels, data centers and health care facilities. FirstService Residential is North America’s largest residential property management company, and a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ and TSX: FSV). The two companies signed a master services agreement on January 7, 2026, and Eddy already monitors 30 FirstService Residential-managed communities.
What the partnership delivers to condos and high-rises
Through the partnership, boards and property managers in FirstService communities can add water detection designed specifically for condominiums and high-rises. The core of the system is Eddy’s wireless 3-in-1 sensor, which monitors for water, temperature and humidity at the points where leaks most often start: domestic water risers, heat exchangers and leak-prone appliances.
When water is detected, the system sends real-time alerts by text and email, including the location of the event, so building staff do not have to hunt floor by floor for the source. Automated shutoff valves can respond when configured thresholds are reached, stopping the flow before a small leak becomes a flood. Eddy’s monitoring service can also follow up with designated building contacts to help coordinate the response, and each event is documented in a Leak Incident Report.
That last detail matters more than it might sound. A sensor that only beeps is a warning; a managed program that alerts, shuts off water, follows up and documents the event is a response. For a condo board, the difference shows up in repair bills, in disruption to residents, and — as Eddy argues — in conversations with insurers at renewal time.
Why water damage is a board-level problem now
The announcement lands at a moment when insurance costs are squeezing condo and homeowners associations. According to ICE Mortgage Technology, property insurance premiums rose 70% between 2019 and 2025. LendingTree reports that 82% of association members saw their fees rise over the past three years, with 44% describing the increases as significant. Boards control few of the inputs that drive those renewals, and the release notes that association master policies can exclude some water damage sources unless endorsements are added.
Water damage itself remains one of the most frequent and costly property losses in residential communities, especially high-rises, where a single failure can affect units below. Interior water damage claim severity rose 8% between 2019 and 2023, according to Verisk figures cited in the announcement. Loss prevention is one of the few levers a board can actually pull, and monitored detection is a direct form of it.
The 2 AM problem
Timing is what makes leaks so destructive. In Eddy’s 2026 State of Water Risk Report, 65% of leaks in multi-unit residential buildings started after business hours, with 2 AM identified as the single busiest hour for major leaks — the ones with the most destructive potential. Nobody is watching a riser closet at 2 AM, and a leak that runs undetected overnight can soak through floors, drywall and electrical systems before anyone wakes up.
“Property managers are the first call when a building floods at 2 AM, and the last to get credit when nothing floods at all,” said Cory Silver, President of Eddy Solutions. “Partnering with FirstService Residential puts monitored water protection in front of communities that invest heavily in preventative maintenance, with the documentation their boards and managers need to see the results.”
Andrew Lester, President of FirstService Financial, framed the offering as proactive risk management: “Water detection solutions provide a proactive way to identify issues early, reduce disruption for residents, and help protect long-term property value. This offering reflects our commitment to smarter risk management and stronger outcomes for the communities we serve.”
The insurance angle
Eddy says monitored buildings are increasingly evaluated differently at insurance renewal. According to the announcement, premium savings of up to 20% have been documented across operator portfolios using managed water protection, while deductible reductions of up to 80% have been documented at individual properties. Every monitored event can generate documentation that a broker can present to an underwriter as part of the program.
Those figures should be read for what they are: results documented by the company across portfolios and individual properties, not a guarantee for any particular building. Savings will depend on the insurer, the building’s claims history, the scope of the installation and local market conditions. Still, the logic is straightforward. An insurer that can see a building detects leaks in minutes, shuts off water automatically and keeps incident records is pricing a different risk than one that discovers leaks hours later from a resident’s phone call.
How big Eddy already is
The partnership also gives a sense of Eddy’s scale. As of June 30, 2026, the company had 145,127 in-building devices installed across its operations, up from 120,804 a year earlier — an increase of about 20%. That growth, plus the 30 FirstService communities already monitored under the agreement signed in January, suggests this announcement formalizes and extends a relationship that was already operating, rather than starting from zero.
It is also worth noting what this partnership is not. It is a program for managed residential communities, sold through boards and property managers — not a retail product a homeowner buys off a shelf. Residents of a FirstService-managed condo will experience it as a building system, not as a gadget they install themselves. Pricing for individual communities was not disclosed in the announcement.
What it means for the wider smart home market
For single-family homeowners, the same principles apply at a smaller scale, and the market already offers the building blocks: point leak sensors for water heaters, washing machines and under sinks; whole-home shutoff valves that close the main supply when a leak is detected; and monitoring services that alert a phone rather than a building engineer. The FirstService deal shows the same idea maturing on the commercial side, where the buyer is a board weighing insurance renewals rather than a homeowner weighing a weekend project.
The broader trend is worth watching. As water damage claims push premiums higher, leak detection is moving from a nice-to-have sensor to a risk-management tool that property managers and insurers both take seriously. If monitored protection demonstrably cuts claims, expect more property managers to offer it, more insurers to ask about it, and more buildings to treat a leak sensor network the way they already treat fire alarms: as infrastructure, not an accessory.
What to watch next
- Rollout pace: how quickly the program expands beyond the 30 FirstService communities already monitored, and into which markets.
- Documented results: whether buildings in the program report fewer or less severe water claims, and whether the premium and deductible savings cited by Eddy hold up across more properties.
- Follow-on deals: whether other large property managers adopt similar monitored water programs, turning leak detection into a standard amenity for managed communities.
For now, the announcement is a clear signal: in multi-unit housing, smart home technology is increasingly judged not by how clever it is, but by how much damage it prevents at 2 AM, when no one is watching.