We attended two events this season that sit right at the intersection of where housing is going and where fire sprinklers have found it hard to follow.

ADU Academy brought together builders, designers, and developers working in California’s accessory dwelling unit space, a market that has grown significantly since the state began removing barriers to ADU permitting in 2020. The conversations confirmed what we already knew: on many of these projects, traditional fire sprinklers can be a significant obstacle. Where water pressure is low or the existing meter is inadequate to support a conventional NFPA 13D system, builders are looking at meter upgrades and new underground runs before a single sprinkler head goes in. On smaller projects, those upstream costs alone are enough to make the numbers difficult.

Automist was designed with exactly these constraints in mind. As the only residential targeted water mist system UL listed to UL 2167A in the United States, it operates at a fraction of the flow rate required by a conventional system, which means it can work from an existing supply that would not support traditional sprinklers. It offers a code compliant path delivering equivalent protection without the water upgrade costs attached. Hearing builders talk through the same supply constraints we had already been working around was a useful confirmation that the product is solving a real problem.

Tiny Fest brought a different crowd but a familiar conversation. Park model builders, modular developers, tiny home manufacturers, and the designers working with them encounter the same issues on resort sites, rural plots, and urban infill lots where supply pressure and meter capacity cannot always be taken for granted. We spent time with builders and developers who are actively looking for a solution they can embed into their BOM at a known price and get through the authority having jurisdiction without a protracted approval process. Both events reinforced the same conclusion: the market for a targeted water mist solution in the small dwelling and ADU segment is not a future opportunity. It is here now.

If you were at either event and want to continue the conversation, or if you are working on an ADU or small dwelling project and want to understand whether Automist is a fit, get in touch.