Founded to save water designed as a platform.
SMART Watering Systems was founded by Chris Le Conte in 2007 to bring engineering discipline and documented outcomes to commercial irrigation. Seventeen years later, the company operates as Canada's water intelligence platform — managing outdoor irrigation and indoor water for 400+ commercial properties under a first-principles methodology that hasn't changed since the start.
A commitment that hasn't changed since 2007.
SMART was founded around what commercial property owners actually need: dramatic reductions in outdoor water use, elimination of the high-water-loss events that drive most indoor damage, and documented outcomes property managers can defend in front of a board. Seventeen years and 400+ properties later, the commitment hasn't moved.
In 2007, Chris Le Conte founded SMART Watering Systems with a focused commitment to commercial property owners: help them take measurable control of their water — both outdoors on the landscape and indoors in the building.
Flow sensing at every point of connection. Master valves at every connection point. Documented baselines on every site. The discipline that translates "we should save water" into "we saved 23,367 cubic metres on this property this year."
The approach produced exactly what institutional property owners had been waiting for: water savings they could measure, defend, and report — year after year.
By 2008, SMART was designing and installing the Yorkdale Mall landscape for Oxford Properties — a project that produced an 85% reduction in landscape potable water use and earned a 2008 Toronto Green Award. By 2009, Rosedale Property Management retained SMART as their lead irrigation consultant for the master planning of all future irrigation systems on the property. By 2013, the cumulative water savings at the RBC Mississauga corporate campus had reached 53,507 cubic metres.
Matthew Whalen joined as Partner and Operations Co-Owner, formalizing the company's scale-up. Today, SMART operates a 20-person in-house team serving the GTA + Golden Horseshoe — covering both outdoor irrigation and indoor water management for 400+ commercial properties under continuous measurement. Every install, every retrofit, every alarm response is performed by SMART staff.
The commitment hasn't changed since 2007. What you can measure, you can manage. What you can't measure, you can't justify.
Founded by Chris Le Conte.
SMART Watering Systems was founded by Chris in 2007. Seventeen years and 750+ properties later, he continues to set the standard that every SMART project is measured against.
Chris founded SMART Watering Systems in 2007 with a focused mission: help commercial property owners take measurable control of their water — both irrigation and indoors in the building. From the company's first project, the work has been driven by what clients needed: dramatic reductions in irrigation consumption, elimination of the high-water-loss events that drive most indoor damage and bill anomalies, and documented outcomes a property manager can defend in front of a board.
Chris currently sits as Chair of the Irrigation Sector Group at Landscape Ontario — the provincial association representing the landscape and irrigation industry across Ontario. He holds Certified Irrigation Contractor (CIC), Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor (CLIA), and Water Smart Irrigation Professional (WSIP) certifications.
Over the past twenty years, Chris has built a portfolio of long-running partnerships with Canada's most forward thinking property owners and managers.
His focus today sits in two specific directions: helping clients achieve dramatic reductions in irrigation water use, and eliminating the high-water-loss events that drive most commercial indoor water damage. Both efforts share the same underlying SMART discipline — measure first, manage continuously, document every outcome.
What you can measure, you can manage. What you can't measure, you can't justify.
— The founding thesis, 2007
A 20-person team.
Built over twenty years.
Every project at SMART is delivered by a SMART employee. No subcontractor networks, no off-site labour. The team has been built one role at a time since 2007.
A strong team makes the difference.
Every install, every retrofit, every service call, every flow-alarm response is performed by a SMART Technician. We hire long, train deep, and keep institutional knowledge in-house.
Three divisions. One operating standard.
Sean Knapman
Production Manager, Irrigation · 10 years at SMARTService Technician management, Field installation, Water-efficient Upgrades, Retrofitting, and seasonal service across Ontario.
Robby Duguay
Production Manager, Water ManagementRemote monitoring, daily alarm response, and water-management operations for both irrigation and indoor water portfolios.
Andrew Firth
Senior Irrigation Designer · 15 years at SMARTSystem design and engineering for every new construction and retrofit project. CIT/CID-certified design grounded in fifteen years of SMART project history — the discipline behind every install before a single line goes in the ground.
Lindsay Clare
Dispach and AdminClient coordination, scheduling, reporting, and the operational backbone that keeps every field deployment and water-management response moving. The point of contact for property managers across the SMART portfolio.
Industry certifications plus manufacturer-level training.
- CIT Certified Irrigation Technician
- CIC Certified Irrigation Contractor
- CID Certified Irrigation Designer
- CLIA Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor
- WSIP Water Smart Irrigation Professional
- Hydropoint Factory Level 4 certified
- Rainbird IQ Satellite-based remote control
- Hunter Hydrawise Cloud-based smart control
- 48 hours Flow alarm response, including weekends
- Same day GTA service call response
- Master valves Standard on every SMART system
- Flow sensing At every point of connection
- Documented baseline Pre-project and per-zone
Our Awards
2009, 2010, 2012, City of Toronto Excellence in Water Efficiency Award
2009 and 2013, Landscape Ontario Water Efficiency Award
2011, Water Magazine Water’s Next Award
2021, WSIP Water Optimization, Highest Confirmed Savings Award