Turnovers
Rental Turnover & Make-Ready Repairs
Move-out damage, patch and paint, hardware, cleanout and the full make-ready list run as one scheduled block against a real move-in date.
The honest version
What this actually involves
A turnover is a deadline problem wearing the costume of a repair problem. Every day a unit sits empty is money, and the pressure is to get it back on the market fast — but the fastest turnover is not the cheapest one over a five-year hold. Cutting the same corners every time produces a unit that turns worse each cycle, attracts tenants who treat it accordingly, and eventually needs a renovation rather than a make-ready.
The other thing that makes turnovers distinctive is that the scope is genuinely uncertain until the tenant is out. You can inspect at notice, but the real condition appears when the furniture leaves. So the useful thing is not a fixed quote in advance, it is a contractor who can see the unit the day it is vacant and give you a real number the same day.
There is also a documentation dimension. Deposit deductions have to be defensible, and the difference between normal wear and tenant damage is a distinction you may have to justify. We photograph what we find before we fix it, which gives you something better than a memory when a dispute comes.
Send us these photos and we can usually answer without a visit
- Move-out inspection photos if you have them
- Every room, wide, once the unit is empty
- Close-ups of specific damage
- Your vacate date and target listing or move-in date
- Which trades are already booked, and when
A standard turnover on a typical unit is one to three days of our work, depending on condition, and sits inside a longer window shared with cleaners, flooring and any licensed trades.
In scope
What's included
Specific enough that you can check your own list against it before you send anything.
- Wall repair and touch-upNail and anchor holes, doorknob damage, impact marks, scuffs and the accumulated wall damage of a tenancy — patched, texture-matched and touched up or cut in.
- Door and hardware make-readyDoors that stick, latches that miss, loose handles, closet doors off track, cabinet hardware and the items that will be the first thing a viewing tenant touches.
- Blinds, fixtures and hardware replacementBroken blinds, missing hardware, towel bars, shower rods, door stops, house numbers, mailbox and the small items that read as neglect when missing.
- Caulk and seal refreshTub, shower and counter joints redone — high-impact for a viewing and genuinely protective of the unit's subfloor.
- Cleanout and haul-offEverything left behind removed and hauled, coordinated with your legal timeline for handling abandoned property.
- Exterior and yard make-readyBed cleanup, debris removal, pressure washing of walks and entry, and the curb appeal that determines whether a prospect gets out of the car.
- Condition documentationPhotographs of what we find before we fix it, organized by room, which is what makes a deposit deduction defensible.
- Same-day scope and numberWe walk it the day it is vacant and come back with a real list and a real figure, so you are not guessing at a budget while the unit sits.
From actual jobs
What this looks like in real life
Our own photos, not stock. Some of these are the state a property was in when we arrived, which is the honest version of this work.
Out of scope
What we won’t do, and why we say it up front.
Every list has at least one item that belongs to somebody else. Naming it early costs you nothing. Finding out after the work has started costs you a second contractor, a second schedule and sometimes a second repair to undo the first one.
There is also an insurance dimension people underestimate. Unlicensed work in a licensed category can give a carrier grounds to deny a claim later. That risk is yours, not ours, which is exactly why we will not quietly take the job.
- Licensed electrical, plumbing, HVAC or gas work — including water heaters, disposals and appliance connection
- Appliance repair or replacement requiring utility connection
- Full-unit repainting — that is a painting contractor and they will be faster and cheaper on a whole unit
- Flooring replacement, carpet installation or refinishing
- Turnover cleaning — a cleaning company does this better and cheaper than we would
- Determining the legal status of abandoned tenant property
- Advising on what may lawfully be deducted from a security deposit
- Mold remediation, or work in a unit with an active moisture source
How it runs
From your photos to a finished job
You should know where you stand by step two, before any money is involved.
Tell us the vacate date and the target
When the unit is empty and when it needs to be listed or occupied. That gap defines what is achievable and we will be straight about it immediately.
We walk it the day it's vacant
Documented room by room, photographed before anything is touched, with a scope and a number back to you the same day.
You approve the scope
Split by must-do and nice-to-have, so you can decide where the budget goes on this cycle rather than being handed one number.
Run it as one block
Scheduled around your cleaner, flooring and any licensed trades so the trades are not tripping over each other and the unit is not sitting idle between them.
What drives cost
We can't quote a number here. We can tell you what moves it.
Anyone publishing a flat price for this category is either padding it heavily or about to revise it on site. Here is what actually changes the figure.
- Condition drives it, and condition is unknown until the unit is empty. Anyone quoting a firm turnover price sight-unseen is padding it.
- Unit size and item count are the base, with damage severity the multiplier.
- Compressed timelines cost more. A week is a different job from three days.
- Portfolio volume works in your favor — several units scheduled together is more efficient than one at a time.
- The cheapest turnover is not the cheapest hold. Chronically deferred items compound and eventually turn a make-ready into a renovation.
Travel and setup are charged once whether we do one item or nine. If there is anything else on your mind, add it to the list — the marginal cost of item two is a fraction of item one.
We stop and tell you before doing anything else, and you decide. We do not expand a job on the fly and hand you a revised invoice at the end.
Field notes
Four ways this gets done wrong
Mostly these are things we get called out to repair after somebody else — or a well-meaning weekend — got there first.
Sequencing the trades wrong
Cleaners before repairs means cleaning twice. Flooring before wall repair means covering new floors. Licensed trades booked last means the unit waits on their calendar. Order the work before booking anyone.
Not documenting before repairing
Once the wall is patched, the evidence for the deposit deduction is gone. Photograph first, always, organized by room. It costs ten minutes and it is what makes a deduction stand up.
Skipping the same items every cycle
The caulk, the seals, the door adjustments. Deferred once is fine. Deferred five turnovers running produces a unit where the subfloor is soft and the doors do not close, and now it is a renovation.
Ignoring the exterior
The showing starts in the driveway. A prospect decides a great deal about a unit before the key goes in the door, and bed cleanup and a pressure-washed walk cost very little relative to that effect.
Questions
Rental Turnover — common questions
Can you quote a turnover before the tenant moves out?
Do you clean too?
Can you handle multiple units?
What about things the tenant left behind?
Can you tell me what I can deduct from the deposit?
How fast can you turn a unit?
Where we do this
Rental Turnover across the Lake Norman region
Each of these pages covers what's different about this work in that specific town — housing eras, permitting authority, and what we actually see there.
Rental Turnover in Statesville
Home base. Same-week scheduling is usually realistic here.
Rental Turnover in Mooresville
Core service area. We are in Mooresville most weeks.
Rental Turnover in Denver
Core service area across east Lincoln County.
Rental Turnover in Troutman
Core service area, minutes from home base.
Rental Turnover in Lake Norman
All four shoreline counties. Waterfront access details matter — tell us up front.
- Rental Turnover in Cornelius, NC
- Rental Turnover in Davidson, NC
- Rental Turnover in Huntersville, NC
- Rental Turnover in Sherrills Ford, NC
- Rental Turnover in Terrell, NC
- Rental Turnover in Mount Mourne, NC
- Rental Turnover in Lincolnton, NC
- Rental Turnover in Hickory, NC
- Rental Turnover in Newton, NC
- Rental Turnover in Conover, NC
- Rental Turnover in Catawba, NC
- Rental Turnover in Claremont, NC
- Rental Turnover in Maiden, NC
- Rental Turnover in Iron Station, NC
- Rental Turnover in Stanley, NC
- Rental Turnover in Harmony, NC
- Rental Turnover in Union Grove, NC
- Rental Turnover in Olin, NC
- Rental Turnover in Cleveland, NC
- Rental Turnover in Barium Springs, NC
- Rental Turnover in Stony Point, NC
- Rental Turnover in Taylorsville, NC
- Rental Turnover in Kannapolis, NC
- Rental Turnover in Concord, NC
- Rental Turnover in Salisbury, NC
- Rental Turnover in China Grove, NC
Usually sent together
Related work people add to the same list
Punch Lists
Inspection repair addendums, pre-listing punch lists, builder walkthrough items and turnover lists worked through and closed out as one project.
Junk Removal
Garage, shed, attic and whole-property cleanouts — sorted for donation and recycling where possible, hauled out, and the space left swept.
Drywall Repair
Drywall patching that disappears — nail pops, anchor holes, door dings, water-damaged sections and texture matching that actually matches.
Pre-Listing Prep
The small defects a buyer, agent, photographer or inspector will notice — handled before the photos, with an honest read on what's worth spending on.
Next step
Have rental turnover on your list? Send it with everything else.
Photos, notes, an inspection report, a screenshot of your notes app — whatever you have. We read every one and reply with a straight answer, including the parts we're not the right fit for.