Unit Turn Calculator
Itemized make-ready cost, timeline, and a crew checklist.
Not sure what yours requires? The word, the work, what it costs, how long it takes, and who pays for which part of it.
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Unit turn costs, explained
What a make-ready actually includes
A unit turn — a make-ready, or turnover — is everything between one tenant handing back the keys and the next tenant taking them. The scope is always the same handful of trades: a walkthrough and punch list, repairs, paint, flooring, appliance service or replacement, a deep clean, a rekey, junk removal, and a final quality walk. What changes from unit to unit is how much of each you do. A tenant who left a clean, well-kept apartment needs a touch-up and a clean; one who left holes in the walls and a stained carpet needs paint, new flooring, and real repair time. This calculator prices that spread so you are not guessing.
Light, standard, and heavy turns
Most turns fall into three buckets. A light turn is normal wear — a paint touch-up, a standard clean, a professional floor clean, and minor repairs — usually $500–$1,500 and 3–5 days. A standard turn is the typical between-tenants make-ready: a full repaint or heavy touch-up, a deep clean, appliance service, a rekey, junk removal, and a moderate punch list — usually $1,500–$3,000 and 7–10 days. A heavy turn is a rehab: full repaint, new LVP or carpet, one or more replaced appliances, and a long repair list — $3,000–$8,000+ and 14–30 days. Pick the level that matches the unit, then adjust any single line; the estimate updates as you tap.
A typical cost breakdown
Where the money goes on a standard turn, for a 900 sq ft two-bedroom — the calculator scales these to your own square footage, scope and region.
| Line item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Paint — touch-up to full repaint | $150–$2,700 |
| Cleaning — standard to deep | $180–$405 |
| Flooring — clean vs. replace | $150–$5,040 |
| Appliances — service vs. replace | $80–$1,800 |
| Rekey the exterior locks | $75–$150 |
| Junk removal | $79–$400 |
| Repairs and punch list | $100–$2,500 |
Not sure what any of this covers? What a unit turn actually is walks through the work itself, the order it has to happen in, and who pays for which part.
Repair or replace?
The single biggest swing in a turn is repair-versus-replace on flooring and appliances. The rule of thumb: refresh what is serviceable, replace what is worn, dated, or failing. A carpet with a few stains cleans up for a couple hundred dollars; a carpet that is matted and past its life is a replacement. An appliance that runs gets a service and a test; one that is on its third repair call gets replaced. Replacement costs more today, but new LVP and updated appliances support a higher rent, break less between tenants, and lower the cost of the next turn — so the math often favors replacing on a unit you plan to hold.
Why trade sequence matters
Turns go over budget when trades run out of order. The sequence is top-down and dirty-to-clean: walk and document first so nothing is missed, then repairs, then paint, then flooring, then appliances, then the deep clean, then rekey and junk removal, and finally a QA walk. Paint before flooring, so drips do not land on new floors. Clean last, so construction dust does not settle on a “finished” unit. Skip the order and you repaint a wall you already cleaned, or vacuum a room you are about to sand. The checklist this tool prints is already in that sequence, with a sign-off line per step so a crew can work it start to finish.
The real cost is the vacant days
The line most owners underweight is the one that is not on the invoice: lost rent. Every day a unit sits empty costs roughly the monthly rent divided by 30 — about $50 a day on a $1,500 unit. A turn that drags an extra two weeks quietly costs $700 in vacancy on top of the labor. That is why speed usually beats saving a few dollars on the work: enter your rent above and the calculator shows the vacancy cost per day, so you can weigh a faster, slightly pricier turn against a slow, cheap one honestly.
Questions
How much does a unit turn cost?
A typical apartment turn runs about $1,000–$5,000. Light turns are often $500–$1,500, standard turns $1,500–$3,000, and heavy make-readies with new flooring and appliances $3,000–$8,000+. Cost scales with square footage and how much you replace versus refresh.
What is a make-ready?
The work to get a vacant rental ready for the next tenant: walkthrough and punch list, repairs, paint, flooring, appliance service or replacement, deep clean, rekey, junk removal, and a final QA walk. “Make-ready,” “unit turn,” and “turnover” mean the same thing.
How long does a unit turn take?
Roughly 3–5 days for a light turn, 7–10 for a standard turn, and 14–30 for a heavy turn or rehab. Replacing flooring or ordering appliances adds a few days for materials and drying time.
How much does each vacant day cost?
About the monthly rent ÷ 30. A $1,500 unit loses roughly $50 for every day it sits empty — which is why turning it fast usually saves more than cutting corners on the work.
Should I repair or replace?
Refresh what is serviceable — clean the carpet, service the appliance. Replace what is worn, dated, or failing, or when repeated repairs approach the cost of replacement. New finishes also support a higher rent and reduce the next turn's cost.
What order should the work be done in?
Top-down and dirty-to-clean: walk and document, repairs, paint, flooring, appliances, deep clean, rekey, junk removal, then a final QA walk. The printable checklist is already in this sequence.
Related tools: Estimate & Quote · Work Order · Condition Report · Deposit Deduction Calculator · Rent Receipt · Capital Plan
This prices one vacant unit. When the same line keeps coming up at every turn — flooring, appliances, cabinets — that has stopped being a turnover cost and become a building-wide replacement, which is what the capital plan budgets for.
A turn almost always means repainting. In a building put up before 1978 that is the moment to run the lead rule check — six square feet in one room is about a two-by-three-foot patch.
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