The Apartment Turnover Cleanout Checklist
A turn runs in a fixed order and every trade after the first one needs an empty unit. This is what "empty" has to mean before the second trade arrives.
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Why the clearance is the whole schedule
Clear, clean, repair, paint, floor, inspect, list. Every one of those needs the one before it finished, and the first one is the clearance. A day lost there is a day lost at the end, and the arithmetic on that is straightforward: four extra vacant days on a unit costs more in lost rent than the clearance did.
The common failure is treating the clearance as something the cleaning crew will absorb. They will not — a cleaner who arrives to find a wardrobe in a bedroom charges for a second visit, and a painter cannot cut in around it. The half-cleared unit costs twice.
What has to leave before cleaning starts
- All furniture from every room
- Mattresses and box springs, bagged
- Bed frames, slats and headboards
- Appliances the property is replacing
- Every closet, including top shelves
- Kitchen cabinets, pantry and under-sink
- Bathroom cabinets and shower fittings
- Balcony or patio furniture and grills
- Exterior storage closet
- Blinds, curtains and damaged window coverings
- Rugs and any non-fitted floor covering
- Carpet and pad, where flooring is being replaced
- Bagged rubbish and loose debris
- Anything in an assigned storage cage or parking bay
The spaces that get missed
Consistently the same five: the exterior storage closet, the balcony, the top shelf of the bedroom closet, under the kitchen sink, and behind the washer and dryer. None of them are visible from a doorway, and all of them are found by the cleaner rather than by the person who scoped the clearance.
A scoping walk that opens every door — including the ones outside the unit — costs two minutes and prevents the second visit.
Batching the month end
Turns cluster around lease-end dates, so a property will typically have several units free in the same week. Clearing them in one visit rather than booking each individually is meaningfully cheaper and considerably faster, because it is one dispatch.
For that to work the units need to be identified in advance. Properties on an account usually send a list rather than booking one at a time, which is what removes the quoting delay entirely.
- Units identified in advance and sent as a list
- One visit rather than several dispatches
- Agreed rates by unit size
- Cleaning and paint scheduled directly behind it
Turning several units a month?
A standing account removes the quoting cycle, which is usually worth more than any per-unit saving.
FAQ
Related questions
- What does a unit need to look like before cleaning starts?
- Empty and swept. Not cleaned — that is the next trade — but with nothing left in any closet, cabinet, balcony or storage space, and no debris on the floors.
- Which spaces get missed most often?
- The exterior storage closet, the balcony, the top closet shelf, under the kitchen sink, and behind the washer and dryer. None are visible from a doorway, which is why they survive a scoping walk that does not open doors.
- Can several units be cleared at once?
- Yes, and month-end batches should be. Send the unit list in advance — one dispatch covering five units is both cheaper and faster than five separate bookings.
- Do you take up old carpet during a turn?
- Yes, where flooring is being replaced. It is labor-heavy rather than bulky, so mention it while scoping so it is priced properly rather than added on the day.
Ready when you are
You point. We haul. That is the whole arrangement.
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The Arlington branch
Junk Koala Arlington
1140 W Pioneer Pkwy, Ste 1144E
Arlington, TX 76013