A make ready checklist is a prioritized, documented unit-turn sequence you run at move-out so the unit gets inspected, repaired, cleaned, rekeyed, and photo-documented before it goes back on the market. Start the sequence the moment you receive move-out notice, not after keys land on your desk. The payoff is a unit that is safe, market-ready, and backed by records that protect you if a dispute comes up later.
TL;DR:
- Starting the make ready process immediately after receiving move-out notice minimizes vacancy delays and ensures safety and cosmetic repairs are prioritized appropriately.
- Critical repairs such as electrical, plumbing, and HVAC should be addressed first with licensed vendors to prevent rework and avoid damage to finishes.
- Completing safety checks like smoke alarms, GFCI outlets, and lead disclosures before cosmetic work prevents costly delays and compliance issues.
- Documenting every step with photos, receipts, and detailed checklists helps resolve disputes and maintains transparency throughout the turnover.
- Outsourcing turnover tasks to a professional management team can shorten vacancy periods and streamline vendor coordination, saving costs and effort.
Table of Contents
- What the checklist covers and when to start
- Step-by-step unit turnover sequence
- Room-by-room make ready checklist
- Safety and compliance checklist
- Scheduling, vendors, and scope management
- Final inspection, documentation, and handover
- Templates and printable checklist examples
- How a full-service manager executes make-ready work
- One habit that saves turns, and one mistake to avoid
- How professional property managers can handle make-ready work
- FAQ
- Sources
What the checklist covers and when to start
A make ready checklist pulls together four jobs that often get handled by different people: inspection, repairs, cleaning, and documentation. A property manager typically owns the inspection and scope, a maintenance technician or in-house staff handles repairs, and third-party vendors step in for specialized work like HVAC servicing or carpet replacement. Clear ownership at each stage keeps a turn from stalling while everyone waits on someone else.
Timing matters as much as task assignment. The process should begin the day you receive move-out notice, with a formal walkthrough scheduled for the day the tenant actually leaves. Waiting even a few days to inspect adds unnecessary vacancy time, since every delay in scoping pushes back every task that depends on it.
Your initial walkthrough should capture:
- Photographs of every room, taken before anything is touched.
- Confirmed access, including keys, garage remotes, and mailbox keys returned.
- A rough cost estimate for each repair item, flagged by urgency.
Step-by-step unit turnover sequence
A prioritized turnover sequence reduces missed items and shortens vacancy, since each step feeds directly into the next one. Apartments.com recommends scheduling vendors as soon as notice is received rather than waiting for the move-out date, which keeps repair crews from sitting idle while cosmetic work and cleaning get finished.
Here is the sequence that keeps a turn moving without rework:
- Receive notice. Log the move-out date and start scheduling vendor availability immediately.
- Initial inspection. Walk the unit the day the tenant vacates and note every issue, safety or cosmetic.
- Photograph conditions. Document every room before any repair work begins.
- Scope and prioritize. Separate safety-critical repairs from cosmetic ones and estimate costs for each.
- Dispatch safety and critical repairs first. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC issues go to licensed vendors right away.
- Complete cosmetic work. Paint, drywall patching, and fixture updates follow once safety items are cleared.
- Deep clean. Carpets, floors, appliances, and surfaces get cleaned only after repair dust and debris are gone.
- Rekey the unit. Change locks once all contractors have finished and returned their keys.
- Final walkthrough. A manager, not the technician who did the work, verifies every item is complete.
- Release for marketing or move-in. Update your listing and portal records the same day.
Parallel work is possible, but only where trades do not physically interfere. Painters and electricians can often overlap in different rooms, but flooring crews should never start until paint has fully cured and plumbing work is finished, since wet trades tend to damage fresh flooring installations.
Pro Tip: Schedule your smoke alarm, CO alarm, and GFCI checks before any cosmetic work begins, since a failed safety item can delay the entire release regardless of how good the paint job looks.
Room-by-room make ready checklist
A written, room-specific list keeps maintenance staff and vendors from guessing what "ready" means. Breaking the unit down by space also makes it easier to catch the small items that get missed when you only look at a unit as a whole.
Kitchen
- Test every appliance, including the oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, and garbage disposal, for proper function.
- Tighten or replace loose cabinet hardware and check drawer slides.
- Inspect counters for chips, stains, or burn marks that need repair or replacement.
- Mop and seal flooring, paying attention to grout lines and the area behind appliances.
Bathroom
- Recaulk tubs, showers, and sinks where seals have cracked or yellowed.
- Regrout tile where needed and check for soft spots around the tub.
- Confirm the exhaust fan runs quietly and vents properly to the exterior.
- Check the toilet wax seal and tighten or replace the base if it rocks.
- Test shower and tub fixtures for water pressure and leaks.
Bedrooms and living areas
- Patch nail holes and scuff marks, then repaint walls where needed.
- Confirm windows open, close, and lock properly, and replace damaged blinds.
- Test every light fixture and replace bulbs or fixtures that flicker or fail.
- Inspect closet shelving and rods for stability and weight capacity.
Exterior and common areas
- Check exterior doors for proper sealing, weatherstripping, and lock function.
- Replace burned-out exterior lighting at entries and walkways.
- Confirm the mailbox lock and entry locks work and match the new tenant's keys.
- Tidy landscaping and clear walkways of debris before photos are taken.
A partner checklist on property maintenance covers many of these same verification points in more detail, including smoke alarm testing and plumbing checks, and works well as a cross-reference for teams building their own list.
Safety and compliance checklist
Safety and compliance items are not optional line items. They need to be verified and documented every single turn, regardless of how the unit looks otherwise.
Start with smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: confirm placement in every bedroom and on each level, check battery age, and keep a dated test record for your files. Test every GFCI outlet in kitchens, bathrooms, and exterior locations, and confirm the breaker panel is labeled correctly. HVAC systems and water heaters should be inspected for proper operation, and any unit older than its expected service life should get a closer look before you release the property.
HUD's physical condition standards require housing components to be decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair, with particular attention to life-threatening conditions and compliance with state and local codes alongside federal rules.
For housing built before 1978, EPA's lead-based paint disclosure rule requires owners and managers to provide known lead information, any available reports, the Renovate Right pamphlet, and a signed Lead Warning Statement before a new lease begins. If renovation work disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing, the EPA's Renovate Right guidance requires containment during the work, verified post-renovation cleaning, and a recommended three-year retention period for renovation records. When that threshold is met, hire an EPA-certified renovator rather than assigning the work to general maintenance staff.
Scheduling, vendors, and scope management
Booking order matters as much as booking speed. Safety and structural repairs go first, since cosmetic work scheduled around an unresolved plumbing leak or electrical issue tends to get redone. Once critical repairs are underway, batch similar cosmetic jobs across multiple units when you manage more than one property. Painters and cleaning crews working several units back-to-back are typically faster and cheaper than scheduling them one unit at a time.
Before any vendor starts work, confirm:
- Current proof of insurance and, for regulated trades like electrical or plumbing, an active license.
- A written estimate and timeline before work begins, not after.
- A completion photo and signed receipt for every job, filed the same day.
Pro Tip: Keep a standing list of two or three vetted vendors per trade, since a single go-to contractor who gets overbooked can stall an entire turn.
Final inspection, documentation, and handover
The final walkthrough should be done by someone other than the technician who completed the repairs, since a second set of eyes catches items a tired crew member might miss. This walkthrough confirms every item on the original scope is finished, every safety check has passed, and the unit is genuinely ready for a new tenant.
- Walk every room against the original scope list and sign off only when each item is verified complete.
- File all documentation, including photos, repair receipts, rekey records, and the lead pamphlet acknowledgment when applicable, and retain renovation-related records for at least three years as EPA guidance recommends.
- Update your owner and tenant portal with final photos, costs, and the completion date.
- Release keys and activate the unit for marketing or move-in the same day the walkthrough is signed off.
Templates and printable checklist examples
Most teams work from three checklist formats: a one-page quick summary for a fast status check, a full room-by-room list for maintenance and vendors, and a vendor sign-off form that documents completed work with a signature and date. Mobile inspection apps let you fill out these forms in real time, attach photos directly to each line item, and collect e-signatures from vendors before they leave the property.
- Save your completed checklist and photos directly in your owner and tenant portal for easy retrieval.
- Attach vendor receipts to the same file so repair costs and proof of work live in one place.
- Reuse a standard template across your portfolio, adjusting only for unit-specific features like appliances or finishes.
How a full-service manager executes make-ready work
A managed turnover runs on a vendor network, owner and tenant portals, and photographed records at every stage, which keeps repair costs and timelines visible to the owner throughout the process. Our maintenance coordination pairs this documentation with a 12-month tenant guarantee on new leases, so a placed tenant who leaves early gets re-rented at no additional charge. Outsourcing the turn to a dedicated team typically shortens vacancy days since scheduling, scoping, and vendor dispatch happen without the owner coordinating each call.
One habit that saves turns, and one mistake to avoid
Photograph every room the moment you walk in, before touching anything, and again after every repair. That single habit resolves more disputes than any lease clause ever will. The mistake we see most often: treating an older property's renovation like any other paint job, when pre-1978 units carry lead rules that change your whole approach to scope and recordkeeping.
— Chaim
How professional property managers can handle make-ready work
Running a turn well takes coordinated scheduling, a reliable vendor bench, and documentation that holds up if questions come up later. That is the same work our property maintenance team handles for owners who would rather not manage trades and timelines themselves, backed by our commercial management experience coordinating repairs, painting, flooring, and final walkthroughs across larger portfolios.
Owners working with us get unit turnovers, maintenance coordination, and tenant placement handled under one roof, with every photo, receipt, and sign-off stored in your owner portal for easy reference.
- Request pricing details on our pricing page to compare managed turn costs against handling it yourself.
- Review our full range of services on the Milwaukeepm homepage before you decide what to hand off.
FAQ
What is included in an apartment make ready?
An apartment make ready typically includes a move-out inspection, safety-critical repairs, cosmetic work like paint and patching, a deep clean, rekeying, and a final walkthrough before the unit is released for marketing. Documentation, including photos and repair receipts, is part of a complete make ready process alongside the physical work itself.
What are some examples of pre-start checklists?
Pre-start checklists commonly include a move-out notice log, an initial inspection form capturing photos and estimated repair costs, and a vendor scheduling sheet that tracks who is booked for each job. Teams also use a safety verification form covering smoke alarms, GFCI outlets, and HVAC function before any cosmetic work begins.
What is an example of a checklist?
A room-by-room make ready checklist is a common example: it lists specific items to verify in the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and exterior, such as testing appliances, recaulking tubs, and checking exterior lighting. A vendor sign-off form is another example, documenting completed work with a signature, date, and photo proof.
How do I create a checklist?
Start by listing every task in the order it needs to happen, grouped by room or trade, then assign each item to the person responsible for completing it. Add a verification column so whoever signs off can confirm the work is done, and store the finished checklist alongside photos and receipts for easy reference later.