Topic: Average maintenance hours to turn a unit

I am a new member and did a search but could not find anything to give me some real numbers. I am a partner on a property that is mostly 1250 sf townhouse style units. We feel our maintenance guy is padding his hours. How many hours on average does it take to turn a unit? I know there are variables but I am looking for averages. Thanks.

Are you asking about just maintenance service, or are your techs expected to paint as part of the turn? What's the average age/condition of the units?

Because there are a lot of variables in turn times, if you're concerned he's padding hours, your best bet is to pop in randomly and unannounced during the turn. Or have someone work side-by-side with him for a couple and see what the turn time looks like. Have you spoken with him about your concerns regarding turn time? What does he say about the hours? I'm a big fan of addressing the issue at the source - not only would I appreciate the same courtesy from a supervisor, it will also put him on notice that there is an issue and you may see improvement as a result.

If paint is not part of the turn process, I wouldn't expect more than 4 (for an easy turn) to 8 hours (for a more involved unit). But that's assuming that you have a good preventative maintenance program in place, and you're not looking at a lot of extra HVAC/appliance/drywall work. If you're talking about something that leans more towards "rehab" than "turn"... it can go up from there.

Unfortunately, we are absentee owners, too far from the property to be able to check up on the maintenance guy. The manager is primarily a leasing person, she is not well versed in maintenance times. The property was built in 1990 and does not have a lot of deferred maintenance as of now. I would say it is a B/C class property in terms of tenant type. Paint is required frequently, as the tenants often have kids.

I was thinking 3-5 days for 1 person was more the norm, but am trying to validate this with others.

The average turn should take 5 business days.
Paint one day, Punch one half day to a whole day (depending on the length the previous person lived there and how they left the apartment)
Cleaners- have the apartment cleaned
Carpet Cleaners or Replacement
I always give myself a day for the unexpected to happen. Of course, this is pre-scheduling before the move out date. Once I walk the apartment, I know if there are any additional issues that need to be addressed such as resurfacing of countertops, sinks or tubs. I also schedule one vender per day unless I am in a crunch because the venders can never really predict the time that they will be there and I don't want to have a cleaner and a painter on top of each other.
It could be a three day turn if you stacked the venders but I wouldn't do that personally.

Thanks, that gives me a yardstick.

Are we talking JUST maintenance hours, or are you looking for the full turn time - including paint, carpet, cleaning, etc? For a full turn, including those tasks not included in maintenance hours, they yes... 3-5 days to fully turn. My apologies - I thought you were looking for just maintenance hours.

As before, 3-5 days for all but the worst units. Townhouses add a day...in terms of man hours, anything over 32 hours gets a personal visit from me.

Full turn, including paint, floor, cleaning etc. Our maintenance person does the paint. We have a vendor for the carpet.

Your maintenance guy is taking too long, I suggest you to find another guy which will not take much time.

1250 square feet on two or more levels is a pretty good sized apartment to turn. If you put more than one guy in the same apartment they trip over each other. Cleaning people and fixing people have very different mindsets. If you're expecting the same person to do both, that might be slowing things down. An employee is a tool of management just as a basin wrench is to tool of maintenance. As the old saying goes, "It's a poor workman who blames his tools."