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New Resident Prep: What Frustrates Apartment Staff?

By Amanda Akers
February 15, 2021

Yes! You just had yet another new resident sign the dotted line, solidifying your community as their new home. But now starts the stress of getting their promised home in tip-top shape on their promised date. If you dread the turn process – all the steps required to prepare a vacant unit for a new resident – you’re not alone.

 

Rent Ready recently commissioned an anonymous survey to 390+ apartment professionals to take a pulse on the pain points of this process. Respondents’ roles included leasing, maintenance tech/manager, assistant property manager, property manager, regional manager and owner. Let’s see if you agree with your colleagues!

 

Top Three Frustrations

The top three most frustrating parts of getting a vacant unit ready for new residents are the quality of work; timeliness to complete work; and scheduling vendors.

 

New Resident Prep

 

Quality of Work

 

Apartment staff lamented that not all service pros take pride in their work, oftentimes leaving a job in a ho-hum state. One respondent stated the frustration was “Ensuring the contractors and turn techs have done their job correctly without having to return to the unit multiple times.”

 

Many responses indicated that lackluster jobs not only waste your community’s money, but also eat into the precious and limited turn time as you have to call the pro back or have it redone by a new vendor. As one respondent said, “Inspections - getting the unit ready when there are minimal touch-ups and we’re running out of time!”

 

Timeliness to Complete Work

 

Tied to the frustration of a tight time frame mentioned above, apartment staff also get headaches trying keep them on schedule. Common responses were, “Scheduling outside contractors and having them adhere to the schedule” and “scheduling and vendors not staying on schedule.”

 

Respondents emphasized that the frustration can be costly as missed deadlines can yield lost rentals. “Making sure contractors are sticking to the schedule that we have prepared for them. If they get off it can push a move in back and we could lose a rental,” expressed a respondent. Another stated, “Making sure the contractors are done on time. When ‘fix ups’ are delayed it can push the move in date back making the future resident upset.”

 

Scheduling Vendors

 

And right behind timeliness is the headache of actually getting all the vendors on the books. Respondents described this frustration as “scheduling vendors - lead times, delays and part availability;” “scheduling appropriate vendors in a timely fashion” and “scheduling, with 706 units it's a little taxing.”

 

Ranking the Frustration

Next, we asked staff to rank the most frustrating part of getting a unit ready on a scale of “Easy” to “Difficult.” The rankings fully underscored the three previously mentioned challenges.

 

New Resident Prep 2

 

What Would Make Your Life Easier?

 

Lastly, we asked respondents: In a perfect world - how would you change your current turn process to make your life easier? The two wishes that rose to the top of the list were good, quality vendors and one company that does it all, yet again highlighting the aforementioned frustrations.

 

New Resident Prep 3-1

 

Good, Quality Vendors

 

The responses were resoundingly similar for this category; words like consistent, dependable, pride, quality, reliable, solid, timely and trust appeared again and again. Respondents stated desired changes such as “Being able to trust someone to quickly do it to the new tenant’s satisfaction to avoid re-dos” and “… have a steady vendor who provides quality work every time.”

 

One Company That Does It All

 

One respondent’s comment accurately summarizes this perfect-world change: “Create a one-stop shop that completes the rent ready transformation from start to finish.”

 

A few respondents offered detail, such as “I would love a company that performs make-readies, paint, and clean. At an affordable price. Often we have 5 move-outs and only 1 employee to upgrade the units and complete all the repairs. It can take up to 3 weeks where units just sit because we are backed up.”

 

And another respondent encapsulated the various quality responses by stating, “It would be good to have a one stop shop to schedule all make ready services and one vendor accountable for the turns to follow up with if there was an issue. It would be beneficial to have a representative from the vendor to check on their teams to ensure they’re completing quality service.”

 

The Solution is Here

Guess what?! The solution already exists. Built to eliminate the frustration of getting an apartment home move-in ready, Rent Ready utilizes a proprietary technology platform to make scheduling and completing a turn pain-free. With only one call or email to us, we handle it all: source and vet the pros and ensure they complete high-quality work on time.

 

New Resident Prep 4

 

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About Author
Amanda Akers

Amanda is the Director, Platform Strategy & Communications for Rent Ready and has been with the company for over 3 years. Her experience in marketing, branding, storytelling and product management lends itself well to truly understanding the needs of the customer and industry and pushing the Rent Ready brand to live up to those standards.

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