Unit Turnover Checklist

Floors

• Mop and wax all wood floors
• Clean or shampoo carpets
• Remove stains and wipe clean all floor surfaces. Wax the surfaces afterwards.
• The base cove moldings must be wiped clean.

Baths

• Clean toilets, sinks, toilets, shower cubicles and baths.
• Make sure that there are no molds on the tiles.

Plumbing

• Check all drains in the kitchen and bathrooms
• Check kitchen sink, bath tub and shower faucets if they are working properly
• Toilets seats should be replaced as needed
• Try to detect if they are any leaks from the pipes, faucets and shower cap

Walls

• Fill out holes on the dry walls with plaster filler or some spackling compound. Paint over the spot filled.
• Repaint the walls if needed.

Windows, Porches and Patios

• Wash all windows.
• Make sure that shades, curtains or blinds are properly working and are in good condition. These should either be cleaned or replaced.
• Traverse curtain rods should be fully functional. Replace or repair, as needed.
• Clean patio door tracks and decks.
• Patios and porches should be cleaned out.

Counters, Cabinets, Shelving, Counters

• Closet doors should open and close properly.
• Draws and cabinets should close and open properly.
• Shelves should be clean and check if it they are stable.
• The interiors of cabinets, draws and closets should be cleaned. Their door tracks should also be wiped out.
• Clean mirrors and the medicine cabinets.
• Counters should also be wiped.
• Clean all sills, woodworks and door jams.

Appliances

• Clean dishwasher.
• Clean hood fan and filter.
• Set oven and refrigerators to required temperature for cleaning.
• Stove tops and oven should be cleaned.
• Soak stove and refrigerator parts should it be required. Reassemble afterwards.
• Check if disposal are fully operational by running ice cold water and some cubes.
• Check that the HVAC units are fully operative.

Electrical

• Check outlets and switches for any burn marks and/or if they are still functioning well.
• All outlets and switches plates should be wiped clean.
• Clean bath lights.
• Check door bell
• Light fixtures and lamp shades should be checked and cleaned
• Check all G.F.I. outlets for functionality

Random Stuff

• No trash got left behind and was properly disposed.
• Change the locks and the exterior doors. Keys should also be updated.
• Tools should be removed.
• Lock the apartment and keys should be delivered to the office.

This is just a simple list of what needs to be done whenever you do an apartment turn over. However, If you find yourself looking for a one call apartment turnover solution – repairs, painting, carpet services, cleaning… the works – you can contact Tru-Serve Building Maintenance any time.

However for most business owners having an eye for detail and an Inspection Checklist of their own can work to their advantage. Remember that the goal of the inspection is to determine if the building is structurally sound and how much would it cost to get repairs and renovations done. The best way to go about it is to do a comprehensive inspection yourself or hire a contractor to do it for you.

“You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation.”
- Gordon B. Hinckley

The first things to inspect in a commercial building are its structure and foundation. Inspection checklists may vary depending on the building’s location, size, complexity, age and other distinct details. Checking a building’s foundation and structure allows us to gain foresight in the state or condition of the building. This process will include the analysis of steel, wood and concrete features of the structure. Make sure to also pay attention on the condition of the roof. This part of the building is the first thing inspectors bestow particular attention to, especially when the age of the building is in question.

Checking the exterior does not only mean being up-close and personal, try doing it from a distance. Once you have a clear view of the building then ask yourself if it seems to appear uneven. If it is, then you have a foundation problem in your hands. Likewise check for any cracks or holes on the foundation; if you find any that comes off as not properly seated this can be a cause for alarm.

“Don’t build a glass house if you’re worried about saving money on heating.”
- Philip Johnson

One of the most expensive parts to replace in a commercial building is the heating and air conditioning; you will have to make sure that they are in fair condition. You can ascertain the condition of the HVAC unit by adjusting the thermostat. Try to put in different levels so that it blows both cold and hot air. At the same time, try to listen to any noise coming from the machine. Pay particular attention to the noise produced at the start up and shut down. If you detect a type of noise you are not accustomed to hearing in other HVAC, you may have to contact an HVAC technician.

Building inspectors will test and assess the heating and ventilating system based on state and federal codes and regulations. In this case it is always better to seek reassurance from a contractor that the systems are definitely in good working condition.

“In case of fire, exit building before tweeting about it.”
- Anonymous

Fire safety routes and exhaustive fire suppression system are a must in all commercial buildings. It is important that inspectors see that fire escapes, fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems are working properly. You might also want to point out that these things are accessible for all building users.

“Electricity is really just organized lighting”
- George Carlin

The first thing to note about the electrical system of a building is if it is appropriate for the proposed or current use of the building. Even though a lot of changes occur to the building over time, inspectors have the tools and knowledge to assess if the electrical system of a building is still safe and effective. Their assessment result will either help or prevent you from passing compliance evaluations.

However do not let that hinder you. One of the things you can do on your end is to visually inspect the inside and outside of all circuit boxes if they are still in good condition. To get an idea of how old the building’s wiring might be you can check the wiring found in the attic space. You can also check all the outlets, look for any darkened parts since that is a clear indication that that particular outlet has smoked out in the past. Be cautious of any exposed wires and look for an electrician if you notice anything out of the ordinary.

“We built tall buildings, but we have not become any taller.”
- Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

Local Codes

Local codes and regulations on commercial buildings vary from state to state. For some, the local codes may appear to relate to different climatic conditions or geographical locations experienced in a particular state. To others, environmental codes may play an important factor. Environmental codes can stipulate on the type of materials, energy efficiency and insulation used in a building.

More Than Just Mowing The Grass

Taking care of a lawn involves much more than simply keeping the grass mowed. You also need to keep that grass healthy with regular maintenance such as fertilizing, aerating, watering and weeding and, possibly, seeding. In addition to keeping the lawn looking good, there may be trees and shrubs to keep trimmed and safe, planting beds to keep tidy and routine maintenance on any sprinkler systems or equipment you may own.

For some property owners, that’s simply too much work. Either they don’t have the time, the resources, the interest or the know-how to do the job well on their own. Sometimes the property is just too large or there are multiple properties to manage and the job becomes too much to handle yourself. That’s where our service can save you time and money.

What Our Service Can Do For You

In addition to keeping your lawn looking good and staying healthy, we provide many other services. We may:

• Inspect facilities and systems to ensure proper function. This can include inspecting sprinkler systems for leaks and to make sure they are running effectively and making sure the heads are not broken and are pointing in the right direction. A lawn service can also check your outdoor lighting systems for proper function. This is especially important for commercial properties.
• Provide design expertise. Some companies offer design services in which they evaluate the layout and use of the yard for the most effective, attractive and cost-effective design. These companies have experienced landscapers on staff who have seen it all. They can envision a new design or provide tips on maintenance and options.
• Educate you on proper lawn care. A good lawn care service will do as much as they can to educate the property owner about their specific needs, why they are recommending specific treatments, and how to properly care for the lawn and plantings.
• Ensure the proper scheduling of services. A professional lawn care services team will make sure your lawn is fertilized, dethatched, weeded, watered and mowed at the appropriate times to ensure optimum growth.
• Provide fall and spring clean-up services. Cleaning up the lawn in fall and spring is nearly as important as maintaining it during the growing season. Leaf raking and leaf-blowing in the fall will keep the lawn looking neat and tidy even when there’s no snow on the ground. Plus, it will be much easier to get the yard in shape in the spring without heavy wet leaves that have been lying under the snow all winter.

Save Space, Save Money

It’s no secret that taking care of a lawn is hard work. Multiply that by multiple properties or large areas and you’ve got your work cut out for you. Sometimes it’s just not possible to store all of the equipment you need to take care of the lawn on-site. If this is the case you’re faced with storing it off site (and possibly playing to rent the storage space) and somehow getting all that equipment to the right location at the right time.

Our services, on the other hand, have all of the proper equipment on hand and know what equipment will be needed at any given point in time. They can often do a better job of taking care of your landscape than you could do on your own.

Some companies offer a pay-for-service model of billing. This can be a huge money-saver since you’re only pay for the work actually performed. Where some companies charge by the season regardless of how many times they actually come out to mow your lawn or perform needed services, pay-for-service models only charge you for the work they do. So if you enter a dry spell and the grass doesn’t need weekly mowing, they won’t mow it. More importantly, they won’t charge you for it either.

How Does It Save You Money?

• No equipment to purchase and maintain.
• No equipment to store and transport.
• No gas or oil needed to run the equipment (or transport it).
• No need to hire full- or part-time staff to handle your lawn care issues, saving you money in salary, insurance, taxes and, possibly, benefits.
• Your time is money. Your time may be better spent elsewhere, rather than on lawn care.
• Expert service lowers the risk of disease, over-watering, under-watering and poor pruning techniques that could damage or kill your landscape plants. That means you’re less likely to need to replace damaged plantings or turf.
• They can catch problems before they start by performing routine maintenance and inspections of sprinkler systems or other automatic systems in place on the property.

Hiring this kind of service is not as out of reach and many people expect it to be. If you’re overwhelmed by property maintenance you owe it to yourself and your business’s success to look into lawn care services and see if they can save you time or money.

An Efficient Home Saves Energy and Money

Go green by saving energy and money.

A key component in saving money and energy is efficiency. There are many elements that add up to your home running as efficiently as possible and most revolve around simply keeping up on maintenance. This can be overwhelming, but by being organized you can simplify this process. An easy step in the simplification of making sure you are keeping up with maintenance is by implementing a calendar system that will have important maintenance reminders. A calendar like this one will be monumentally helpful in providing both a reminder, and a point of reference to guide you through necessary maintenance.

Having your maintenance scheduled in a calendar can alert you to maintenance that is easily overlooked. When maintenance is overlooked it creates more energy to be used, and money to be wasted. Some common maintenance you should add to your calendar to both save you energy and money include:

Furnace: The efficiency of your furnace is a huge component in the savings you will see in your energy bill. One important tip is changing the filter every three months. This will both make the air in your home cleaner, and also promote the efficiency of your furnace because the airflow will not be restricted. A dirty air filter wastes energy for the dirt trapped in the filter blocks the proper air circulation from occurring.

Along with changing your filter, another scheduled maintenance you should add to your calendar is the cleaning of your ducts. This should be done annually and only by a professional. There are a few different methods that different businesses use to do this, but it is important to note that using a company that both uses brushes and an industrial vacuum system is recommended. Also, if you have an old furnace upgrading to an energy efficient furnace will cost you money upfront, but save you money in the long run.

Thermostat: Your thermostat goes hand and hand with your furnace, and setting it to the proper temperature can save a tremendous amount of both energy and money. Today, this is more manageable than ever for technology has allotted the ability to control your thermostat remotely, from your phone, tablet or computer. If you do not have this capability, setting your thermostat on a timer is also an effective way to manage both money and energy. For example, you may want to program it around your work so it is not cooling or heating your house in excess when you are not there.

Water Heater: Water heaters are commonly overlooked and can run more efficiently simply by maintaining a few key components. The most important component is simply flushing out the water in your water heater. This is easily done by hooking up a hose and draining out all the water. This will make your water heater run much more efficiently, and should be added to your calendar at a bi-annually period. Also, simply adjusting your water heater temperature can save you money, for you may not need your water heater turned as high as you may think. Finally, investing in a newer water heater may prove wise as they are much more energy efficient.

Washer/Dryer: Along with being exceptionally dangerous clothes dryers are also exceptionally inefficient when not maintained properly. Cleaning your dryer is more than just clearing the lint trap. Obviously, this is important but what also needs to happen is the cleaning of vent, which can be done by simply buying an attachment that hooks to your vacuum and cleaning the vent from the outside of your home. This should be done every two months, and will make your dryer much more efficient which will dry your clothes faster saving both time and money.

Washing your clothes in cold water will help you save money and energy. There are also detergents specifically for cold water, if you are worried that your clothes are not getting as clean as they would in warm water. Newer washing machines are also incredibly energy efficient and use much less water which all adds up to savings.

Seasonal Maintenance

As seasons change different home maintenance projects are needed. As heat or cool air escape from you home so too is money and energy. If you live in a cold climate this is most imperative as winter approaches. An easy way to remedy this is by plastic wrapping your windows. Plastic wrapping kits can be found at any hardware store, and are exceptionally cost effective. Weather stripping of doors and windows is a great way to help lock in warm, or cool air, depending on the season and climate to eliminate drafts. These are great preventive measures that will help save money and energy especially if your doors and windows are older.

A final tip to save both money and time is by having a professional come out and asses your home. This will allow for an expert perspective and give you the guidance you may need to most effectively save money and energy. Whether you enlist the help of a professional or tackle these projects on your own, you will see that by implementing some simple maintenance your home will run more efficiently therefore saving energy, and money.

If you’ve got each of your residential property maintenance staff overseeing between 100-130 units, how can that same person also prep several new units for incoming tenants without letting his other duties slip?

By using a company such as Tru-Serve, you can maintain the standard of service your existing tenants expect, prepare units for brand new tenants, and save money while doing it.

Building Maintenance Outsourcing During Peak Periods

Summertime is prime time for residential property maintenance, as many tenants choose to move during the nicest season of the year. While this gives managers an opportunity to fill empty units, it also creates additional work to renovate and prepare vacated units for new residents. Existing maintenance staff may feel pressured and overworked, trying to keep up with their regular duties on top of tenant turnover tasks. It would not be cost-effective to hire permanent staff when the need for additional help is temporary. Outsourcing the additional labor to trained professionals, like those from Tru-Serve, can result in more work being completed faster, equaling significant cost savings.

Tru-Serve Building Maintenance Services: When You Need Them

When you call Tru-Serve, you know what you’re getting. For significantly less than you’d pay a larger company, you can quickly source additional labor for a set, agreed-upon cost. The professionals that arrive are fully trained at their jobs, and can efficiently execute any lists of tasks you may have. Many managers need additional manpower during the start of either the heating or cooling season, when residents are first using their heater or air conditioner. Rather than use costly specialists, consider the cost savings in outsourcing to a company like Tru-Serve. One phone call means that all building services are covered, no matter how minute.

Outsourcing A Key Strategy For Remote Owners

Investment properties can be very lucrative, when handled properly. But it can be expensive and frustrating to handle the multitude of building service issues that can arise, especially from afar. Hiring an experienced property management and maintenance company can allow you to reap the benefits of owning investment property without the hassle of the day to day problems. A single monthly invoice covers all services, making accounting a breeze. Your tenants stay longer, as their complaints are answered and resolved quickly, and they have only a single number to call for service. When the time comes that a resident does move on, outsourcing truly proves its worth by allowing you to transition to the new resident with ease.

Tenant turnover is a costly part of owning or managing properties, but with the right strategy, can be managed quite efficiently. The right outsourcing property management company not only lowers the incidence of tenant turnover, but can also be hired to expedite the process. The cost savings is significant, with less vacant time and fewer calls to specialists for things like HVAC or trade repairs.

The general approach to calculating employee turnover cost is to use 150% of an employee’s annual salary. Another approach to calculating employee turnover uses the cost of hiring and training new staff: total employee turnover cost=costs of hiring new employees + costs of training new employees.

Taking a closer look at the costs to hire and train new employees can be staggering.  To calculate employee turnover, a manager should consider costs due to the employee leaving, recruitment costs, and training costs.

Outsourcing building maintenance lets owners and managers control operating costs, trim down capital expenses, and reduce the need to hire and train onsite staff. Plus, the outsourced company can easily change as the needs for facilities maintenance change—either an increase or a reduction in trained professionals.

Apart from saving money and reducing employee turnover, outsourcing provides many benefits such as saving time, 24/7 service, staffing flexibility, full range of services, qualified professionals all the time, documentation for work done, ability to handle large projects, control of operational costs, no worries about vacation coverage, workers’ compensation and insurance coverage provided by outsourced firm, level of consistency, reduced risk, and quick return on investment.

We recently conducted a water consumption assessment at an apartment complex with 21 units. Between kitchen and bathroom faucets and showerheads, we found an average water consumption of 5.9 gallons per minute per unit at this apartment complex. By replacing aerators on the fixtures, we were able to reduce that to about 3 gallons per minute per unit, which adds up to about 60 gallons per minute of water saved.

We’ve found that upfront costs associated with installing high-efficiency faucet and showerhead aerators—something that can save thousands of gallons of water per year—can sometimes scare building managers, but the savings can be recouped in two to three water bills. It’s also important to repair leaky faucets and encourage tenants to turn off faucets and to report problems.

In addition to the faucets, toilets account for nearly one-third of building water consumption and one leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water every day. Flappers can deteriorate with age or develop mineral buildup causing a loose seal, and could be the reason for toilet leaks. To check if the toilet is leaking, simply use a dye tablet—they’re free from the hardware store—in the back of the toilet tank. If the dye leaks into the bowl, the toilet is leaking.

It’s a good idea to have exterior faucets controlled. Simply putting a key in a lockbox for access to the faucet can work. If tenants are allowed to water the lawn, it is worthwhile to put a timer on sprinklers as many times tenants can forget about them.

Steps to Reducing Water Consumption

•  Perform maintenance checks on faucets, showerheads and toilets every six months
• Install high-efficiency faucet and showerhead aerators if necessary
• Repair leaky faucets and toilets
• Encourage tenants to turn faucets off and to report problems immediately
• Upgrade toilets to those that use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush
• Control exterior faucets

Want help to reduce your apartment complex or commercial building water consumption? Call me at 1-888-271-2704 to learn how Tru-Serve can help.

Outsourcing lets owners and managers control operating costs, trim down capital expenses, and reduce the need to hire and train onsite staff. Plus, the outsourced company can easily change as the needs for maintenance change—either an increase or a reduction in trained professionals.

I talked with Lindsey Heritage, the property manager at Winnetka Village Apartments. Tru-Serve has been providing outsourced services to her since 2003.

Why does she outsource her facilities maintenance? “Outsourcing our facilities maintenance saves us money. We had a light installation project that would have taken two full-time employees 60 hours to complete. Tru-Serve came in and finished the project with a high quality of work and in record time.”

We like to work together with facility managers with the same goal in mind to save money, get the job done quickly, and extend the life of the building’s equipment. Outsourcing doesn’t remove the facility manager from the process. Many times a facilities manager asks us to cover for vacationing or sick employees. That’s a function we can easily and quickly fill.