Specialty · Make-ready
Rental property turnover cleaning in Fort Worth
Between one lease ending and the next beginning, a rental has to go from lived-in to listable. The clean is what makes the photographs work and what a prospective tenant reacts to in the first ten seconds.
- Vacancy days cost money
- Photograph-ready finish
- Bonded and insured
A make-ready is measured in vacancy days
The economics of a turnover are simple: every day the unit sits empty is a day of lost rent, and the clean is usually the last trade before photographs.
That makes sequencing the whole game. Paint, repairs and carpet all have to finish before the clean, because each of them puts dust or residue back into the property. A clean scheduled too early has to be repeated; a clean scheduled too late holds up the listing.
It also means the finish standard is different from a residential visit. A tenant living in a home judges cleanliness by how it feels. A prospective tenant judges an empty unit by how it photographs and how it looks under a leasing agent's phone light — which is unforgiving about streaked glass, dusty blinds and grout.
Empty properties also show everything. There is no sofa hiding the baseboard, no rug covering the floor edge, no toiletries obscuring the vanity. Every surface is on display, which is an advantage for the clean and a liability if it is done halfway.
Make-ready scope
What a turnover clean covers
Built around an empty unit, so interiors get full attention rather than being blocked by furniture.
- Kitchen
- Inside every cabinet and drawer
- Inside the refrigerator, drawers and door seals
- Inside the oven, racks and door glass
- Range hood, filter and the wall behind the cooktop
- Dishwasher interior and filter area
- Counters, backsplash and sink descaled and dried
- Bathrooms
- Hard-water scale removed from glass, chrome and tile
- Grout scrubbed in showers and around tubs
- Toilets inside, outside, base, bolts and behind
- Vanity interiors, drawers and mirrors
- Exhaust fan covers
- Floors cleaned to the wall line and behind doors
- Whole unit
- Baseboards hand-wiped throughout
- Blind slats, window sills and tracks
- Interior window glass cleaned and dried
- Door frames, door tops and both faces of every door
- Switch plates, outlet covers and handles
- Closet shelving, rods and closet floors
- Vents, return-air grilles and cobweb removal
- Floors and finish
- Full vacuum including carpet edges and closets
- Hard floors mopped to the perimeter
- Cabinet toe-kicks, stair risers and thresholds
- Laundry area and appliance connection points where accessible
- Garage sweep where included in the scope
- Final walk of each room from the doorway
Painting, repairs, carpet steam cleaning, pest treatment and appliance servicing are separate trades. We can schedule around whoever else is in the unit — tell us the sequence and we will fit into it.
Sequencing
Where the clean belongs in a turnover
Getting the order right saves a second visit.
After paint and repairs
Sanding dust and paint spatter both land on every horizontal surface. Cleaning before that work is finished means cleaning twice.
Before carpet, or after — but decide
Dust knocked down from blinds and baseboards lands on the floor. If carpet is being steam cleaned, our visit should come first. If carpet is being replaced, ours comes after.
Immediately before photographs
The clean is what the listing photographs show. Book it as the last step before the camera, not a week ahead of it.
Managing several units?
Landlords and property managers running multiple doors usually want a standing arrangement — a known crew, a known scope and predictable turnaround — rather than quoting each vacancy from scratch.
Portfolio work is quoted on unit count, size and typical turnover volume. High-frequency recurring work across a portfolio may fall under recurring commercial terms depending on scope.
Questions
About make-ready cleaning
- How is this different from move-out cleaning?
- The audience. Move-out cleaning is booked by a departing tenant and aimed at passing an inspection and protecting a deposit. A make-ready is booked by the owner or manager and aimed at listing, showing and leasing the unit.
- Do you handle repairs or painting?
- No. We clean. Painting, drywall, appliance repair, pest control and carpet steam cleaning are separate trades. We are happy to schedule around them.
- How quickly can you turn a unit?
- It depends on size, condition and how many units you need done at once. Tell us your target listing date and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable.
- Can you clean occupied rentals between inspections?
- Yes, though an occupied unit is a standard residential visit rather than a make-ready — furniture limits what can be reached, and the scope changes accordingly.
- Do you work with short-term rentals as well?
- Yes, but that is a different rhythm. See Airbnb and short-term rental cleaning for guest changeovers rather than lease turnovers.
Get a make-ready quote in Fort Worth
Tell us the unit count, sizes and your target listing dates, and we will build a schedule around them.