How Much Does an Apartment Turnover Cost?

National market rates

• Full turnover, all costs: about $4,000 per turn for multifamily operators
• Make-ready per unit, including repairs, cleaning, lost rent and leasing handoff: $3,000 to $5,000
• Vacancy and rent loss: $1,323 per unit in 2024, the fourth straight annual increase
• Turnover costs rose 17.5% year over year in 2024
• Average vacant days between move-out and new occupancy: 34.4, about $60 a day on the national average rent

Sources: Lula citing Zego's 2026 industry survey; Lula, What Is a Make Ready? (2026); National Apartment Association, Aug. 2025; Lula citing RealPage Market Analytics.

Washington, DC rates for the work inside a turnover

• Handyman visit: $218 to $795, $506 on average
• Drywall patch: $135 to $385
• Door adjustment or repair: $85 to $240
• Painting a room: $436 to $1,742, $1,198 on average
• Vinyl flooring installed: $2 to $14 per square foot; carpet $3.50 to $11

Sources: Angi, Washington DC handyman prices (Jun. 2026); Angi, Washington DC room painting (Jul. 2026); Angi, Washington DC flooring (Jul. 2026). These are published market figures, not our prices. Your written price after the walkthrough is your exact number.

The short answer

An apartment turnover is priced per unit, after someone walks it. Two one-bedrooms on the same floor can need completely different work: one needs a touch-up, the other needs three walls patched, a full repaint and a bedroom of new flooring. You get the price in writing before anything starts.

Pricing is the same process in Washington, DC, Silver Spring, Bowie and Alexandria: one walkthrough, one written price per unit.

What moves the price

• Wall damage. A few nail holes is a morning. Door-knob holes, TV-mount damage and gouges down the hallway add time for patching and drying.
• Paint. Touch-ups are cheaper than a full repaint, but only when the walls allow it. If touch-ups would flash under light, a full repaint is the honest answer.
• Flooring. Repairing a few planks costs far less than replacing a room. Whether matching material exists decides which one you get.
• Doors, trim and fixtures. Each item is small. Ten of them are not.
• Access and timing. Elevator booking, parking and a fixed move-in date all shape the schedule.

The Vacancy Clock

Here is the number most turnover conversations skip. Every day a unit sits empty costs you its daily rent. Divide the monthly rent by 30 and that is what each day of vacancy costs, before you have spent a dollar on repairs.

A $1,800-a-month unit costs $60 a day to leave empty, and US apartments sat empty an average of 34.4 days between move-out and new occupancy at the end of 2024, according to RealPage Market Analytics. That is about $2,000 of rent on a unit like that. A week of waiting on a painter who has not called back is $420 gone. That is why the cheapest quote is not always the cheapest turnover. The price that matters is the repairs plus the days the unit sat.

We call that the Vacancy Clock. It starts at move-out and stops when the unit is rent-ready.

What is included in a turnover price

• The walkthrough and written scope
• Wall and ceiling repairs
• Painting
• Flooring repair or replacement where needed
• Door, trim, carpentry and fixture repairs
• The final punch list

Cleaning is not in our scope. We finish the repairs so your cleaning team goes in last.

How to get your exact number

Call or send the unit address and move-out date. We walk it, write down every item it needs, and send you a written price for that unit. The estimate is free.

Every unit is different. The written scope after the walkthrough is your exact number.