At our shop, we do not argue about a repair bill before we do the vacancy math.
We operate 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family and heavy Section 8. On a 3BR+ home renting for $1,395 to $1,950, every vacant week is about $325 to $455 in rent you will never get back. Stretch a turn by a month and you have lost a full month's rent, before you count the turn work itself. That is why we say turnover and vacancy cost more than repairs.
Our rent-ready turnovers run on a 21-day scheduling system. The date is set up front, the work is sequenced around it, and we do not wait until something breaks to find people — our contractors are found and tested months before, in small paid steps, so we know who will actually show up.
Practical takeaway: price the empty days first, then decide on repairs. A cheaper repair that adds two vacant weeks is not cheaper.
Landlords — when you budget a turn, do you count vacant days as a real cost or only the repair invoices, and how many vacant days do you usually assume?
Interesting topic. I'm realizing that the stats I collect can't answer that question. I collect monthly uncollected rent, but in dollars not days, and for all reasons, not just moveouts/turnover days. Prepandemic I was averaging about $190/moveout in uncollected rent if I assume all uncollected rent was due to issues that led to a turn. We self managed then and were keenly aware that every empty day was costing us cash.
Since the pandemic a lot has changed - we no longer self manage, so it is unusual for a turn to take less than a month (but usually not mroe either), there is less of a mindset that paying rent is necessary, there is less ability to evict, and rents are a lot higher.
Our uncollected rent is up, our turns are down, the average is now $1200/moveout. But, this includes uncollected rent while we are trying to get a non-paying tenant out and the empty turnover days. Overall profilt is up, though, which is a sad commentary on why rent is skyrocketing; everyone is paying more given the new anti-landlord environment.
Michele, the dollars-versus-days gap you named is exactly where most owners lose the thread. Uncollected rent and vacant days are two different leaks, and lumping them hides both. What fixed it for us was tracking three separate numbers on every move-out: rent still owed, the turn invoice total, and days from keys back to keys out — then pricing those days at the house's actual rent. On a 3BR+ here at $1,395–$1,950, one vacant week is roughly $325–$455 gone before a single invoice. Once the days carry a dollar figure of their own, a turn that takes a month stops looking normal, and the 21-day schedule has something real to answer to.
Real cost, and it's the first number we price, not the last. On a 3BR+ Memphis house renting for $1,395 to $1,950, a vacant month is a full month's rent gone before you pay a single invoice — and then the turn work, utilities, and leasing costs land on top of it. So every turn gets budgeted two ways: the repair scope, and the days offline to get it rent-ready, shown, screened, and through inspection. On Section 8 houses that inspection is the swing factor; pass the first time and the timeline holds, fail it and you just bought yourself more empty days. A cheaper repair that adds a week of vacancy is not cheaper. Price the empty days first and the repair decisions get a lot simpler.