A make-ready is a process of preparing a rental unit for a new tenant after a previous one moves out. Terms that might be similar to make-ready are “apartment turn” or “turnover.”
There are so many moving parts when a unit undergoes the make-ready process, execution can be stressful and overwhelming for an unprepared management teams. When unprepared, the make-ready process will cost a property excessive capital in maintenance and upgrades while losing revenue from excessive days on market. With the right tools and tactics, a make-ready can be a smooth and efficient transition that will ultimately be well worth the dedicated time, money, and effort.
Managing your Make-Ready Process with Aptly
Knowing what you’re walking into before you hand over the keys to the maintenance or renovation staff is important for handling the scope, cost, and timing of the make-ready process.
The Aptly Make-Ready workflow provides the following benefits:
- Visualize your “down” units and quickly determine what’s holding up the make-ready process
- Calculate important time durations for key milestones in your process
- Automate the creation of task lists that can be assigned to members of your make-ready team
- Simplify the process for informing and/or getting approvals from owners or management
Understanding the Workflow Stages and Fields
The Make-Ready workflow utilizes the following stages to help you manage key milestones in the turnover process:
Stages
- Prep
- Upcoming
- Estimate
- On Deck
- Approval
- Out for Approval
- Approved
- Rejected
- Active
- In Progress
- Repairs Needed
- Hold
- On Hold
- Completed
- Accounting Review
- Done
Fields
Additionally, the template comes with several fields that appear on cards, each of which represents a rental that needs to be “turned” before it can be rented to the next customer. We’ve grouped some of these fields together in an effort to:
- Map them to a specific stage
- Make it easy to visualize the progress of related key tasks
- Optionally assign them to a specific member of your management or make-ready team
STAGE GROUP: PREP
A collection of stages that are milestones for getting a rental teed up for the make-ready process.
Stage: Upcoming
The initial stage for your make-ready workflow. We recommend that cards entering this stage complete the fields in the Prep and Marketing groups.
Related Group and Fields
PREP
A new card entering the Upcoming stage needs some basics before we can get rolling. The fields before help you gather everything that’s required before you consider the make-ready On Deck. When you’ve completed all these fields, set the On Deck date and update the stage to On Deck.
Field Name | Description |
Vacated Date | A date field that get’s used for tracking the date when the renter vacated the unit. This template includes this field in a manner where you enter the value manually. Alternatively, you could replace this field with a mirror field that pulls in this value from the Lease attached to the card for real-time data that syncs with your property management software. |
Lockbox on Property | A dropdown field that lets you track whether a lockbox has been placed on the property. |
Move-Out Inspection Completed | A dropdown field to track if a move-out inspection has been completed by someone on the make-ready team. |
Move-Out Inspection Report | An attachment field that allow you to upload a copy of the move-out inspection form to the card. If you edit this field, you’ll notice that it has been flagged as "ALLOW PUBLIC DOWNLOAD OF FILES.” This option allows you to share the attachment with non-Aptly users, which comes in handy if you are looking to automate an email to an owner or renter. |
Utilities Transferred Date | A date field that tracks the date that the utilities were transferred from the prior renters to owners. |
Difficulty Level | Use this dropdown to estimate the level of difficulty for the make-ready. Choose from low, medium, or high. You can edit these options and add a description to the field that guilds a user on how to choose the correct option. |
On Deck Date | Use this field to track the date when the rental entered the ON DECK status, symbolizing that all the prep steps have been completed. Additionally, this date gets used in a calculated field called # Days on Deck (Make Ready Start - On Deck Date). |
MARKETING
Typically this group of fields would be assign to whomever on your team handles the advertising of available rentals. Don’t worry about completing all the fields in this section before advancing the card to the next stage. It’s not uncommon to set the Marketing Ready Date at a future time when it’s more clear when the rental can be show to a prospective renter.
Field Name | Description |
Yard Sign on Property | A dropdown field that tracks if the appropriate signage has been added to the rental to capture walk-in traffic. |
Marketing Photos | This dropdown tracks if the rental has appropriate marketing photos for online advertising. These photos should be attached to the Marketing section on the building attached to the make-ready card. |
Listed Date | Track the date when the rental first appeared online as available for a future renter. Set this date once you have confirmed it on some of the common websites where you list your available homes. |
Marketing Notes | While we encourage tracking notes related to the make-ready as a comment on the card, this rich text field allows you to add any specific notes about the availability of the rental or when you can start showing the property. |
Marketing Ready Date | This date signifies when all marketing tasks were completed. |
Stage: Estimate
Typically, the next step in your make-ready is to have someone on your team review the move out inspection report (found in the Prep group) and possibly visit the rental to gauge the effort and cost to complete the job. Move the card to this stage when you are in the process of estimating the scope of the make-ready.
Related Group and Fields
ESTIMATE
This group of fields help summarize the time, effort and cost associated with the make-ready.
Field Name | Description |
Difficulty Level | A dropdown that lets you categorize the level of effort involved for completing the make-ready. You can edit this field and add a description to make it easier for teammates to understand how to pick the right value from the dropdown or what the values mean (ie. Medium = 3 days) |
Estimate Amount | A currency field for tracking an estimated cost for completing the make-ready. |
Estimate Details | A rich text field that allows you to explain the estimated cost. You can add photos and links to your description or attach them separately in the Estimated Attachment field. |
Estimate Attachments | This field allows you to attach multiple files that are associated with your estimate. If you edit this field, you’ll notice that it has been flagged as "ALLOW PUBLIC DOWNLOAD OF FILES.” This option allows you to share the attachment with non-Aptly users, which comes in handy if you are looking to automate an email to an owner for approval. |
Stage: On Deck
Once a card enters this stage, you’ve flagged it as being ready to start the make-ready process. Move the card here when you are ready to have your team scope the work, which occurs in the next stage: Estimate.
STAGE GROUP: APPROVAL
A collection of stages that are milestones for getting any necessary approvals for a make-ready. You can skip these stages if no approval is required.
Stage: Out for Approval
Depending on your business, you might need an approval from a manager or owner is the estimated cost of a make-ready exceeds a certain threshold. In such a scenario, you would move your card in the the Approval stage and send an email to the appropriate individual(s) for approval. This workflow comes with a pre-formatted email template and form to request this approval and allow the appropriate individual to provide feedback online.
Related Group and Fields
APPROVAL
The Approval group of fields are used to document any required approvals for a given make-ready card. You can use these fields selectively, if you only require approval on a make-ready that has an estimate that is greater than a specific amount.
Field Name | Description |
Out for Approval Date | Set this date when you have sent an email to the appropriate individual to approve your make-ready. The date set here is used in a calculated field on the card called # Days Waiting for Approval (Estimate Approval Date - Out for Approval). |
Approved | A dropdown that captures if the make-ready was approved by the appropriate individual. |
Estimate Approval Date | Capture the date when the estimate was approved. The date set here is used in a calculated field on the card called # Days Waiting for Approval (Estimate Approval Date - Out for Approval). |
Estimate Approval Comments | Use this rich text field to track any comments from the approver. |
Stage: Approved
Move cards to this stage once you have received the necessary approvals. Cards in this stage and those in On Deck are your queue of rentals that are ready to start the make-ready process.
Stage: Rejected
Move cards to this stage if your approver rejects the estimate. Cards in this stage require your team to rework the estimate. Once you’ve done this, the card can move back into the stage Out for Approval.
STAGE GROUP: ACTIVE
Cards entering these stages represent a rental that is actively being worked on in your make-ready team.
Stage: In Progress
Move a card into this stage when the work has begin and be sure to set the Make-Ready Start date to being the count on the number of days it takes to get the work done.
Related Group and Fields
IN PROGRESS
The In Progress group of fields allow you to track when actual make-ready work began on the rental and other key dates throughout the process before it’s marked complete with a Rent Ready date.
Field Name | Description |
Make-Ready Start | This date field tracks the day when the work began on the rental. This field is also used in the Total Make Ready Days calculated field (Make Ready End - Make Ready Start). |
Estimated Make-Ready End | Set the date when you estimate the work to be done on the make-ready. |
Make-Ready End | The actual date when the work was done for the make-ready on the rental. Typically, this is a date before a final inspection is done by someone on your team to ensure the work was done correctly. |
Final Inspection Complete | A dropdown to indicate if a final walk thru has been completed. If the rental fails the walk thru, you can leave this field blank and remove the value in the Make-Ready End field. We also recommend adding a comment on the card. |
Stage: Repairs Needed
Move cards to this stage when unanticipated repairs occur that are extending the make-ready process. We recommend adding a comment on any cards you move to this stage to help your team understand what is causing the hold up.
STAGE GROUP: HOLD
Move cards into this stage group when work on the make-ready needs to be paused.
Stage: On Hold
Move a card into this stage when the make-ready work has been paused for any reason.
Related Group and Fields
HOLD
The Hold group of fields allow you to track when a make-ready card was paused and the related reason.
Field Name | Description |
On Hold | The date when the rental was place on hold. |
On Hold Reason | A rich text field for tracking a reason why a make-ready card was placed on hold. |
STAGE GROUP: COMPLETED
Move cards into this stage group when work on the make-ready is done.
Stage: Accounting Review
Move a card into this stage when the make-ready work has been completed and the card needs to be reviewed by someone on your team that is in accounting.
Related Group and Fields
COMPLETE
The Complete group of fields allow you to track the actual
Field Name | Description |
Rent Ready Date | The date when the rental is ready to be shown or a new renter can move-in. This field is also used in the Total Make Ready Days calculated field (Make Ready End - Make Ready Start). |
Actual Make-Ready Cost | A currency field for tracking the actual cost of the make-ready. |
Make-Ready Invoices | This field allows you to attach multiple files that describe your make-ready cost. If you edit this field, you’ll notice that it has been flagged as "ALLOW PUBLIC DOWNLOAD OF FILES.” This option allows you to share the attachment with non-Aptly users, which comes in handy if you are looking to automate an email to an accountant. |
Make-Ready Completion Notes | A rich text field to track any descriptions of the work that was done or clarification for invoices attached to the make-ready card. |
Stage: Done
Move a card into this stage when the make-ready work has been completed and the invoicing has been handled.
Measuring Make-Ready Metrics
This workflow template comes with some useful fields that help you measure important durations in your make-ready process. These fields include:
Field Name | Description |
# Marketing Ready Days | This calculated field measures a count of days from when the rental was vacated (Vacated Date in Prep) until it’s ready to be shown (Marketing Ready Date in Marketing). |
# Days Until Listed | This calculated field measures a count of days from when the rental was vacated (Vacated Date in Prep) until it was listed online (Listed Date in Marketing). |
# Days on Deck | This calculated field helps you understand how long a make-ready sits ready to be started, without work initiated (Make Ready Start - On Deck Date). |
# Days Waiting for Approval | This calculated field analyzes how long it takes for the make-ready to be approved (Estimate Approval Date - Out for Approval). |
Total Make Ready-Days | This calculated field totals the number of days it took to complete the make ready (Make Ready End - Make Ready Start) |