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The Make-Ready Checklist for Corpus Christi Turn Season

Forty units coming due in the same month is not a quality problem. It's a sequencing problem. Here's the order a clean turn runs in, and what to have ready before the first crew shows up.

Team Indigo · Corpus Christi, TX · September 2026 · 5 min read

Before anyone touches the unit

Most late turns are decided at the walk-through, not on the job. The unit gets scoped as "paint and clean," the painter finds a hole in the drywall and a tub that needs resurfacing, and now three vendors are trading phone calls while the unit sits vacant. Ten minutes at the walk saves that week.

• Set the ready-by date first. Everything else is scheduled backward from it.
• Photograph every room, including inside the tub, under the sinks and behind the appliances.
• Flag the surprises: pet damage, water stains, cracked tubs, missing fixtures, anything the deposit conversation will need.
• Decide replace versus restore. A stained tub, a rusted sink and worn carpet can usually be resurfaced or extracted for a fraction of replacement.
• One vendor or several? If it's several, somebody on your team owns the hand-offs. If it's one, they do.

The six steps, in order

The order matters because each step can undo the one after it. Carpet cleaned before paint gets paint on it. A clean done before the drywall patch gets dust on everything. This is the sequence we run every unit through.

1. Trashout and haul-offWhatever the last tenant left goes out, and the unit is swept down. Nothing else can start until the floor is clear.
2. Repairs and resurfacingDrywall patched and textured. Tubs, sinks, tile and countertops resurfaced in place. This is the dusty step, so it comes before paint and before the clean.
3. PaintWalls, ceilings, trim and doors. Whole-unit repaint or touch-up, whichever the unit needs and the budget allows.
4. Full cleanKitchen, bath, fixtures, windows, blinds and floors. Move-out grime gone before the carpet crew arrives so nothing gets tracked back over fresh carpet.
5. Carpet and tileHot-water extraction, pet treatment and tile and grout restoration. Last trade in the door.
6. Walk-through and hand-backThe unit is checked against the scope from step one and handed back ready to show, with one invoice for the whole turn.

When forty come due at once

Turn season in the Coastal Bend clusters around the same few weeks, and a vendor who can handle one unit is not automatically a vendor who can handle forty in that window. The questions worth asking before you hand over a portfolio-wide push:

• How many crews can you put on my property at the same time? The answer decides whether your date is realistic.
• Who sequences the trades? If the answer is "you do," budget the hours for it.
• What happens when a unit has a surprise? A water leak or a trashout twice the size expected should be a phone call, not a stopped job.
• Is it one invoice? Your accounting team will thank you in October.