How to Price Apartment Turnover Painting

Price apartment turnover painting from a standard per unit price card, not from a fresh estimate every time. You build the card once by measuring your real hours on a few units of each type, you define in writing what "standard condition" means, you list the extras that fall outside it, and after that you quote a unit in minutes over the phone. Turnover work is a volume business. The per unit margin is thinner than a one off residential repaint, and the way you get that margin back is repeat volume, near zero cost of sale after the first job, and a scope you already know before you walk in.

If you are coming at this from the owner or manager side and you want to understand what the number should look like, start with how much to charge to paint an apartment and the cost to paint an apartment. This page is for the painter who wants to turn scattered one off units into a system.

Why turnover economics are different

A single family repaint is sold once, estimated once, and painted once. Nearly everything about it is bespoke: the colours, the access, the customer's expectations, the schedule. You carry a real selling cost for every job you win, and you price to cover that.

Turnover work inverts almost all of it:

• The sale happens once. You win the relationship, then units arrive without a new sales cycle attached to each one. That removes a genuine cost from every job after the first.
• The scope repeats. The same floor plans come back again and again in the same building. Once you have painted three two bed units in a block, the fourth holds very few surprises.
• The colours repeat. A portfolio that has standardised on one wall colour and one trim colour removes colour matching, sample runs, and most touch up mismatch from your process. If your client has not standardised, point them at the best paint for rental properties and help them do it, because it makes your work faster too.
• Access is easy. Vacant, empty, no furniture to move, no homeowner watching, no pets, no kids. That is a real productivity gain and it is the honest reason you can charge less per unit than for an occupied home.
• The margin is thinner per unit and the volume is the point. You accept a lower number per job in exchange for a predictable pipeline. Read painting business profit margin before you decide how much thinner you can stand.

The danger is obvious. If you price turnover work like a one off, you will lose the account. If you price it like a commodity without controlling scope, you will do it at a loss and blame the client. The price card plus a written condition standard is what keeps you out of both ditches.

Build a per unit price card

The whole point of a price card is that a manager can call you, say "unit 4B, two bed, turning next Thursday", and get a number before the call ends. That speed is worth money to them and it is a competitive advantage you can build once and reuse for years.

Step one: pick your unit types

Almost every portfolio collapses into a short list. Studio, one bed, one bed with den, two bed, two bed two bath, three bed. Add a townhouse or a two storey type if the portfolio has them. Keep the list short. If you end up with more than about six types, you have started estimating again.

Step two: measure real hours, not guesses

Paint two or three units of each type at your normal quality and record actual crew hours by task. You want prep, cut in, roll, trim and doors, and cleanup broken out, not one lump number. If you have never tracked this, painting production rates explains how to capture the numbers in a form you can reuse.

Step three: convert hours to a price

Take the crew hours for the type, apply your loaded labour rate, add materials at your actual coverage rates, then apply your overhead recovery and your target profit. Painting contractor markup percentage covers the arithmetic. Do not skip overhead just because the job feels small. Small jobs still consume dispatch time, fuel, insurance, and admin.

Step four: sanity check per area

Once you have a price for each unit type, divide it by the paintable area of that type and see whether the resulting rate is consistent across your card. If your two bed rate comes out far below your studio rate, you probably underestimated the larger unit. How to price painting jobs per square foot is the cross check, not the primary method here. The unit type is the primary method because it is what your client thinks in.

Step five: publish it as a rate sheet

Give the client a one page sheet with unit types down one side, what the base price includes, and the extras list underneath. A manager who can budget a turn without calling you will send you more work, not less.

What belongs in the base, and what is always an extra

This is where the money is won or lost. The base price should cover the predictable, repeatable work that appears in nearly every unit. Everything conditional goes on the extras list with its own price.

Accent wall removal deserves its own line. A saturated red or navy feature wall going back to a light neutral can need a stain blocking primer and two finish coats, which is more work than the rest of the room. If you fold that into the base you will paint accent walls for free forever. Price it per wall and say so on the rate sheet.

Ceilings are the other classic argument. Many portfolios only repaint ceilings when they are stained or every few turns. Decide which policy applies, write it down, and price accordingly. If the client wants ceilings included in every base price, that is fine, but the base price changes to reflect it.

Define "standard condition" in writing or every unit becomes an argument

The single biggest source of friction in turnover work is not price. It is the gap between what the manager thinks the base covers and what you found when you opened the door. Close that gap with a written definition attached to your rate sheet and your painting contract.

A workable standard condition clause says something like: the base price assumes the unit is vacant and cleared, that walls carry normal wear consisting of nail holes, scuffs, and minor marks, that no surface requires stain blocking, that existing colours are the agreed portfolio colours, and that power and water are on. Anything outside that is quoted as an extra before work starts.

Then define the trigger. Set a clear threshold for when patching becomes an extra, for example when repairs on a wall go beyond filler and sanding into taping and floating, or when a unit needs more than a stated number of repair hours. A threshold everyone can see is far easier to defend than a judgement call in a hallway.

Handle the extras with the same discipline you would on a residential job. A short written note, a price, and an approval before you start. How to handle change orders on a painting job covers the mechanics. On turnover work the approval can be a text message or an email, but it has to exist. Verbal approvals from a manager who is juggling twenty units will not survive to invoice day.

The walk and note process

Even with a price card, someone has to look at the unit. The point of the walk is not to estimate, it is to classify: does this unit fall inside standard condition, and if not, what extras apply?

1. Walk with a fixed checklist. Same order every unit. Entry, living, kitchen, hall, bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, ceilings, trim, doors.
2. Photograph anything that becomes an extra. One photo per condition, with the room name. This is your entire dispute defence and it takes seconds.
3. Mark the exceptions only. If everything is standard, the note says standard. Do not write an essay about a normal unit.
4. Note colour verification. Confirm the walls are the portfolio colour and not a tenant repaint. If they are not, that is a coverage problem and an extra.
5. Note anything blocking you. Trash left behind, flooring still to be replaced, appliances not removed, no power. These cost you a wasted trip if you find them on the morning of the job.
6. Send the number the same day. Base price from the card plus listed extras. Same day quoting is most of your advantage over a competitor who is still building an estimate.

Once your crew has done twenty units in the same portfolio, the walk takes a few minutes. That is exactly the efficiency you are being paid to develop.

An hours based worked example

Here is how a two bed unit price gets built without any figures being handed to you. Substitute your own rates and your own measured hours.

Now do four things with that number. First, multiply the hours by your loaded labour rate, which is wages plus taxes, insurance, and burden, not the take home figure. How to calculate painting labor cost walks through what belongs in that rate. Second, add materials at your real spread rate for the wall area of that unit type. Third, add your overhead recovery. Fourth, add profit.

Then test the result against reality. If your two painters routinely finish a two bed in a day, you have a clean one day unit and your scheduling is simple. If they are running over, either your standard condition definition is too generous, your extras are not being caught at the walk, or your hours were optimistic. Fix the cause, then reprice the card. Repricing the card is a once a year job, not a per unit job.

Review the card at least annually and whenever your labour rate or material costs move. Tell the client in advance, in writing, with a date the new card takes effect. Managers plan budgets. A price increase with notice is a business conversation. A price increase on an invoice is a fight.

Volume discounts should be earned, not given

Every property manager will ask for a volume price on the first call, before they have sent you a single unit. Do not hand it over on a promise.

The right structure ties the discount to something real:

• Guaranteed unit counts. A committed number of units per month or per quarter earns a rate. If the count does not arrive, the rate steps back to the standard card at the next review.
• Batched scheduling. Several units released together in one building is genuinely cheaper for you: one mobilisation, one setup, shared materials, no travel between jobs. Discount the batch, not the individual unit.
• Payment terms. A faster payment term is worth a small concession because it is worth real money to your cash flow. See how to get paid faster on painting jobs.
• Standardised specification. One colour, one sheen, one product across the portfolio saves you time on every unit. That saving can be shared.

What you should not discount for is vague future promise, exclusivity with no minimum attached, or the simple fact that the client owns a lot of doors. Owning doors is not the same as sending you work.

A tiered card handles this cleanly. Standard rate, a rate at a stated monthly volume, and a rate at a higher stated volume. The client can see exactly how to earn the better price, which turns your pricing into an incentive rather than a negotiation.

Turnaround time is what they are actually buying

Understand what the client's real problem is. A vacant unit is not earning. Every day it sits empty between tenants is rent that never comes back. Your painting is one link in a chain that also includes cleaning, flooring, maintenance, and the listing photos.

That means speed is worth more to them than a small price difference, and it is your strongest argument for a fair price rather than the lowest one. A painter who reliably turns a unit inside the vacancy window is protecting revenue. A cheaper painter who shows up two days late has cost the client more than the saving.

Make the speed explicit and sell it:

• State your standard turnaround for each unit type on the rate sheet.
• State your response time for a new request, and hit it.
• Offer a defined rush option for units that have to turn faster, with its own price. Rush costs you overtime, disrupted scheduling, and sometimes a second crew, so it is not free.
• Report completion the same day so the next trade can start. A photo and a message when the unit is done is worth more than it costs you.

Never promise a turnaround you cannot hold across a busy month. The value of this account is reliability. One missed window in a peak season does more damage than a whole year of small price concessions.

Crew and scheduling when several units land at once

Turnover work is lumpy. Leases in many markets cluster around the same dates, so you can get a quiet fortnight followed by eight units in one week. Plan for the peak, not the average.

A few practical rules:

• Batch by building, not by date. Multiple units in one property is one mobilisation. Splitting your crew across three properties on the same day burns hours in vans.
• Run a small dedicated turnover crew. Two painters who do the same unit types every week get faster in a way a rotating team never will. How to manage a painting crew covers keeping quality consistent as you scale.
• Keep the portfolio colours in stock. Standardised colours mean you can hold volume containers instead of ordering per unit. That alone can save a half day per turn.
• Protect a buffer for rush units. If your calendar is completely full, you cannot say yes to the emergency, and the emergency is where the relationship gets tested. How to schedule painting jobs covers building slack in deliberately.
• Do not let turnover work fill your whole calendar. Higher margin residential and commercial jobs still pay for your business. Turnover is a base load, not the entire load.
• Know your ceiling. Work out how many units your crew can genuinely deliver in a peak week and tell the client that number before they need it. Saying "we can take four this week and four next" is far better than saying yes to eight and delivering six.

If you are trying to win this kind of account in the first place, the sales side is covered in how to get property management painting contracts. If you want the practical painting side of rental work, including the shortcuts that only apply to empty units, see how to paint a rental property.

Frequently asked questions

Should I price turnover painting per unit or per area?

Price per unit type, and use area as your internal sanity check. Property managers think in units and floor plans, so a per unit card lets them budget and lets you quote the same day. Build the card from measured hours and area, then present it by unit type.

How much cheaper should turnover work be than a normal repaint?

Only as much cheaper as your actual cost savings justify. Vacant access, repeated floor plans, one standard colour, and no selling cost per job are real savings. Anything beyond those is you giving away margin, not passing on efficiency.

What if the unit is much worse than standard condition?

Stop, photograph it, and quote the extra before you start. That is exactly why the standard condition clause and the extras list exist. Painting it anyway and asking afterwards is how painters lose both the money and the argument.

Should I include ceilings in the base price?

Only if the client wants ceilings repainted on every turn, and only if the base price reflects that work. Many portfolios repaint ceilings only when stained or on a longer cycle, in which case ceilings belong on the extras list with their own price.

How do I handle a manager who wants a volume discount up front?

Offer a tiered card instead. Standard rate now, a better rate once a stated monthly unit count is actually being sent. That gives them a clear path to the price they want and gives you the volume that makes the price work.

How fast should I be able to quote a turnover unit?

Same day, and ideally within the hour once your card is built. A short walk to classify the unit against your standard condition, plus any extras, is all the estimating that should be needed. Quoting speed is one of the main reasons managers keep a painter on their list.