Apartment Remodeling

The turnover window and what fits inside it

Most apartment work runs on a clock. A tenant gives notice, the unit empties out, and every day it sits unrented costs the owner. We walk the unit with you as soon as it is empty, or before if the tenant allows it, and write down exactly what it needs: the cabinets that get replaced, the floor that gets sanded or covered, the tub that gets reglazed or pulled out, the walls that need a skim coat before paint.

That written scope is checked against your date. If the full list fits the window, we schedule it. If it does not, we tell you which pieces can wait for the next turnover and which ones should not, like a soft spot in the bathroom floor or a window that no longer locks. You decide with the facts in front of you, not after the unit has sat empty for an extra month.

Materials get ordered off that scope before demo starts. Cabinets, vanities and flooring are the usual items that hold a unit up, so we confirm they are in hand or on a firm delivery before we open anything up.

Kitchens and baths built for renters

A rental kitchen has to look good at a showing and survive years of tenants who did not pay for it. That changes the choices. We steer toward cabinet boxes and doors that take a bump, counters that forgive a hot pan, and flooring that handles water at the sink and the dishwasher. Where a layout works, we keep it, because moving a sink or a range means moving plumbing, gas or a circuit, and that adds licensed trade work and inspections to a short window.

Bathrooms get the same thinking. A tub surround with fewer grout lines is easier for the next tenant to keep clean. A fan that actually vents outside, sized for the room and wired by a licensed electrician, saves you a call about mildew on the ceiling. Shutoff valves that turn are worth replacing while the wall is open.

When a unit needs more than a refresh, we say so. A kitchen with a sagging floor under the sink or a bath with a rotted subfloor around the toilet is not a paint-and-cabinets job, and we would rather tell you on the walkthrough than call you on day three.

Paint is the last thing a tenant notices until it fails. We use finishes that wipe clean in kitchens, baths and hallways, and we fix the cracks and nail pops underneath rather than painting over them, because a crack that shows through in six weeks makes the whole unit look rushed. Floors get the same honesty: original hardwood under old carpet is often worth sanding, but a floor with deep stains, past patches and thin boards may be better covered than sanded one more time.

When we find one of these, you hear about it the same day, with what it means for the scope and the schedule.

What older Massachusetts apartments hide

A lot of the rental housing around Boston, the South Coast and the older mill cities was built long before 1978. Painted surfaces there may contain lead, and any work that disturbs them follows lead-safe practices under the EPA renovation rule: containment, careful cleanup and a check before the space is reopened. If young children will live in the unit, Massachusetts has its own lead rules for owners, and that is a conversation to have with a licensed lead inspector early.

Plaster walls crack when a cabinet is pulled off them. Old cast iron drains can be fine for decades and then fail at the joint a new sink connects to. Wiring found behind a kitchen wall in an older building is sometimes knob-and-tube, and that is a matter for a licensed electrician, not something we cover up. When we find one of these, you hear about it the same day, with what it means for the scope and the schedule.

None of this is a reason to avoid an older unit. It is a reason to plan a little slack into the turnover and to hire a builder who calls you rather than one who quietly works around the problem.

Working around the tenants who stay

An apartment rarely sits alone. There is usually a tenant upstairs, downstairs or across the hall who still lives there and still has to get to work in the morning. We keep the common hall clear, protect the stair treads and walls that materials pass by, and keep dust inside the unit we are working in. Loud work like demo and tile cutting happens during reasonable hours, and if you want notice posted for the other tenants, we will give you the dates to put on it.

The site gets cleaned at the end of each day. Debris goes out rather than piling up in a back hall or the yard, and the unit is locked when we leave. If a neighbor complains to you about something, call us and we will deal with it directly.

How a finished unit gets handed back

When the work is done, we walk the unit with you or your property manager. Every door, drawer, faucet and outlet gets tried. Anything that is not right goes on a list, and the list gets finished before we call the unit done. If its not right, Steve wont put his name on it, and that holds for a rental as much as for anyone's own home.

You also get the details you will want later: the paint colors and sheens, the flooring product, the fixture models. The next time that unit turns over, matching a scuffed wall or replacing a cracked tile is a quick decision instead of a guessing game.

Owners with several units often settle into a rhythm where we handle each turnover as it comes. That works well, as long as each unit still gets its own walkthrough and written scope, because no two apartments wear out the same way.

If you rent through a property manager, we work with them directly on access and keys, and copy you on every update so you never hear about your own building secondhand.

See the rest of our commercial work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.