After the conclusion of client-rentors agreement and before the new clients come in, there are preperations that must be done. Do most people have some one (business) clean and prep the apartment befor e the painters come in? If so do you pay them by the sq. foot, or how is the payment arranged?
The make ready process is handled differently by different landlords. I hire a crew to do it all. They trash out the unit and get it ready for painting and then paint and then do maintenance and then the final cleaning. Do not do the final cleaning until the painters are done as some are messy and you may have to clean behind them again.
Some investors do all the work themselves and some hire out several contractors. Large apartment properties even have different ideas on how it should be done. Some have in house employees do all the work and some have sub-contractors do some or even all of it. During student rush move in here in Austin near the University it is chaos trying to get all the units ready in time.
I do the same as tedjr hire it all done. Look at it like this if you go and fix it yourself it could of just cost you 30k to fix it back up because you are not out looking for your next deal.
Also another pointer I never do any high dollar items such as granite or high dollar carpet save your money it is going to get trashed again I only put nice stuff in my own house! I have even taken out my own stuff and bought me new because I know I will take care of it!
I just bought all new stainless steel appliances for my house then used the others in a rehab I am doing!