August. Even though I haven’t worked in student housing for 6 years, just looking at that month on a calendar still spikes my anxiety. The 16 hour work days, Monday through Sunday, for 3 weeks. The 100 U-Hauls jockeying for position. Parents hollering at the office staff claiming that their little angel didn’t trash his or her apartment or use the living room as a golf ball driving range. It was like that when they moved in!

If you’re unfamiliar with what a turn season is, it’s when 90% of the resident’s leases end and they all move out at the same time. It’s usually on July 31st at a property where college kids live close to campus. So, on August 1st there are roughly 50 to 100 (sometimes MORE) trashed party pads that have to look brand spankin’ new again in 3 weeks. Then, 3 weeks later new college kids move in. At the same time! That’s when the new tenant’s parents nitpick the hard work you’ve put in for the last 3 weeks that their little angel will destroy in about 2 months.

I worked in student housing for 8 years and went through 8 turns. Every year was going to be, “My last turn damn it!” I want to share with you my opinions on how to have a successful turn season. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work. The very last turn I worked was the most successful turn I’ve ever worked. And you can believe this or not, but after move-in day I had one work order for a screen missing. That was it! I had finally mastered turn season!

HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL TURN

10. Stock up on supplies! There’s nothing worse than running out of supplies in the middle of turn. You’re not the only property going through turn season. Every student housing property is ordering supplies. So, it would be wise to start ordering in June and stocking your shop with everything you’ll need for August. Supplies are usually depleted around August and on back order until September. I remember during one turn, a hurricane rolled across central Florida where our supply vendor was located and we couldn’t order anything for a week. What a nightmare that turned out to be! So, stock up early!

9. Keep moving forward! Nothing will kill a turn faster and put you behind more than lollygagging. Especially during the first day: trash out day. Trash out day is where you go through every vacant apartment and get all the trash out first before you start turning. Yes, I know, finding a shoe box with a dildo in it is funny. Just put it in the shop so you can laugh at it during a break. You’ve got to keep moving or it’s going to be a long day.

8. Take breaks! When you take breaks, it’s up to you and your team to decide when and for how long. I always took 20 minutes after grinding hard for 3 hours. Get a cold drink and a snack. Don’t run yourself ragged. Remember, turn is 7 days a week for 3 weeks. If you don’t take breaks, you’ll be burned out by the 5th day. And go easy on the energy drinks. They may get you through for a while but the crash will turn you into a whiny bitch. Trust me, I know!

7. Enough with the pizza already! Look, I love pizza. But not every freaking night! I know it feeds an army for a cheap price but you’ve got to mix it up. Sub sandwiches are good. So is chicken or BBQ. Even some hamburgers from a burger joint! An army marches on it’s stomach and filling it with pizza every night gets depressing. And watch your portions! Eating too much will make you sleepy!

6. Stay calm. After about a week and a half, some people are going to turn into sleep deprived jerks. You’ve got to stay calm and be a leader. While everyone is bickering and running around panicking about the stupidest shit, you have to be the calm one. Don’t get caught up in other people’s drama. Stay grounded and keep moving forward. It will work itself out. It always does!

5. It’s going to end. It’s 3 weeks. That’s it! It feels like it’s never going to end but it does. Whenever I was exhausted and I’d hit a rough patch, that’s what I told myself. “This is going to end. It’s not going to be like this forever.” Then I’d think about that fat paycheck I had coming at the end! 16 hours a day for 21 days at time and a half pay!

4. Be sure the unit status board organizer knows that carpet cleans come last! I went through a turn where someone had all the carpets cleaned before maintenance and the painters even got there. I would go in with my crew and the carpet would already be cleaned. So, maintenance and the painters would be walking over this nice cleaned carpet which had to be cleaned again after we were done. The owner was not happy about that carpet cleaning bill. Carpet cleans come last toward the very end of turn. It goes in this order: maintenance turns, then paint, then carpet cleaning.

3. Don’t start your go backs until you’ve made it through every vacant apartment one time. Nothing made me more mad than a property manager or a brown nosing “Susie kiss-ass” handing me a go back list before I even made it through my first round. Why are you going back to the first building for corrections when you haven’t finished turning the last building? Go through the whole property one time before you start your second round.

2. If it’s a big problem that can’t be fixed right away, write it down and come back later. You’re going to find major problems. It happened to me every turn. But, don’t get bogged down on a big problem. Write it down so you’ll remember and keep going. After I went through every vacant 3 or 4 times and all the go back list were done, that’s when I’d start tackling my “major problems” list. I would usually fix big problems during the last week of turn. Don’t stop! Write it down and keep moving forward!

1. Have one chief! I can not stress this enough. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians will send a turn into a tail spin. I’ve worked too many turns where people who wanted to get a promotion all of a sudden out of no where step into chief position. They’d just start handing out lists to everyone while being annoying and abrasive.

Have a meeting in June and decide who is going to lead your turn season and make all the decisions. It can be the property owner, a property manager, a regional manager or a maintenance supervisor. It doesn’t matter, as long as they know what the hell is going on. The most successful turn I worked was the turn I had to answer to only one chief. And it was the owner of the property! He was out there on the ground with the troops making decisions! It was awesome! There was no “brown nose Dan” handing me one list and then “back pat Patty” handing me a different list until I didn’t know which way to go. These butt kissers were always trying to impress the regional manager while making terrible decisions and sending everything into oblivion.

There also needs to be leaders! Leaders are out on the grounds running a turn crew. There can be 2 or 3 leaders. Depending on how many crews there are. But only one chief! The chief is steering the whole ship and making everything run as smooth as possible. The chief has his hands in everything.

CONCLUSION

That’s my opinion on how to have a successful turn. You can take it or leave it. I’ve only done 8 of them! Let me include this too. Have fun! The best turns I worked were always when everyone was laughing and working hard. The lousy turns were when everyone was serious and trying to catch a regional managers eye as a “go-getter” and leader. Don’t be a Susie kiss-ass handing a list out to everyone. And don’t bring drama to an already stressful situation like turn season. The only people that have time to write lists and make drama are not doing anything productive themselves.

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HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT HOUSING TURN

HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT HOUSING TURN

HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL TURN

CONCLUSION