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The Peninsula Landlord's Turnover Punch List

June 24, 20268 min read By Job & Benito, Job's Clean Jobs Inc

The pattern that costs Peninsula landlords the most money isn’t a big repair. It’s finding items one at a time: someone comes out for the toilet, then you notice the closet door, then the new tenant reports the bathroom fan on day three. Each of those is a separate trip, a separate minimum, and a separate scheduling delay.

Walk the unit once, properly, with a pencil. Below is the order we’d walk it in.

Walk it in this order

Front door and entry

• Deadbolt throws fully without lifting the door. A deadbolt that needs the door held is a framing or hinge issue, not a lock issue.
• Rekeyed or lock replaced. Do this every turnover, no exceptions.
• Weatherstripping and door sweep intact — this is a utility-bill item tenants complain about in January.
• Peephole, house numbers, doorbell working.
• Threshold not soft underfoot.

Kitchen

• Under the sink with a flashlight. Every turnover. Look for staining, swelling, a soft cabinet bottom, and drips at the supply lines and P-trap. This is the single highest-value thirty seconds in the unit.
• Faucet doesn’t wobble at the base; aerator clear.
• Disposal runs and isn’t jammed; splash guard not shredded.
• Every cabinet and drawer opens, closes and latches. Hinges adjusted, soft-close working if fitted.
• Counter caulk line at the backsplash intact — a failed bead here is how water gets behind the counter.
• Appliances: burners light, oven heats, fridge seals close cleanly, dishwasher drains.
• Outlets near water are GFCI and test/reset properly.
• Range hood or fan vents and the filter is clean.

Bathrooms

• Toilet doesn’t rock. A rocking toilet means a failing wax seal, which means water reaching the subfloor.
• Toilet doesn’t run — a slow-refilling flapper is an invisible water bill.
• Caulk at tub, shower base and sink is continuous, not cracked or mildewed.
• Grout intact; no hollow-sounding tiles; no chalky white deposits at the curb. Those point at a waterproofing problem worth understanding before it becomes framing work — see why showers leak.
• Exhaust fan actually moves air. Hold a tissue to it. A fan that hums but doesn’t pull is a mould complaint forming.
• Towel bars and paper holders anchored into something real.
• Drains run fast. Slow ones now are clogs later, at tenant-call rates.

Walls, ceilings and paint

• Doorknob holes, anchor holes, corner dings, hip-height furniture scuffs — mark them all, get them patched and textured in one pass.
• Any brown or yellow ceiling staining: find the cause before painting over it. Painting a stain hides your only evidence.
• Touch-up paint rarely matches. Painting a whole wall corner to corner usually looks better than four patches and often costs less in labour.

Doors and windows throughout

• Every interior door latches without being lifted or pushed.
• Closet doors run in their tracks — bifolds and sliders are the most-reported and least-fixed item in rentals.
• Windows open, close and lock. Screens present and unripped.
• Blind slats and cords complete. Cheap to fix, prominent in photos.

Electrical and safety

• Every switch and outlet tested. Not spot-checked — every one.
• Smoke alarms in required locations with fresh batteries; carbon monoxide alarms present. Check current California requirements for your unit type.
• Light fixtures complete and working; matching bulbs throughout. Mismatched colour temperature reads as neglect in listing photos more than people expect.
• Cover plates present and uncracked.

Exterior and outdoor areas

• Gates latch and close; hinges sound; posts firm at ground level.
• Fence boards secure; no dry rot at the base.
• Hose bibs don’t drip.
• Exterior lighting works; motion sensors aimed sensibly.
• Drainage away from the foundation, and downspouts actually discharging away from the building.
• Steps, railings and decking solid. This is a liability item, so treat it as one.

The five items that cost the most when skipped

1. Under-sink leaks. A slow drip becomes a cabinet, then a subfloor, then a floor covering.
2. A rocking toilet. Water at a wax seal reaches subfloor and takes the room below with it.
3. Bathroom fans that don’t move air. Moisture stays in the room. Mould complaints follow.
4. Failed caulk lines. Cheapest repair in this article and the entry point for the most expensive damage in it.
5. Ceiling stains painted over. You’ve hidden a leak from yourself and from your next inspection.

Before the photographs

These don’t affect habitability at all, and they affect how fast the unit rents:

• All bulbs matching, all fixtures lit.
• Switch plates clean and uncracked.
• Blinds complete and level.
• Caulk lines white, not grey.
• No visible patches — textured and painted, not spot-painted.
• Cabinet and door hardware matching.
• Windows and mirrors cleaned last, after all dust-generating work is finished.

Sequence it properly

Turnovers go wrong on order of operations more than on the work itself. Right sequence:

1. Diagnose first. Find leaks and causes before anything cosmetic. It sets the real scope.
2. Wet work and repairs. Plumbing, drywall, carpentry — the dust-generating stage.
3. Paint. After all patching, before the final clean.
4. Fixtures and hardware. Blinds, plates, bulbs, bars.
5. Clean last. Cleaning before repairs means cleaning twice.

We handle both halves of that — the repairs and the turnover clean — which is mostly useful because it means the clean is scheduled after the dust instead of before it.

One practical note

If you have multiple units on the Peninsula, group them. Two units in Mountain View on the same day is meaningfully more efficient than two separate trips two weeks apart, and it’s worth asking about.

Call (650) 374-9848 with your move-in date and we’ll work backwards from it.

Common questions