What Turn Cost Includes Between Tenants in a DFW Rental

Owners who run a clean turn budget hold onto their year. Owners who don't look at December's P&L and wonder where the rent went. This is educational, not legal advice. For specific disputes, talk to a Texas real estate attorney.

What a Turn Covers

A turn covers everything between the day the outgoing tenant surrenders the keys and the day the incoming tenant takes possession. It isn't just cleaning and paint. It also includes the days the property sits empty while the work happens, the cost of marketing the unit, and the cost of getting it leased again.

A short turn is two weeks. A long turn is six. The realistic average for a DFW single-family rental in average condition with no major damage is about three.

That gap matters because vacancy is its own line item. Every extra week the property sits empty is rent you won't recover.

The Line Items Owners See

The list below is the realistic menu for a turn on a three-bedroom DFW single-family rental in 2026. Numbers assume average condition.

Cleaning ($250 to $600)

A full make-ready clean covers floors, baseboards, blinds, appliances inside and out, windows, fans, vents, and the inside of cabinets. Carpet cleaning is usually billed separately. Plan on $250 for a small two-bedroom and $600 for a larger four-bedroom.

Carpet Cleaning ($100 to $300)

Professional steam cleaning for any carpeted rooms. Heavy pet staining or odor pushes the number higher or moves a room into a replacement scope.

Paint Touch-Up or Full Repaint ($400 to $3,500)

This is where turn costs run wide. Touch-up on a unit painted within the last two years can be a half day of labor and a gallon of matching paint. A full interior repaint on an 1,800-square-foot home in DFW runs $2,500 to $3,500 in 2026 for a quality job in one color.

The trick is picking a single, durable, neutral wall color across every rental you own. That way, touch-up between tenants stays in scope and you don't have to repaint every wall every turn.

Flooring Repair or Replacement (varies widely)

Spot repairs on luxury vinyl plank run $200 to $500 for a few damaged planks. Carpet replacement in a three-bedroom DFW rental runs $1,800 to $3,200 depending on grade. A full LVP install in the same footprint is usually $4,500 to $7,500.

Yard Reset ($150 to $600)

Mow, edge, trim, bed cleanup, mulch refresh where needed. Properties with sprinkler heads that took a hit need head replacements at $25 to $75 each on top of the basic reset.

Locks and Rekey ($75 to $200)

Texas Property Code §92.156 requires landlords to rekey at the landlord's expense within seven days of a new tenant taking possession. The cost cannot be passed to the tenant. A locksmith rekey on a single-family home with three or four exterior locks runs $75 to $200 depending on the vendor.

Punch List Repairs ($200 to $600)

The list of small fixes nobody flagged during tenancy: a loose door knob, a sticking drawer, a slow drain, a closet door off its track, a missing smoke detector battery. Budget $200 to $600 for an average punch list.

HVAC Filter and Quick Service ($100 to $250)

New filter at minimum. Many owners run a basic seasonal service between tenants. Worth it. An AC failure two weeks into a new tenancy is far more expensive than catching the same issue on a $150 service call now.

Pest Treatment ($100 to $200)

A baseline interior treatment between tenants resets the property. Many leases require it on lease-break or for properties with prior pest history.

Vacancy (the hidden one)

Every day the property sits vacant after the outgoing tenant's last paid day is rent you aren't collecting. On a $1,950 rent, that's $65 per day.

A three-week vacancy costs $1,365 in lost rent. A six-week vacancy costs $2,730. Most owners forget to budget this and then wonder why the year looked thin.

Marketing and Leasing

If you self-manage, marketing is your time. If you use a management company or a leasing agent, the leasing fee in DFW typically runs 50 to 100 percent of one month's rent. On a $1,950 rental, that's $975 to $1,950 every time the property turns.

Deposit Versus Owner's Pocket

Texas Property Code Chapter 92 governs what a landlord can deduct from a security deposit. The short version: tenant-caused damage beyond normal wear and tear, plus unpaid rent and lease-defined fees, come out of the deposit. Normal wear and tear plus the owner's planned capital costs do not.

In practice, a turn budget has two columns. The damage column is whatever the outgoing tenant is responsible for. The make-ready column is whatever the owner was going to spend regardless.

Carpet cleaning between tenants usually lives in the make-ready column unless the lease shifts it to the tenant. A 12-inch hole in a bedroom wall lives in the damage column. Faded paint after a three-year tenancy lives in the make-ready column. A repaint to undo unapproved purple in the dining room is split based on what the lease says about paint changes.

For deeper detail on what can and cannot be deducted from a deposit, see our article on Texas security deposit rules. Talk to a Texas real estate attorney before pushing a marginal deduction.

A Realistic DFW Turn Budget by Property Size

The ranges below assume average condition and a tenant who left the property reasonably clean and undamaged. Damage, neglect, or a long tenancy with deferred maintenance pushes every line item up.

For a two-bedroom condo or duplex, plan on $1,200 to $2,200 for the work, plus two to three weeks of vacancy, plus the leasing fee.

For a three-bedroom single-family, plan on $1,800 to $3,500 for the work, plus three to four weeks of vacancy, plus the leasing fee.

For a four-bedroom single-family, plan on $2,500 to $5,000 for the work, plus three to five weeks of vacancy, plus the leasing fee.

Carpet replacement, full repaint, or a major appliance swap moves any of these numbers up by $2,000 to $5,000 in a single line.

How to Shrink the Turn Without Cutting Corners

Owners running the lowest turn costs in DFW do four things consistently.

First, they pick durable finishes and a single color palette across all their rentals: LVP instead of carpet in main areas, one paint color, quality interior doors. Boring, consistent, low-friction to touch up.

Second, they do mid-lease maintenance walks. Catching a leak under a sink at month nine costs $90. Catching it at move-out after the cabinet floor has rotted costs $1,800.

Third, they overlap the outgoing and incoming tenants by a few days when the move-out condition is good. Outgoing tenant pays through the 30th, the make-ready crew works the 1st and 2nd, incoming tenant moves in on the 5th. That's one week of vacancy instead of four.

Fourth, they keep a relationship with one trusted handyman and one trusted painter rather than re-shopping every turn. The hourly rate is rarely the issue. The issue is scheduling and trust.