Doing turnovers -- whats "standard" for property management?

[Matt Kowske]

Hi all,

We are going through some challenges with our property management company and wanted to get some opinions on how turnovers are generally done. It is their policy that they wait until the tenant has moved out, then within 7 business days deliver a bid to us on what needs to be done to get the apartment ready for a new tenant, we sign this and then they get in their within a few days and do all the painting, floors, etc whatever is needed. THEN they will take pictures, advertise, and find a tenant. 

The whole process seems insane to me. We're automatically having a 2 week vacancy just by having to wait, and then however long it takes to find a tenant. They won't negotiate on this policy and say it's standard practice. Is this true?

They claim you can't get an accurate bid for work until everything is moved out and you can't advertise it until the work is done because the condition of the apartment will be so much different. I get that, but I have shown apartments in the past telling the applicant all the work we plan to do and that has worked out fine.