The Only Vacation Rental Maintenance Checklist You’ll Ever Need [+ Free Template]

Whether you host your own units or run a growing property management business, sporadic maintenance checks aren’t enough to guarantee the good condition of your vacation rentals. 

Properties require frequent maintenance checks and work, but how often should you schedule each type of task? And if you’re not running the maintenance checks yourself, how can you ensure quality and consistency? A standardized checklist that’s customized for each property is the answer, helping you formalize your maintenance processes and make sure your properties are guest-ready for every stay.

Also, with a concrete process in place, and a way to share all your completed maintenance tasks, you can showcase your professionalism to homeowners. 

This article walks you through an example vacation rental maintenance checklist (be sure to download the PDF) and explains how you can streamline your cleaning and maintenance operations. 

Why you need a vacation rental maintenance checklist 

Making sure you’re covering all the right maintenance tasks when you should isn’t just important for keeping guests happy—it helps you keep your properties safe and uphold owner relationships. Here’s why you should be using a checklist to organize your maintenance checks:

• Protect the value of your properties: You need to perform each maintenance task at the right time, whether that’s once a week or once a year, to keep your properties in prime condition. A checklist can help you stay on top of maintenance so nothing slips through the cracks. 
• Prevent more serious maintenance issues: Without regular maintenance, small issues can turn into costly repairs. You can prevent this by following a home maintenance checklist and keeping track of how often each maintenance task is completed. 
• Provide a more consistent guest experience: No one wants to show up to a vacation property with a leaky faucet or clogged sinks. Following a standardized checklist helps you ensure every guest has a stay that exceeds their expectations. 
• Maintain better relationships with property owners: When you take exceptional care of your properties, you build a better reputation as a reliable property management company, fostering lasting relationships with your homeowners.

Vacation rental maintenance checklist

If you want to make sure your guests always show up to a property that meets their standards, follow this vacation rental maintenance checklist. We’ve divided it into weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks, as well as categorized the tasks into interior and exterior jobs. 

Just note that while this checklist covers a lot of the basic maintenance tasks a vacation rental property needs to stay in great condition, every unit is unique. So be sure to take the specific qualities of your property into account when customizing your checklist, whether you have a hot tub to maintain or a leafy yard to look after. 

Use a maintenance checklist to make sure guests never arrive at a property where the kitchen lights don’t work.

Weekly

These regular maintenance tasks should be performed by your cleaners and can be included in your cleaning checklist. These are quick, simple tasks that can be performed in minutes and will help you provide a great guest experience with every stay.

Indoors

• Ensure all lights are functioning correctly
• Ensure all sinks and toilets drain/flush without issue
• Test garbage disposal
• Inspect shower and tub for caulking deterioration 

Outdoors

• Ensure the front door/smart lock is in good condition
• Confirm the garage door is functioning correctly
  

Monthly

Basic preventative maintenance is essential to keeping your properties in good condition, as well as preventing maintenance issues that can snowball into big problems. To ensure everything in your property, from air conditioning to plumbing, is in working order, perform these tasks each month. 

Indoors

• Check for leaky faucets
• Check the temperature of the hot water heater
• Check that the thermostat is working
• Confirm that the HVAC system is working
• Confirm the furnace is working
• Confirm the kitchen appliances are functioning correctly
  

Outdoors

• Inspect the driveway for cracks or potholes
• Inspect the deck for cracked wood, loose nails and boards, and sturdy railings

Quarterly

You can leave bigger tasks, like sump pump and septic system checks, for your quarterly maintenance inspection. Not only will completing these tasks help you ensure your vacation home rentals are in great condition, but doing so will also help you build rapport with your property owners. 

Indoors

• Report any necessary paint touch-ups
• Confirm sump pump is functioning correctly
• Check for signs of water damage in the ceiling
• Change HVAC air filters

Outdoors

• Verify that the septic system has been inspected
  
  

Yearly

Safety inspections on smoke alarms and CO detectors, plus checks for exterior damage to your home, can be completed annually. However, if you know your area has faced extreme weather recently, you’ll want to do the following exterior inspections after whatever storm, cold, or heat you’ve encountered. 

Indoors

• Test the smoke detectors, and replace the batteries
• Test the carbon monoxide detectors, and replace the batteries
• Check that the fire extinguisher is less than 12 years old, and has adequate pressure
  

Outdoors

• Check the condition of the siding
• Inspect the foundation for any damage
• Check the gutters and roof for damage
  

How to optimize your vacation rental maintenance operations and inventory management

While using a maintenance checklist can help you stay on top of your property and keep it in good condition, you need a more advanced solution to address ongoing maintenance and ensure important tasks don’t get left out. 

Short-term rental management software like Breezeway can help you do that with features like task automation and work coordination. With Breezeway, you can auto-schedule maintenance repairs and monitor task status on a centralized dashboard. Plus, if guests encounter any issues during their stay, you can create and assign maintenance jobs directly through the platform’s guest messaging tool.

And, to ensure a member of your staff never shows up to a property without the supplies they need to complete their maintenance job, use Breezeway’s inventory management feature, which monitors real-time changes in cleaning and maintenance supplies. That means your team will never get to a job just to find out they don’t have the right light bulbs or air filters. 

Track maintenance stock, like AC filters and batteries, with Breezeway’s inventory management feature.

Simplify vacation rental maintenance with Breezeway 

Vacation rental managers pay a lot of attention to turnovers, but maintenance is also essential to the upkeep of your properties. Not only does it keep your units in good shape, but your ability to run solid maintenance operations also directly impacts your reputation with guests and owners. 

Use this checklist to standardize your maintenance and ensure no tasks slip through the cracks. By doing so, you’ll build solid owner relationships and bring in more 5-star reviews.

And to optimize your maintenance operations even more, use Breezeway’s vacation rental management software. Features like automated maintenance tasks, task status tracking, and inventory management, eliminate manual tasks like following up with maintenance workers and checking stock at your properties—making you more efficient and giving you time back in your day. 

Frequently asked questions about vacation rental maintenance checklists  

How do you make a vacation rental maintenance checklist?

When making a vacation rental maintenance checklist, you can divide the tasks by property location or by the frequency that they should be performed. While it can be helpful to follow a template checklist, it’s important to take into account the unique aspects of your property to make sure you’re covering all inspections and repairs it needs. 

What is covered in a routine vacation rental maintenance checklist?

When running maintenance for your vacation rental business, your routine checklist should cover tasks like: 

• Ensuring all lights are functioning correctly
• Ensuring all sinks and toilets drain/flush without issue
• Testing the garbage disposal
• Inspecting shower and tub for caulking deterioration

• Ensuring the front door/smart lock is in good condition
• Confirming the garage door is functioning correctly

These tasks should be completed weekly to ensure every guest has a great stay.