The National Apartment Association puts the conservative cost of a single move-out at $1,800. We will not claim pet waste service prevents a set number of them. We will put the two costs side by side.
Originally published to our Facebook and Instagram on September 21, 2026.
One number worth having in front of you when a pet waste line comes up in a budget meeting.
The National Apartment Association's most recent published figure puts the conservative cost of a single move-out at $1,800, against an average turnover rate of 46.8 percent. Their own illustration puts a 200-unit community at roughly $168,000 a year in turnover expense.
That is make-ready, vacancy, marketing, and leasing time, before anyone counts the harder-to-see costs of a unit that sat empty through a slow month.
We are not going to tell you that pet waste service prevents a specific number of move-outs. No study supports that, and you would be right not to believe anyone who claims it. Residents leave for jobs, rent increases, relationships, and a hundred other reasons a grounds vendor has nothing to do with.
What the survey data does say is narrower. J Turner Research found grounds and common area upkeep was the second most common complaint across 10,000 resident surveys, behind only rent, and pet waste made the top ten on its own. Grounds is a reason residents cite. That is as far as the evidence goes, and it is far enough.
So here is the honest version of the argument. Put the cost of one move-out next to the cost of a year of scheduled pet waste service and do the division yourself.
A year of service on a typical community prices out at a few dollars per unit per month. One move-out is $1,800 by the NAA's conservative count. If a clean property keeps one household from listing grounds as the reason they did not renew, the service paid for itself for the year. If it keeps two, the property is ahead.
Nobody has to believe a projection to see that. It is a comparison of two numbers the property already knows.
We put it on the walkthrough summary for a reason. When a regional asks why a grounds line went up, the manager has the per-unit cost on one side of the page and the NAA move-out figure on the other. That is a conversation that takes about a minute.
Retriever Pet Waste Co. provides scheduled common area cleanup, dog park maintenance, and pet waste station service for apartment communities and HOAs in Columbus, Harris County, and Fort Benning, with an after-service report after every visit. The walkthrough is free and the estimate is written per unit.
Homeowners get a number the same day. Property managers get a free walkthrough and a written per-unit estimate.
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