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I was filling out a form to request apartment maintenance, and it let me select a priority from a list of options. The choices shown in the drop-down list were emergency, low, make ready, and normal. The form also included this note:

Priority: make ready

What does "make ready" mean in this context?

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  • Make ready = prepare.
    – Greybeard
    Oct 2, 2020 at 11:41
  • This may be a regionalism or even just something the author made up. Try asking the author of the document.
    – Lawrence
    Oct 2, 2020 at 19:13

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According to Dictionary.com, the phrase "make-ready" can mean

make-ready (n) the act or process of making something ready for use.

Even more specifically, according to a website devoted to apartment maintenance, "make-ready maintenance" means the work necessary to make a (currently unoccupied) unit ready for occupancy.

This does not seem like a true prioritization of a task; I suspect make-ready maintenance tasks can be higher or lower priority depending on the circumstances. It seems like the form you are referring to simply uses the "priority" field to categorize make-ready maintenance tasks. Perhaps they fall outside of the usual hierarchy of priorities.

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  • Thank you, that does make sense, it probably shouldn't appear in the priority drop list in the first place.
    – Sil Zec
    Nov 9, 2020 at 1:58
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I imagine that there is a scale of urgency, best illustrated by example:

The apartment is occupied. The sewage system blocks: emergency; immediate attention is needed.

Apartment occupied. There is a dripping tap, or some paintwork needs doing: low; attention is needed soon but the apartment remains habitable.

Make ready: the apartment is about to be occupied, so switch on the electricity and water, check sewage is OK, check that windows and doors are working properly.

Normal: the apartment is unoccupied and unchecked since the last inspection.

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    I interpret 'normal' and 'low' priority differently from you, Anton. I would expect 'normal' to be things like dripping taps which need to be fixed within a day or two because they actually interfere with the use of the apartment and 'low' to be things like scratches on cupboard doors and small cracks in the plaster which are annoying to look at but don't stop the tenants getting on with their lives. I do find the order of priorities in the list confusing though, I would expect to see "emergency, normal, low, make ready" as "make ready" seems to be an owner's priority, not a tenant's"
    – BoldBen
    Oct 2, 2020 at 10:35
  • Yes, I agree there is some latitude in the interpretations, so can accept your view easily.
    – Anton
    Oct 2, 2020 at 21:13
  • The OP said 'drop down list' so it sounds like a web form. If it is the author could have provided some context sensitive help. It's not the best piece of form design I've ever come across whether it was hard copy or electronic.
    – BoldBen
    Oct 3, 2020 at 23:41

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