22 – Progress Update: Enclosed Stage Complete

We recently hit the 50% mark with construction of our first investment property and are now at the “enclosed” (aka “lockup”) stage. This milestone also brought with it the largest invoice of nearly $80,000 so it’s definitely starting to feel real now.

Without a doubt it will be a great sense of accomplishment to have a tenant installed (hopefully) within the next few months. It will also be a relief knowing the rental income will cover the majority of the holding costs—especially while we’re negatively geared in the early years.

As “enclosed”, the roof is on, the windows and doors have been installed, and the external cladding is on—so the outer shell is in place. During the next phase (“fixing”), the internal plaster will go up, the internal doors will be hung, the kitchen, laundry, and bathroom fixtures will be installed, and the wet areas will be tiled. I outlined the various stage milestones in my previous progress update, if you need some context.

Open Wealth supplied us with these exterior photos. I’d love to see more of the rough interior to get a better sense of the space but those pictures will come in due course.

When we built our family home I snapped hundreds of photos in my excitement and to document the process for family overseas. I also snapped what I thought might be important areas of the construction that would eventually be covered over by brickwork and plaster, etc (for example the bulkhead in our lounge room covers the edge of a drain from the shower upstairs—it’s an extensive bulkhead that’s largely empty, which may have come in handy for an air conditioning unit if it had been 10mm deeper).

Now I need to follow up that bank error from the last milestone…

I suppose a disclaimer is also worth posting: I'm just a guy, I'm not an accountant, lawyer, solicitor, tax agent, mortgage broker, banker, financial adviser, insurance agent, land developer, builder, government agent, or anything else so I disclaim your application of anything I write here is to be applied at your own risk. What I write may be incorrect and you are best to seek your own professional advice (tax, legal, financial, and otherwise) before entering into contracts or spending your money. Your situation is unique to you and what I write here reflects my experience only. This content is not professional advice and is not tailored to your situation. I'm learning too and expect to make many, many mistakes along the way.

Enjoy,

Michael