Who this covers: painters, plasterers and renderers on an ABN, and finishing trades businesses working for builders and strata managers.
What lenders do differently
The home loan: how the income is read
Two years of returns with add-backs; many finishing trades have low depreciation, so the return is close to the assessed figure. A single-builder subcontractor is accepted with the contract.
Vehicles
Chattel mortgage over the ute or van; GST claimed; no deposit for an established ABN at many lenders.
Spray gear and scaffold
Equipment finance for spray units, scaffold and lifts; low-doc to about $150,000 per item.
Cash flow on builder and strata work
Builders and strata managers pay on terms; invoice finance or an overdraft covers wages and materials between payments.
Worth knowing before applying
Cash-paid jobs that do not reach the return are not counted by a lender; lodging everything is what makes the income usable; and a ute on the business stays off the home loan assessment.
The tools that fit
- Chattel mortgage calculator
- Income annualisation calculator
- Borrowing capacity calculator
- Working capital and overdraft calculator
- Equipment finance calculator
- What lenders ask for: checklists
Not sure whether the business needs an overdraft, or how big: the working capital calculator works it out from sales, payment terms and stock, with presets for a typical business like yours.
Policies on all of the above differ lender to lender and change without notice; the value of the conversation is knowing which lender's policy reads your payslip best on the day. Understanding how your income is read before you apply is what makes the application calm.