What it does

For users building, knockdown-rebuilding, or developing a property, Frank tracks the timeline from construction start through to tenant-ready and models the cashflow gap during construction.

It captures four things bank statements alone miss:

1. Cash gap — interest only accrues on funds you've actually drawn down, not the loan facility limit. The runway projection walks month-by-month, applying drawdowns as they happen.
2. Tax treatment — interest paid before the property is "ready and available for rent" is capitalised into the cost base (lowers future CGT), not deductible against rent (no rent yet). Frank splits the interest into capitalised vs deductible automatically based on your tenant-ready date.
3. Depreciation start — Div 40/43 schedules begin on the tenant-ready date, not the day construction completes.
4. Progressive valuation — the property's implied worth rises with your drawdowns instead of standing at pre-build land value for a year.

How to set it up

1. Go to Assets.
2. Find the property under construction. If the asset doesn't exist yet, add it (category Property).
3. Click + Build on the asset row.
4. Fill in the build details:
   • Start — the day construction commenced
   • Expected completion — builder's contracted completion date
   • Tenant-ready — usually 1–3 months after completion (advertising + first lease). Leave blank to default to 2 months after completion.
   • Land value — pre-build value of the land
   • Total build cost — contracted total
   • Expected end value — what the completed property is expected to be worth
5. Add drawdowns as they occur (date, amount, milestone). Common milestones: deposit, slab, frame, lock-up, fixing, completion.

Progressive valuation

Frank computes the implied current value as:

percent_drawn = drawdowns_to_date / total_build_cost
current_value = land_value + percent_drawn × (expected_end_value − land_value)

So with land_value = $400k, total_build_cost = $600k, expected_end_value = $1.2m:

• 0% drawn → $400k
• 50% drawn → $400k + 0.5 × $800k = $800k
• 100% drawn → $1.2m

This matches how lenders' progress valuations work and is more honest than a flat pre-build land value while you're paying interest.

Cashflow runway

Once start date and at least one drawdown are entered, Frank shows:

• Total cash gap during runway — total interest you'll pay from start through tenant-ready
• Capitalised interest — the slice that's added to your cost base (non-deductible, reduces future CGT)
• Deductible interest — anything paid after tenant-ready (deductible against rent)

The runway also tells Frank when Div 40/43 depreciation starts.

Marking the build complete

When the property is tenant-ready, click Mark tenant-ready → on the build panel. Frank will:

1. Stamp actual_completion_date and tenant_ready_date.
2. Snap current_value to the end valuation.
3. Snap purchase_price (your CGT cost base) to:

   land_value + total_build_cost + capitalised_interest
   

4. Set status to tenant_ready.

The build history (drawdowns, milestones, capitalised interest total) stays attached to the asset for posterity. From this point the property behaves as a standard investment property — interest deductible against rent, depreciation running, future disposal triggers CGT against the rolled-up cost base.

What this gets you at tax time

The capitalised-interest figure flows into your cost base for future CGT calculations. The tenant-ready date governs when depreciation starts and when interest stops capitalising. If you ever sell, the cost-base uplift is exactly what an accountant needs to compute your gain — already baked in.

Information only

Capitalisation rules can shift if part of the property becomes income-producing earlier than the rest (e.g. dual-occupancy where one unit lets while the second is finishing). Confirm the deductible/capitalised split with your accountant before lodging.