1 Exterior paint averages $25-$40 a gallon, and a 3,000-square-foot home takes 15 or more gallons of paint, or $375-$600 just for the paint.
Construction-In-Process (CIP) Assets. A construction-in-process (CIP) asset is an asset you construct over a period of time. Create and maintain your CIP assets as you spend money for raw materials and labor to construct them. Since a CIP asset is not yet in use, it does not depreciate and is only in the corporate book.
Instead, you generally must depreciate such property. Depreciation is the recovery of the cost of the property over a number of years. You deduct a part of the cost every year until you fully recover its cost. You may be able to elect under section 179 to recover all or part of the cost of qualifying property up to a limit, by deducting it in the year you place the qualifying property in service.