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.
Depreciation gives you a write-off for a portion of the purchase price of your house -- not your land -- and any improvements. If you spent $250,000 for your house with $60,000 of the cost allocated to land, you can depreciate $190,000 over a period of 27.5 years for the entire building.