Most concreters we work with earn solid money but the income fluctuates, especially when weather shuts down sites or projects finish earlier than planned.
Lenders see that differently to a $90,000 salary that hits the same account every fortnight. If you rock up to a bank with three months of payslips showing varied income, patchy super contributions, and no clear paper trail, you will get knocked back or offered a rate that costs you thousands more than it should. The preparation you do before you even look at a property determines whether you get approved at all, and if you do, what you pay for the money.
What Actually Counts as a Deposit
Your deposit is not just the percentage figure you hand over at settlement. Lenders want to see genuine savings, which means money that has been sitting in your account for at least three months, ideally longer. If you have been putting away $500 or $1,000 a month from invoices and it shows up clearly on your statements, that works. If your old man transfers you $40,000 two weeks before you apply, that is a gift deposit, and while some lenders accept it, most want to see you have saved at least 5% yourself.
Consider a concreter who has been banking $800 a month into a separate account for eighteen months. That is $14,400 in genuine savings, which covers a 5% deposit on a property up to around $290,000 in most regional areas where the First Home Guarantee applies. The same buyer with $40,000 handed over by family but no savings history might still qualify, but fewer lenders will touch it and the ones that do charge more.
If you are using the First Home Super Saver Scheme, you can pull out up to $50,000 from your super as long as you have made voluntary contributions over multiple years. That counts as genuine savings because the ATO tracks it, but you need to apply for the release before you make an offer, not after.
How Lenders Assess Self-Employed Income
If you operate under an ABN, whether sole trader or through a company, lenders will ask for two years of tax returns and two years of notices of assessment. They take the average of those two years, and that becomes your declared income for serviceability. If your last two returns show $85,000 and $95,000, they will use $90,000. If one year was $110,000 and the other was $60,000 because you took time off or a job fell through, they average it to $85,000 and your borrowing capacity drops accordingly.
Some lenders allow you to use year-to-date financials if your current year is tracking higher, but that usually requires a letter from your accountant and BAS statements that line up. If your accountant has been writing off everything including your dog's food to minimise tax, your taxable income might look like $50,000 even though you actually earned $95,000. Lenders do not care what you earned, they care what you declared.
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This is where preparation six months out makes a difference. If you know you want to buy in twelve months, talk to your accountant now about balancing deductions with declared income. You might pay an extra $4,000 in tax this year, but that could unlock another $80,000 in borrowing capacity, which is the difference between getting the block you want or settling for something smaller.
First Home Buyer Grants and Stamp Duty Cuts You Can Stack
Every state has different rules, and some of them expire on set dates, so you need to know what applies where you are buying. Queensland is currently offering $30,000 for a new home under $750,000 until 30 June 2026, which stacks with the federal First Home Guarantee if you meet the eligibility. That means you could buy a new house and land package with a 5% deposit, no Lenders Mortgage Insurance, and $30,000 knocked off the purchase price.
New South Wales offers $10,000 for new homes up to $600,000 or house and land packages up to $750,000, plus a full stamp duty exemption on properties under $800,000 if you qualify. In South Australia, there is no stamp duty at all on new homes for first home buyers regardless of price, which on an $850,000 property saves around $45,000 on its own.
Most of these grants apply to new builds only, not established homes. If you are buying an existing place, you still get stamp duty concessions in most states, but the cash grants disappear. The Northern Territory is the exception with a $50,000 grant for new builds and $10,000 for established homes, both with no price cap, but unless you are buying in Darwin or Alice Springs that does not help much.
You cannot double dip on state grants, but you can combine a state grant with the federal guarantee scheme and the super saver scheme. A concreter buying a $650,000 house and land package in Queensland with $32,500 saved (5% deposit) plus $15,000 pulled from super through FHSS, and claiming the $30,000 QLD grant, walks in with $77,500 in effective equity and no LMI. That same buyer trying to do it in Victoria with a $10,000 grant and no super savings would need closer to $50,000 in genuine savings to make the numbers work without paying insurance.
Documents Lenders Want Before They Will Talk Numbers
You need two years of full tax returns with notices of assessment if you are self-employed. If you have a company, they will want company returns as well as your personal returns. You need three months of bank statements for every account that shows income or savings, including offset accounts, business accounts, and even your partner's account if you are applying together.
If you have a car loan, personal loan, or any other debt, they want statements for those as well. Credit card limits count against your borrowing capacity even if you pay them off every month, so if you have a $15,000 limit and you only ever use $2,000 of it, that $15,000 still gets factored in as a liability. If you do not need the limit, cancel the card or reduce it before you apply.
Lenders will also pull your credit file, so if you have missed a phone bill payment or defaulted on anything in the last five years, it will show up. One $200 default from a gym membership you forgot about can sink an application, not because of the amount but because it signals risk. Check your credit file yourself before you apply so there are no surprises.
For tradies operating through a company, some lenders want to see that you own at least 20% of the business. If you are a 50/50 partner with another concreter and the business is pulling $400,000 a year, they will allocate half that income to you, but only after they subtract business expenses and director drawings. If the business shows $400,000 revenue but $350,000 in costs, your share of the profit is $25,000, and that is what they use for servicing.
Fixed or Variable Rate for a First Home Loan
At current variable rates, you get the flexibility to pay extra without penalty and access to an offset account, which for tradies with uneven income is worth more than a slightly lower rate. If you fix, you lock in a rate for one to five years, but most fixed loans do not come with offset accounts and limit extra repayments to $10,000 or $20,000 a year.
If you have a big job coming up and you know you will bank $30,000 in three months, a variable loan with full offset lets you park that money in the offset account and save interest without officially paying down the loan. A fixed loan with a $10,000 repayment cap means you either lose the offset benefit or sit the cash in a savings account earning almost nothing.
Some brokers will suggest splitting the loan, with half fixed and half variable. That gives you rate protection on part of the debt and flexibility on the other half, but it also means two sets of fees, two loan accounts, and less offset benefit because your cash only offsets the variable portion. For most first home buyers, a straight variable loan with a decent offset account and the ability to make unlimited extra repayments is the better move unless rates are clearly on the way up and you want the certainty.
Getting Pre-Approval Before You Make an Offer
Pre-approval is conditional approval from a lender based on the documents and information you provide before you find a property. It tells you how much you can borrow, what rate you will pay, and whether the lender has any issues with your income or credit file. It usually lasts three to six months, and once you have it, you can make an offer with confidence that the finance will come through as long as the property stacks up.
Without pre-approval, you are making offers blind. You might think you can borrow $550,000, but if the lender only approves $480,000, you either pull out and lose your deposit or scramble to find another $70,000. Pre-approval also shows the seller and the agent that you are a serious buyer, which matters in a tight market where multiple people are bidding.
Pre-approval is not a guarantee. The lender still needs to value the property, check that it meets their lending criteria, and verify that nothing has changed with your income or debts since they issued the approval. If you go out and buy a $60,000 ute on finance between getting pre-approved and settling, that can blow up the whole deal.
Where First Home Buyers for Concreters Usually Trip Up
The biggest mistake is not talking to a broker early enough. If you wait until you have found the property and signed the contract, you have maybe fourteen or twenty-one days to get finance sorted, and if your income does not stack up or your documents are incomplete, you are scrambling. If you talk to someone six months out, you know exactly what you need to fix, how much you can borrow, and what deposit you need.
The second mistake is not cleaning up your spending before you apply. Lenders go through your statements line by line. If you are spending $400 a week on tap-and-go payments at the servo, lunch spots, and bottle shops, they add that up and it counts against your ability to service a loan. Three months before you apply, cut the cash spending, use one card for everything, and make sure your statements show regular income and controlled expenses.
The third mistake is not understanding how self-employed income actually gets assessed. You might know you earn $100,000 a year, but if your tax return says $65,000 because your accountant has claimed every possible deduction, that is the number the lender uses. You cannot just tell them you earn more. You need to prove it with declared income, and that means planning your tax strategy around your borrowing goals, not just minimising tax.
Call one of our team or book an appointment at a time that works for you. We will go through your income, your deposit, and what you qualify for, and if there is anything that needs fixing, we will tell you exactly what to do and how long it takes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much deposit do I need as a first home buyer if I am self-employed?
You can buy with as little as 5% deposit using the First Home Guarantee, but lenders want to see genuine savings that have been in your account for at least three months. If family is gifting you part of the deposit, most lenders still want you to have saved at least 5% yourself.
How do lenders assess my income if I operate under an ABN?
Lenders take the average of your last two years of tax returns and notices of assessment. If your returns show $85,000 and $95,000, they use $90,000 for serviceability. What you actually earned does not matter, only what you declared to the ATO.
Can I stack the First Home Guarantee with state grants?
Yes, you can combine the federal First Home Guarantee with state grants and stamp duty concessions, and also use the First Home Super Saver Scheme. This can significantly reduce your upfront costs, but most state grants apply to new builds only.
Should I fix or stay variable on my first home loan?
Variable loans give you full offset and unlimited extra repayments, which matters more for tradies with uneven income. Fixed loans lock in a rate but usually come with repayment caps and no offset, so you lose flexibility when cashflow spikes.
What documents do I need before applying for a home loan?
You need two years of tax returns and notices of assessment, three months of bank statements for all accounts, and statements for any existing debts. If you operate through a company, lenders also want company tax returns and proof of ownership.
