Making progress payments

Now that you’ve got a construction loan, there’s a few things you should know.

Important info about construction loans

Progress inspections

We might need to do a progress inspection of your property before or during construction, and before the final progress payment is made.

The person inspecting will arrange these inspections with your builder.

Final payment

Before the final payment is made, you’ll need to provide us with a copy of your certificate of occupancy and your Building insurance policy or Certificate of Currency.

Make sure to put us as the mortgagor of the property when taking out the insurance.

Multiple payments

If you’re wondering why you need to give your authority multiple times, it’s because you need to authorise each stage of construction.

This means you’re only paying for work that’s been done.

Giving us your authority

We can’t pay your builder unless you give us your authority. Authorisations will need to be done before each stage of construction. This means you’ll need to do it multiple times – we’ll let you know when.

If construction is already under way and you’ve been posting us your authority using the print authority forms, feel free to continue doing this instead of using Bankmail.

If you’re just getting started, there’s a few ways you can give your authority.

Bankmail

This can be done through Bankwest Online Banking from a desktop computer.

Email/post

If you don’t want to use Bankmail, you can also download a Customer Authority to Make Progress Payment form and send it back to us.

How to use Bankmail to authorise your progress payments

Using Bankmail is a quick and easy way for you to make sure your builder is paid on time. You’ll simply be letting us know that you want us to pay your builder at each stage of construction. This means you’ll need to do this multiple times as construction progresses.

Step 1 – Log in to Bankwest Online Banking

Image of Bankwest Online Banking login page

Step 2 – Navigate to Bankmail

Image of online banking menu with Bankmail highlighted. Bankmail can be seen as a submenu of the Message centre menu.
  • Select ‘Message centre'
  • Select ‘Bankmail’.

Step 3 – Make a progress payment

Image of Bankmail inbox with the Make a progress payment link highlighted.
  • Select ‘Make a progress payment'.

Step 4 - Complete a Progress Payment Authority

Image of the Progress Payment Authority template.
  • Fill out the template provided with your Bankwest reference number, the stage of your claim, your builder’s name and the payment amount. If you're having trouble finding your Bankwest reference number, it's an 8 digit number that you can find on your Home Loan Application Tracker email and the letters you'll have received about your progress payments
  • Attach your Builder’s Tax Invoice if your builder hasn’t already sent it to us
  • Send the message and you’re done. We’ll take it from there.

Need more help?

You can message us in the Bankwest App or online banking, or call us – we're here 24/7.