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RICHELIEU · E-2 FIELD GUIDE

How should second-site build-out costs enter the investment figure?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

Show each location's payments, commitments, conditional deposits, and working capital separately, then assess their treatment. Projected spending is not automatically invested, but genuine working capital should not be excluded simply because it is unspent. Professional invoices need review according to their purpose.

Two columns, one honest total

Ask the reviewer which contingent items they would exclude and why, then keep both figures visible rather than deleting the smaller one. Confirm current government charges at each step instead of relying on an older figure. Reserve amounts you set aside for the second site are a business judgment, not a legal threshold, and no level of spending guarantees approval, a decision date, or any return.

Build the schedule so that each line answers when the money left the investor's control, not merely when it was allocated. Paid and unrecoverable, contractually committed, held subject to a condition, and set aside as a business reserve are four different states, and only the reader can decide what weight each carries. Hypothetical example: a reserve is set aside for a second glasshouse, held in the company's own account, and shown in the application as capital already invested.

Nothing prevents the investor from spending it on something else the following week, and describing it as invested makes every other figure on the page less credible. Genuine working capital should not be dropped simply because it is unspent; label it as working capital and say what it is for. Confirm official charges at the time each step is taken rather than carrying forward an older figure, and remember that no amount of spending guarantees an approval, a decision date, or any return on the enterprise.