Flipping Partnership - Structuring Advice

[Kim West]

Hello All, Thank you for your contributions to these BP discussions...Truly helpful information for a newbie investor like myself. 

Through networking I have been offered to partner on a flip with a real estate agent/contractor. She (yes, a female!) found the deal, helped me lock it up and will run the rehab since she has been flipping for 2 years already. I am thankful just to have found a (seemingly) deal, as we are in a very competitive market here in Las Vegas. 

We are meeting in a couple of hours to comb through the ARV, rehab numbers, etc. to make sure this is really a deal. We still have time to back out. That part I am not worried about.

So my possible partner brings a lot to the table. What I bring is 18+ years of interior design and construction project management experience. I also am buying the property, handling the accounting and payments for it all, utilities set up, etc. We have a mutual RE agent friend who will sell it at 1% commission, as she brought us together. My partner and I have a 50-50 split of net profits in mind, but a formal contract has not been drawn up, yet. I hope to draw this up in the coming days. So, if anyone has advice for what to include in this contract, please chime in!

Some immediate questions I have are: Do we include my partner's RE buying commission as part of our profits? Do I include my cost of money as part of our expenses (the amount my money would be making in my usual investments, had I not locked it up in this project)?  Do I have construction receipts submitted for reimbursement? How do I pay our construction labor? Do I have money sit in a separate bank account to draw from?

I don't want to split hairs, but I do want to protect each of us and have it stay positive.

Thank you! 

--kim