Our Buffalo sports teams I classify as more of a sickness you can never shake no matter how bad it gets

The way he wants to classify this in the exchange is that he "held the property for appreciation."

But your accountant can classify the assets, goodwill, consulting agreement, etc in a way that maximizes favorable tax treatment.

To my great dismay, I discovered that if you do this too frequently, you'll be classified as a dealer.

I would classify our building as a C- building right now. 

Generally, materials are broken down into two categories:Rough Materials (lumber, nails, screws, brackets, piping, fittings, mortar, wiring, outlets, switches, drywall, etc.)Finish Materials (tile, grout, flooring, paint, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, door knobs, etc.)The way that I structure my contracts is that I buy the finish materials and have my Contractor provide all rough materials.I think it's strange your Contractor wants you to buy piping, brackets, etc, because I would classify that as rough materials.There's no way I would ever want to be responsible for buying all of the piping, fittings, elbows, p-traps, etc for my Contractor...I would be at Home Depot all day buying and returning stuff! 

Do I need to classify my investment properties as a business before I get started or will it be no issue as long as I keep all records of expense?

Set up business page and you can advertise the rentals there and then share them to local facebook groups like "Lake Suzy Classifieds" or whatever.

There is almost an unwritten rule where folks are looking to build new; keep at least two exterior walls up and maintain the footprint to avoid being classified as new construction.

I’m in Victoria and for us the online classifieds work the best.