Paying for a Home in Pakistan From Abroad? Check Its Progress Before Each Payment
It is Friday night in Riyadh, the week's work is done, and the banking app is open at the transfer to a developer in Lahore for the fifth instalment on the flat your parents will live in. The last update was a photo from the sales office of a crane against the sky, plus a video your cousin took from the road, and neither tells you whether your floor has walls yet. You will send the money anyway, because you would rather not find out what a late instalment does to the booking, and the doubt travels with it into the calls home, where your father asks whether the flat will be ready by the time he retires and you say yes without knowing. There is one thing you can ask for that lets you see your own floor on a known date before you press send, and it helps the developer as much as it helps you.
Ask your developer for a dated 360° walk of your floor that you open by link, captured along the same route every time, so you can compare this month with last month before each instalment. A photo shows that something was built, whereas a dated walk shows where on the plan it stands and how far it has come.
You are far from the only one making that transfer. Pakistanis working abroad sent US$3.6 billion home in September 2026, and US$10.9 billion between July and September, 14 percent more than a year earlier, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK and the USA as the largest sources, according to the State Bank of Pakistan's release of 9 October 2026. Since June, overseas Pakistanis holding a NICOP or POC can also get financing under the government's Apna Ghar programme to buy, build or renovate a home in Pakistan, as Profit reported when the State Bank notified the change.
Why a photo from the sales office doesn't settle it
A photograph proves that something was built, although it can't tell you where on the plan it was taken or on which day, and a video from the road stops at the boundary wall. Each update also arrives on its own, so you can't hold this month's against last month's and see what changed in between. That matters most at the stages your instalments are tied to, because the stage you are paying for is the one thing you need to see. Once the walls are plastered, the wiring and plumbing behind them are out of sight for good, which is why the last look inside the walls before they close is worth asking for too.
- 16 Jan 2026Instalment 1Paid on a photo of a crane from the sales office
- 24 Apr 2026Instalment 2Columns rising on level 4, seen from the stair coreWalk · 21 Apr
- 24 Jun 2026Instalment 3Level 5 slab cast, so your floor existsWalk · 20 Jun
- 24 Aug 2026Instalment 4First blockwork going up on your floorWalk · 19 Aug
- 30 Oct 2026Instalment 5Walls of your flat up, at the same spots as AugustWalk · 28 Oct
What to ask your developer for
None of these requests needs anyone to fly in, and you can send the list to the sales office as it stands.
- A 360° walk of your floor and the building around it, captured by the site team and dated, which you open by link in a browser without making an account.
- The same route and the same viewpoints on every walk, so any two dates can sit next to each other at the same spot.
- A walk dated shortly before each instalment falls due, so the stage you are paying for is on screen when you decide.
- Every walk kept in one place, so the history of your home is still there years after the keys are handed over.
Ways to check progress from abroad compared
Each way of checking answers a different question, and you may want two of them together.
| Way to check | What you see | What it leaves open | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photos and videos from the sales office | Real work, chosen by the developer | Where on the plan, which date, and what changed since the last one | A quick sign that the site is active |
| A relative or friend visiting | The site from the gate, or a guided tour | Access to your floor, and a second look at the same spot later | Reassurance for the family |
| An independent engineer at key stages | Structure and workmanship, checked by a professional | Progress between visits | Before slabs are cast and walls are closed |
| A dated 360° walk shared by link | Your floor on a known date, next to earlier walks | Concrete strength and anything a camera can't show | Checking progress before each instalment |
Why this builds trust both ways
For you, the walk replaces a feeling with a date, so the call home can move on from whether the walls are up to which tiles your mother wants in the kitchen, and on the next call you can open the walk and show your father the door of the flat he will live in.
For the developer, the same link answers the question every buyer abroad asks before a transfer, without a phone call from each of them, and it gives the sales office something better to send than a crane against the sky. When a question comes up later about what was finished by a given month, the dated walk answers it for the buyer and the developer alike, and the developer who shares walks this way becomes the one whose buyers never have to ask.
- Opened by linkThe walk opens in the phone's browser, with no app and no account.
- Dated on the planEvery stop carries the date of the walk and its place in the house.
- Same route next monthCompare the same rooms before each instalment.
If you're the developer selling to buyers abroad
Every overseas buyer has the Friday-night doubt described above, and it often reaches your office as a call or a message before the money moves. A dated walk of the buyer's own floor, sent by link before the instalment falls due, answers the question before it is asked and shows someone three countries away that the work is where you say it is. That is credibility a sales brochure can't give you, and how to send construction updates buyers trust sets out a routine that takes the site team one walk per cycle.
Where SpatialSense fits
SpatialSense sits on the developer's side of this, because the site team records a walk with the Trace app and a 360° camera on a helmet, and the walk opens in a browser with its path drawn on the floor plan and, in Video Mode, a timestamp on every frame. The developer then sends each buyer a share link that opens without a login, chooses what the link shows, and can revoke it at any time. Any two dates open side by side from one locked viewpoint, and SpatialSense finds the nearest matching photo on the other date for you, so a buyer comparing September with October looks at the same corner of the same room. Every plan has unlimited users, so the sales team and the site engineers work from the walks the buyers see.
A virtual site walk like this is how a thirty-week new build in Islamabad is run, where the client's chief architect signs off progress every week from Europe without flying in, working from seven dated captures in twenty-four days taken by the people already walking the site.
If you are building a single house with a relative overseeing it, a dated video along the same route each week may be enough, although for structure an independent engineer at the key stages is still worth paying for, because a walk shows what is there without telling you the strength of the concrete.
Capture. Understand. Take Action.
See SpatialSense on your project
If you build homes for buyers abroad, you can run the full platform free for 30 days on one project with no card, uploading 360° photos from your own camera in the browser, and send the first walk to your buyers before their next instalment falls due. Support is 24/7 and one to one, from a person at Kodifly.
SpatialSense isn't only for big projects, and you don't need to learn every part of it to use it, because on a custom plan you can take the 360° viewer on its own. Book a demo and we'll go through the details with you.
FAQ
Can I see my apartment's construction progress online from abroad?
Yes, if your developer shares a dated 360° walk of your floor by link. You open it in a browser and compare it with earlier walks along the same route.
What should I check before paying the next construction instalment?
Check that the stage your instalment is tied to shows on a walk dated after your last payment, at the same spot as the previous walk, and ask the developer about anything you can't see before you transfer.
Are construction progress photos from developers reliable?
They usually show real work, although a single photo can't tell you where on the plan it was taken or what changed since the last one. A dated walk along a fixed route answers both.
Do I still need an engineer to inspect my house?
For structure and workmanship, yes, at the key stages before slabs are cast and walls are closed. A dated walk covers the progress between those visits.