Building Site Insurance

pinklady21

Hi everyone
Anyone got any tips for which company to go to for Building Site Insurance?
A friend of mine is about to buy a house which requires a total refurbishment and is likely to be unoccupied for at least 9 - 12 months.

So far quotes have been around £600 and a rather eye-watering £900.

The place is currently a shell, is unlikely to be occupied or furnished while the building work is going on. Rebuild cost around 290k.

All advice welcomed!
Thanks

huckster

How is the contract work being arranged ? Do any of the contractors carry any Insurance for the works, materials/equipment on site ?

You are probably best to contact the nearest broker that can arrange the cover you are looking for. I suspect that they will need to go into a fair amount of detail about exact requirements.

Find a broker using the BIBA site.

dacouch

Are you managing the refurbishment yourself or do you have one contractor handling everything ?

pinklady21

Many thanks for your prompt replies.
I suspect my friend will have to go through a broker for this - it is probably deemed specialist insurance.

Good point re who is going to be doing the works - if the contractor(s) already have their own theft and public liability cover, then no need for it to be covered again.

At this stage, not sure how the refurb works are to be organised - it may be a single contractor, or equally could be several.

The immediate issue is that insuring the building will become essential shortly as it is a requirement of the mortgage.
Thinking a broker might be the best way to go.
Thanks!

dacouch

pinklady21 wrote: »

Many thanks for your prompt replies.
I suspect my friend will have to go through a broker for this - it is probably deemed specialist insurance.

Good point re who is going to be doing the works - if the contractor(s) already have their own theft and public liability cover, then no need for it to be covered again.

At this stage, not sure how the refurb works are to be organised - it may be a single contractor, or equally could be several.

The immediate issue is that insuring the building will become essential shortly as it is a requirement of the mortgage.
Thinking a broker might be the best way to go.
Thanks!

You still need to cover the building even if a contractor has liability or contract work cover.

The reason I asked about the contractor is your friend may need a self build policy which covers liabilities, materials and hired in plant etc etc.

Have a look at self build policies if they do not have one contractor

pinklady21

Thanks for that- the self build policy came in at £900!

Wondered if there are a number of companies offering this type of insurance.
It occurs to me that if it is very specialist, it won't be widely available and therefore v expensive?

dacouch

A self build policy covers a lot more than a normal unoccupied property insurance.

If he does not use one sole contractor (Possibly even if he does), he could be liable for public or employers liability claims, theft of materials / hired in plant / tools etc etc.

He needs to look into the matter throughly rather than just purchasing an unoccupied property policy which might not be suitable to cover all his needs, it may not even be valid and thus not pay claims