House insurance recommendations for a large house (>10 rooms) & non-brick construction

Arfa__

Got my building+contents insurance due up next month. Last year we didn't get a chance to shop around much as we just bought the place and it was frantic, just needed to get it done before completion. So, this year, I want to make sure I'm getting the best deal.

I've come unstuck using typical comparison sites as the house has more than 10 rooms total (6 bedrooms + 5 other rooms, excluding conservatory, bathrooms, utility etc) and because it's a modern (2007) timber frame, insulation and render construction. i.e. not brick/stone etc so apparently non-standard construction, despite most modern builds up here in Scotland built like this... Other than that, we're just looking for the typical cover you'd expect for a family home. Any recommendations?

FWIW last year we were with HomeProtect

Other firms I've tried to get quotes from directly have just stopped me online and told me to ring up and spend ages on the phone going through details. Obviously, I'd rather not spend half hour on the phone with countless firms repeating the same stuff.

Thanks!

Alderbank

Interesting.
My house is not as big as yours (5 bed detached) but similar otherwise, 2005 new build in Fife and timber frame of course. 
I have never had any problems getting a choice of competitive quotes (well under £200) from the likes of Meerkat, GoCompare each year.
I do think the outer skin makes a difference. The outer skin of mine is brick on all 4 sides under a tile roof.

Otherwise could it perhaps be the people who live in it?

dunstonh

Most of the comparison sites and basic policies are bedroom rated and only go to 5 bedrooms.   With 6 or more, you typically need to look at more traditional home insurance policies.

NFU is good at properties with non-standard issues.  They have to be as many rural properties have all sorts of things they need to be covered.  However, don't expect comparison site pricing but do expect decent claims handling.

DullGreyGuy

What sorts of sums insured are you needing? 

Arfa__

DullGreyGuy said:

What sorts of sums insured are you needing? 

£100k accidental contents cover (got a fair bit of computer/hifi/cinema gear and music collections that'll be costly to replace). I might be able to reduce that a little, it was just the figure our prior insurance covered, but we'll likely need more than £50k. ~£550k rebuild cost. Some cover for high-value stuff away from home (bikes, jewellery, MacBooks etc). I might ditch the bikes this time, as they aren't worth much over the excess anyway.

The people living in the house: 2 adults, 2 teenagers, not exactly unusual.

Our house doesn't have an outer skin of bricks, just blocks on the first half meter off the floor, the rest is rough cast render.

Last year's quote was just over £750!

I will give NFU a ring, a family member recommended them too.

DullGreyGuy

NFU are worth a try but their away from home cover is very expensive if you have a moderate amount of items that you may take away from the home... Mrs has a few handbags over their single item limit away from the home so they all have to be declared and insured even though in reality she'll obviously never go out with all of them at the same time. 

Is £100k your total contents value or just the types of items you listed? Obviously the sum insured has to be for everything, you cannot pick and choose even if you don't mind if you accidentally break a sofa or drop a load of crockery (you obv dont have to claim for these things). 

Personally find M&S's Premier policy to be very good for our needs, some of its features mirror those of Mid Net Worth policies, but I dont know how they respond to large properties or non-standard construction. Once you get to true Mid Net Worth policies, which you are on the cusp of potentially, then minimum premiums tend to be £750 or more so wouldnt represent a saving, though may be a better quality product.

Arfa__

DullGreyGuy said:

Is £100k your total contents value or just the types of items you listed? Obviously the sum insured has to be for everything, you cannot pick and choose even if you don't mind if you accidentally break a sofa or drop a load of crockery (you obv dont have to claim for these things). 

That figure was to cover the replacement cost of all contents (e.g. if the house burnt down). I only quote those items as they make up a sizable chunk of that sum.

Not heard of the term Net Worth Policy, didn't realise I was in such a bracket. But if £750 is likely to be the going rate, then I guess that's that.

DullGreyGuy

Arfa__ said:
Not heard of the term Net Worth Policy, didn't realise I was in such a bracket. But if £750 is likely to be the going rate, then I guess that's that.

You do fairly often hear about High Net Worth (HNW) or Very High Net Worth (VHNW) individuals, Mid Net Worth is the layer below them and above "mass exclusive"/"mass affluent".

Its a market segment that is allegedly poor at identifying themselves and poorly provided for my the insurance market. Mass market insurers typically poorly deal with the value of their property and HNW insurance normally starts at £500k rebuild and £100k contents but is really designed for those needing much higher limits than that and so premiums are excessive. 

MNW should fit between the two but more commonly people buy via aggregators as they don't appreciate their own wealth and then come online a few months later when the insurer is proposing to replace two damaged SieMatic or Eggersman kitchen units with the best match they can find from Wren 

Annemos

At the lower level I am on.... I have also seen complaints about John Lewis items being replaced with Argos. 

(At least Argos has Habitat these days. That would do for me at my age! Most of my current things are from the 1980's era!) 

dunstonh

Last year's quote was just over £750!

You have an exclamation mark after £750.  However, that does not sound unreasonable for a large non-standard property with £100k of accidental damage cover on contents.

I am over £1600 a year for our non-standard set up with NFU.   Its a different scenario on building type (and multiple other buildings we have plus tractors and trailers included) but when you get away from the mainstream and move towards more specialist coverage, the premiums do rise.  

DullGreyGuy

Annemos said:

At the lower level I am on.... I have also seen complaints about John Lewis items being replaced with Argos. 

(At least Argos has Habitat these days. That would do for me at my age! Most of my current things are from the 1980's era!) 

The point was as much that a standard home insurance policy only deals with the damaged units as they dont have matching set cover... so you have a kitchen with 25 units and damage two of them they only have to deal with those two. The fact they wont match the other 23 units isnt their problem. A higher tier product will replace all the units if they cannot find a matching item or may pay well above the units value (even with the correct brand) to have something custom made. 

Take a case that happened a few years ago with a HNW insured, a customer was sailing on a lake when the strap to their Rolex broke and it disappeared into the water. The watch was an inheritance from his late grandfather.

Budget insurer - send a gift card for H.Samuels (despite the fact they dont sell Rolex)
Standard insurer - send gift card for Goldsmiths/Watches of Switzerland 
HNW insurer - hired a team of divers for 2 days to search the lake bottom and found the watch which was then sent to Rolex for repair and servicing

Ironically the HNW insurer's approach was probably the cheapest settlement, though obv they'd have had to pay for a replacement had the divers not found it, but it was the fact they recognised the sentimental value of it and their claims handlers were empowered to find a non-standard solution rather than just pinging out a gift card.

I've known them to invest a fair amount of time to try and track down a particular replacement too rather than just giving the insured a bunch of cash to buy the new equivalent.