Home insurance for renovations

grandweb

We're looking to buy a house soon that will require around 9 months of building work (extension/renovations) while we aren't living in it. I'm looking for advice of what cover we need and which providers to try.

I think there might end up being a 2 month period between exchange and completion, followed by another month before work will actually start. My questions are:

Should we get regular insurance for this ~3 month period then cancel and switch to a renovation one when we start work? (I assume we should get insurance from exchange?)

Do any of the big insurers support notifying them of building work during the policy?

I've heard of multiple people not bothering with updating their insurance during renovations - if we took this risk, would be be risking everything, or should our existing cover still cover some stuff and is it likely a builder would have insurance for their renovations?

It all seems a bit a of a mystery - Aviva and others seem to say they wont insure if you don't live there for a 60 day period and even sites like GoCompare have a renovation insurance page, but then they just direct you to the regular buy insurance page with no specific renovation options when you click the button.

What have other people done - do you take the risk or have you found providers that support this switch to do renovations?

user1977

Are you moving in initially? I think insurance is trickier if it's going to be unoccupied from your date of purchase until after the works are done.

MyRealNameToo

Aviva may not offer unoccupied or renovations cover directly that doesnt mean they dont offer it at all. Some will offer more via brokers than they offer direct and even more so to intermediaries they've delegated authority to. In principle in the later case the intermediary is the expert on these matters and the insurer is just putting the financial backing behind them. 

Comparison sites are set up to deal with the 90% of people with basic straight forward needs that can easily be serviced. The remaining 10% would take up 90% of the effort and so aggregators simply dont bother dealing with them or at best recommend a broker who'll be a Howden or Gallaghers etc. 

Many people who take the risk dont know that they are taking the risk. They havent read their policy book and dont realise they need to declare the works. Many will get away with it because they also forget to update the rebuild cost and/or number of rooms etc and they dont have need to claim. Unfortunately the minority will have an incident and then find they have no cover 

Albermarle

I've heard of multiple people not bothering with updating their insurance during renovations - if we took this risk, would be be risking everything, or should our existing cover still cover some stuff and is it likely a builder would have insurance for their renovations?

The builder should have insurance cover for any major issues caused by them doing something wrong. However you would need to check this.

MyRealNameToo

Albermarle said:

I've heard of multiple people not bothering with updating their insurance during renovations - if we took this risk, would be be risking everything, or should our existing cover still cover some stuff and is it likely a builder would have insurance for their renovations?

The builder should have insurance cover for any major issues caused by them doing something wrong. However you would need to check this.

But they won't be insured for issues that happen not caused by them but coincidentally whilst they are on the job. EG major storm takes the roof off with them doing no work on the roof means you are simply uninsured 

grandweb

user1977 said:

Are you moving in initially? I think insurance is trickier if it's going to be unoccupied from your date of purchase until after the works are done.

We are currently renting and will probably stay until the renovations are done as the house isn't in a great state. Technically we could move in for a day or two before work starts, but I'm guessing they would question if this counts.

grandweb

MyRealNameToo said:

But they won't be insured for issues that happen not caused by them but coincidentally whilst they are on the job. EG major storm takes the roof off with them doing no work on the roof means you are simply uninsured 

My question would be, if the existing roof blows off in storm, would the builder's insurance say it's not part of their building work, and my insurance would say it only happened because of the building work, leaving us a bit stuck?

MyRealNameToo

grandweb said:

MyRealNameToo said:

But they won't be insured for issues that happen not caused by them but coincidentally whilst they are on the job. EG major storm takes the roof off with them doing no work on the roof means you are simply uninsured 

My question would be, if the existing roof blows off in storm, would the builder's insurance say it's not part of their building work, and my insurance would say it only happened because of the building work, leaving us a bit stuck?

No, the builders would say they weren't working on the roof so it's not their fault, a regular home insurer that doesnt cover building work would say you have failed to declare the building work so the policy is void. They wouldnt need to link the roof damage to the building works the false declaration and the fact they dont insure buildings undergoing major renovations is enough for them to void the policy and avoid the claim. 

If you had a proper policy that does cover building works then there is a risk of there being a spat on if its related to building works or not but if you are having a new basement built then there is clearly no link to the roof so the dispute isnt going to happen. 

grandweb

MyRealNameToo said:

Aviva may not offer unoccupied or renovations cover directly that doesnt mean they dont offer it at all. Some will offer more via brokers than they offer direct and even more so to intermediaries they've delegated authority to. In principle in the later case the intermediary is the expert on these matters and the insurer is just putting the financial backing behind them. 

Comparison sites are set up to deal with the 90% of people with basic straight forward needs that can easily be serviced. The remaining 10% would take up 90% of the effort and so aggregators simply dont bother dealing with them or at best recommend a broker who'll be a Howden or Gallaghers etc. 

Many people who take the risk dont know that they are taking the risk. They havent read their policy book and dont realise they need to declare the works. Many will get away with it because they also forget to update the rebuild cost and/or number of rooms etc and they dont have need to claim. Unfortunately the minority will have an incident and then find they have no cover 

Thanks, makes sense, which is probably why Aviva passed me on to the British insurance brokers association to call and get a quote from a broker. I called them though and they seemed to want a quote rather than an estimate from a builder before the will put me through, which leaves me a bit stuck for the first few months, unless I just do a regular insurance and cancel a few months in. I'm also not sure who I'd be speaking to, if they just pass me onto a random broker they work with or if it's a internal broker.

maman

I can't help with your particular situation of an empty house but when we had building work done (finished a year ago 🎊) our regular insurer wouldn't cover. They seem to have a (very low) ceiling price for any building work but were happy to give me a refund for unused months. 

I do know of people who took the risk (mainly from ignorance) and they got away with it but I wouldn't do that. 

We were living in the house but I went to a specialist broker. I had quotes from two, one recommended by my architect and one from the builder. I took out 6 months cover (with an option to extend if needed) as what they were most concerned about was security while the back of the house had temporary walls/windows. My regular (from comparison site) insurance were happy to insure when just decorating/kitchen fitting etc were being done The builder also had his own insurance.

I think your problem (but probably not insurmountable through a broker) is that the house will be technically empty although it will be occupied during the day. 

I'd definitely go down the broker route and get a few quotes. Perhaps you could ask friends or neighbours for recommendations or your builder as I did. 

grandweb

maman said:

I can't help with your particular situation of an empty house but when we had building work done (finished a year ago 🎊) our regular insurer wouldn't cover. They seem to have a (very low) ceiling price for any building work but were happy to give me a refund for unused months. 

I do know of people who took the risk (mainly from ignorance) and they got away with it but I wouldn't do that. 

We were living in the house but I went to a specialist broker. I had quotes from two, one recommended by my architect and one from the builder. I took out 6 months cover (with an option to extend if needed) as what they were most concerned about was security while the back of the house had temporary walls/windows. My regular (from comparison site) insurance were happy to insure when just decorating/kitchen fitting etc were being done The builder also had his own insurance.

I think your problem (but probably not insurmountable through a broker) is that the house will be technically empty although it will be occupied during the day. 

I'd definitely go down the broker route and get a few quotes. Perhaps you could ask friends or neighbours for recommendations or your builder as I did. 

Thanks! Sounds like I should ask around and speak to a couple of brokers about it. Can I ask roughly how much you paid for 6 months - or how much more compared to the regular insurance cost?