27 June 2022

I’m doing work to my own home – does my existing home insurance cover me?

By Self Build Zone

When you embark on a home extension or renovation project, insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. You’ve sorted the necessary planning consent, instructed an architect and builder, arranged the finance, and might have even got your colour scheme in mind, but have you considered what protection you have in place, should something go wrong during the period of works?

Most home insurance companies specifically exclude cover on properties undergoing renovation, alteration, extension or conversion. It is really worrying that over half of the people that we talk to do not realise this and leave themselves and their largest asset exposed.

We would always advise that you inform your home insurer prior to any works starting to determine what they would pay out for. Your normal home insurance will not cover any of the new/contract works and materials if, for example, they are stolen or destroyed by fire. Home insurance can also exclude any loss, damage or liability arising out of the activities of contractors working at or on the premises, including where you are working in your capacity as a professional tradesman.

Home insurance does not provide you with your own sufficient public and employers’ liability cover and nor is your builder’s public liability policy adequate, as it is only designed to cover him for his negligence, which can be costly and time-consuming to prove.

A site insurance policy can act as an interim policy, covering, amongst other things, the existing structure during the course of the works. Once the work is completed you should reinstate your buildings insurance cover. If you are keeping your household contents in the property during the work, you should maintain contents cover with your home insurance provider as site insurance will not cover contents.

Our site insurance policy can provide consequential damage cover for all existing structures included in the insurance. This means that you are covered if the existing structure is damaged by new works.

And it doesn’t stop there, you can also purchase our 10-year Structural Warranty which protects the new works for 10 years from completion against defects in design, materials and workmanship. Should you wish to sell your property at some point in the future, a Self-Build Zone Structural Warranty will give your purchaser the peace of mind that it is covered by a lender-approved Structural Warranty.

You can also review some of our specific product pages for in-depth information on the rest of our Self-Build Insurance website.

Self-Build Zone offers a range of self-build site insurance cover. All of our site insurance policies include public liability and employers’ liability cover as standard. For more information, call 0345 230 9874, or visit our website, selfbuildzone.com.

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