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rebuild cost

Study shows that 1 in 5 people `guess’ the rebuild cost of their property

rebuild costIf your holiday home were to be significantly damaged by fire or flood, do you know how much it would cost to rebuild and restore it to its former glory? If the answer to our question is ‘no’ then you may have the wrong level of buildings insurance in place.

While we hope the worst will never happen, there are more than 37,000 house fires in the UK every year. That’s in excess of 100 every day. While thousands of homes have also been affected by flooding or storm damage in the increasingly extreme weather patterns that have hit our shores in recent years.

In these circumstances, understanding and knowing the true cost of rebuilding your home or holiday home is key. By being informed you can ensure you have the right level of buildings insurance in place.

What does a rebuild cost represent?

The rebuild cost represents the costs you’ll need to cover in order to restore your property; you’ll need to pay the builders, pay for scaffolding and materials, cover the costs of new windows, etc.

Recent research from RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com has found that when setting their buildings sum insured:

  • over a third of policyholders are using the ‘market value’ of their property; and
  • one in five ‘simply guess’.

Thus leaving them potentially out of pocket if they’ve underestimated this figure and the worst happens, or overpaying on their insurance premium if they’ve overstated the costs of rebuilding.

It is a common misconception that buildings insurance relates to the current market value of the property, rather than the cost of rebuilding it, but in reality these figures can often be far apart.

 What do you need to consider when calculating your rebuild cost?

It can be difficult to calculate the exact costs of rebuilding your property, but you’ll need to think about all of the following:

  • The building cost of reinstating your property – this isn’t just limited to the walls of your holiday home, and can include items such as swimming pools, paths, drives, patios, and other things that you might not think about, such as satellite dishes, fences and landscaping.
  • The cost of replacing fixtures and fittings – for example, do you have built-in wardrobes or specialist light fittings that would cost significant sums to replace or restore?
  • Will debris need to be removed from the site? Will you need to hire skips? How much will you be charged for removing waste from the building site?
  • What will be the cost of complying with Local Authority Buildings Regulations or other statutory requirements?
  • Professional fees – to get your property back to where it was before the incident you’ll likely need to consult with engineers, architects and surveyors.  Their fees will also need to be included in your calculations.

How can you make sure that your rebuild cost is correct?

There are a number of ways and methods you can use to calculate the value of your holiday home.  These range from using the ABI online calculator if your holiday home is of a standard construction (http://abi.bcis.co.uk/) through to instructing a RICS qualified Chartered Surveyor (a method used by only 5% of respondents to the RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com survey).

Take the hassle out of setting your rebuild cost with a desktop survey

The good news is that we have teamed up with RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com to offer our home and holiday home insurance clients a discount off of their cost effective desk top surveys.

For more information on your options please take a read of our blog post:

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

 

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Holiday Homes – Getting your Buildings Insurance Right

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Avoiding underinsurance for holiday home owners

As holiday home insurance specialists we understand the industry and know the insurance needs and demands of letting a holiday property; that’s what comes with using a specialist. Please take a minute to read Holiday Homes – Getting your Buildings Insurance Right and give us a call if you have any questions.

We’re here to give you the peace of mind that should the worst happen you’ll be covered and supported. In order to do that we want to make sure that you have the right cover in place. One aspect of your insurance cover you should be checking is that your building sums insured are correct. It’s important that you make a Fair Presentation Of Risk which includes providing the correct sums insured.

The risks of underinsurance

The buildings sum insured is the maximum amount your insurer will pay out if you make a claim.

For this reason it’s vital to get it right and ensure it’s sufficient. It must represent the cost of rebuilding, repairing or even replacing your property should the worst happen.

If you’re underinsured you bear the risk that you may have to fund a proportion of the cost from your own pocket. This can be potentially crippling to your own finances or that of your holiday business.

The cost of rebuilding and not the value of your property

A common misconception is often that your sum insured should represent the market value of your property. For insurance purposes your sum insured should actually reflect the cost of rebuilding your property.

This can be a tricky figure for holiday home owners to calculate so please do take time to consider what that figure should be.

You’ll need to think about:

  • The building cost of reinstating your property; this can include items such as swimming pools, paths, drives, patios and other things that you might not think about such as satellite dishes or fences and hedges.
  • The cost of replacing fixtures and fittings, for example do you have built in wardrobes, specialist light fittings or bedroom furniture that would cost significant sums to replace or restore?
  • Will debris need to be removed from the site and what implication will this have on the cost of restoring your property?
  • What will the cost be of complying with EU legislation Local Authority Buildings Regulations or other statutory requirements?
  • Professional fees; to get your property back to where it was before the incident you’ll likely need to consult with engineers, architects and surveyors.  Their fees will need to be included in your calculations.

Index Linking – make sure the initial figure is correct

Your buildings sum insured is index-linked, which means that it adjusts according to inflation. This ensures your sum insured is increased in line with any changes in the cost of rebuilding your property.

Despite this index linking it of course remains vital that the sum insured was correct in the first place.

Have you made improvements? Let us know

As you make improvements to your holiday home make sure your sums insured represent the increased cost of replacement and don’t wait for your insurance renewal to make the increases.

For example, if you add a hot tub to the garden or update the interior of the property contact your insurer to let them know and make sure they’re covered from day one.

Calculating the cost of rebuilding your property 

Three methods you can use to calculate the cost of rebuilding your home, holiday home or buy-to-let property. Please use one of these to ensure you are Getting your Buildings Insurance right.

  1. ABI Rebuilding Cost Calculator

If your holiday home falls within a range of standard house types the Association of British Insurers offers a rebuilding cost calculator (http://abi.bcis.co.uk/), which will help you to assess the level of insurance you need.

This is however no substitute to instructing a professional Surveyor to prepare a Rebuilding Cost Assessment for insurance purposes. Although there is a cost for these surveys they’ll make sure you have the right level of cover.

2. Desk Top Rebuilding Cost Assessment 

Getting someone to visit your property to carry out a professional assessment can be time-consuming and expensive. However thanks to our partnership with Rebuild Cost Assessment Ltd we can offer you a reliable low-cost service; from a `Regulated by RICS (Royal Institute Of Chartered Surveyors) organisation.

You’ll receive a comprehensive Rebuild Cost Assessment (RCA) report guiding you on how much you should insure your buildings for. This is a fantastic and affordable online service which can protect you, your home, holiday home or buy-to-let property from the potentially severe consequences of under-insurance.

Rebuild Cost Assessment Prices Start from as low as £193.50.

However we have negotiated a SPECIAL DISCOUNT of £20.00 with www.RebuildCostAssessment.com on your behalf. Simply enter the code BOSHERS20 when placing an order online to get your discount. Use the appropriate link below to order your assessment and once receive please forward a copy to your insurance adviser at Boshers.

Nb. Boshers Ltd have no commercial interest in Rebuild Cost Assessment Ltd and we do not receive any financial benefit for the referrals. We have negotiated the discount as we believe this service is a cost effective way to help our clients obtain accurate costs for rebuilding their properties.

3. Instruct a RICS qualified Chartered Surveyor to visit your property and carry out a rebuilding cost survey.

To search for a chartered surveyor in your area please click here: http://www.ricsfirms.com/

What should you do now?

If you need to adjust your insurance cover once you have reviewed your sums insured please contact us. You can call our team on 01237 429444 Monday to Friday.

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