A guide to insurance, construction, and protecting your home

After planning and building regulations, we can understand why a lot of homeowners feel overwhelmed with the admin, perhaps a little less than enthused when it comes to reviewing their contract with potential builders.

However, as dry as contractor contracts might be, there’s one area every homeowner should pay attention to - insurance.

Whether this is the insurance your contractor should be covered by or the insurance you should be taking out yourself, nothing is more important for the safety of you you and your home and thankfully now this is something that we can help with.

To make sure you’re fully covered, here’s our guide to everything insurance…

A COVID-19 Update

Like many industries, insurance companies have had to implement changes to their practices to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most providers are no longer offering unemployment protection, until the foreseeable future. We have also encountered some providers who have also withdrawn protection against illness.

However, if you have already got these policies in place, don’t panic. You will still be covered, should the worst happen. If you do need to make a claim, bear in mind that most protection advisors are very busy at the moment. Therefore, you may have to wait a while until those policies can step in.

Concerned about your home? Whether you already have insurance in place or want to take new policies out, our Finance team are always on hand to provide free advice to homeowners. Simply book in a call and we’ll do everything we can to help you during these uncertain times.

Your insurance

Home insurance

Did you know, during construction, you won’t be adequately covered by your regular home insurance, especially if you are not going to be in the property during the build?

There are some great policies out there and most standard home insurers will sometimes look to cover small amounts of work, but will normally limit cover to “FLEE” only (Fire, Lightning, Explosion and Earthquake). This leaves a rather large gaps in your protection.

To make sure your home is safe, firstly we recommend you review your current policy (statistically people do not do this) and then let us walk you through some of the items you need to think about.

Structural warranty

Very few homeowners know about this warranty and fewer still take it out, but it’s a great way to protect your investment!

This warranty will protect your project for 10 years from ‘latent defects’ to the structure of the building. This means, should something have gone wrong during construction which isn’t spotted right away, your investment is safe from costly repairs.

Some contractors will give you a “one year warranty” on the works but don’t leave anything to chance. Take it out yourself.

Life insurance

Okay, this is a little morbid but definitely worth considering.

If you’re taking out finance on your project, you’ll also want to either update your life insurance plan or take one out. Paying off home improvement loans can take years and you don’t want your surviving family facing the debt alone, should the worst happen.

Your builder's insurance

Public liability insurance

This insurance is used if your contractors work near other people and their property - which covers pretty much all construction projects.

It offers legal protection in the event a third-party (a non-employee) is injured or if someone’s property is damaged. Your contractor should renew this insurance every 12 months, so make sure it’s up to date when looking through your contract.

Product liability insurance

This covers your contractor in the event of injury or property damage resulting from materials/products they have supplied, manufactured or even imported.

Again, this is something you should check for in the contract during the tendering stage.

By law, contractors must be covered by employer liability insurance, which is there in the event an employee faces injury or illness.

All contractors should be covered by this and if you’re building your own house, it’s important that you look at taking this out yourself. That’s because in the event a volunteer or sub-contractor becomes injured on-site, you could technically be viewed as their employer and face a lawsuit.

Contractors all risk insurance

If a contractor causes damage to a part of your property they were hired to work on, standard public liability insurance may not provide full coverage. If you want to have maximum protection for your home, insist on your builder being covered by a contractors all risk policy, this would cover all the costs when repairing the damage.

Professional indemnity insurance

Professional indemnity insurance protects against claims for loss or damages arising from professional negligence or negligent advice.

Worth inquiring about, especially if your contractor is making alterations to the design of your project. It also helps uphold a level of professionalism in more than just the labour side of your project.

Want help with your project? Whether you’re just starting out or gearing up for construction, our experts are always on hand to offer free advice. Book a consultation with our team now.