There are many factors that affect the rebuild cost of your house. The more unique the property, the more complicated it is to determine an accurate rebuild value.
It’s the responsibility of the home owner to provide an accurate rebuild valuation to get the correct level of insurance cover.
If it’s not accurate, you could pay too high a premium, or more likely, you could be underinsured.
If that’s the case, the insurers are not obliged to pay the full costs required to reinstate the building in the event of a loss. This is applicable no matter what size the valid claim is or the amount of damage to the property. Most policies have a contractual clause which allows the claim to be reduced in the same proportion that the true rebuild cost bears to the value stated in the policy. It’s called Average or proportionate settlement.
A Reinstatement Cost Assessment from BCH is a site-based, RICS compliant survey which will provide you with an accurate rebuild cost of your house. This will ensure that your insurance policy reacts when you need it to – providing the correct financial cover, so you’re not left out of pocket or with repairs you cannot afford.
We can also offer our desk-based Benchmark e-valuation service for residential properties with a value up to £2M.
The hard market in insurance is undoubtedly leading to higher premiums and a tougher stance on claims. This is not a good time to be underinsured, as policyholders may suffer a shortfall in pay-out on an otherwise valid claim at a time they can least afford it.
