Insurances

Having appropriate owner builder insurance is crucial. There are numerous companies that offer this type of insurance. It is important to understand that although you may have house and contents insurance, those insurances typically do NOT cover owner builder works.

When getting insurance make sure you get both Contract Works & Public Liability (Owner Builder Insurance) and Voluntary Workers Insurance. Check what is covered and don’t just go with cheapest one by default.

Ten typically asked questions when applying for insurance are:

Is it a renovation or new build?
What is the construction value?
Have you started building? (if yes, what stage is it at and who started the build?)
Do you want to insure the existing structure? (if yes to what value?)
What amount of public liability insurance do you want? (typically $5M,$10M,$20M)
Are you excavating deeper than 5m?
Will you be demolishing above 10m?
Is there any asbestos?
Are you raising, restumping or relocating the house?
Are you going to build on a boundary /shared walls?

Please take extra note of #5 and #9.

#5… Always go for the highest possible, most commonly $20M.

#9… When appointing a company to raise and/or restump and/or relate your house, make sure that they have the appropriate insurances in place. Ask them for a copy of the current policies. Their insurance will cover that phase of your project. This is particularly important as most insurance companies do NOT cover for those things. So in reality you cover yourself by splitting the risk into two parts, one accepted by the raising company’s insurer and the second one by your own insurer.

So… you will most likely NOT find any insurer that will cover the entire process incl. raising, moving, restumping and building. Any insurer will most likely only provide you with a quote for the building part once the raising etc. has been completed and it is confirmed that the house is on its permanent footings.

Here are a few insurance companies we get quotes from that appear to be trustworthy: