What ho one and all,

Starting another thread but the topic is similar (ish) as this is about insurance rather than the best fix. My previous is http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=17394&page=1#pgbottom

Had a number of quotes for the repair; most of the cost is due to poor access, plus that fact that the original verge was available here in the UK but is no longer. Total repair costs around £2k. or probably less.

Made an insurance claim and after a few weeks, receive an email from the underwriters, asking for a valuation for the house. Last time I had that done was soon after completion, 12 years ago. Cannot speak with the underwriters as they do not speak to clients!!!! They did not like my estimate based on the value from 12 years and what can be found on the web; had to get a local agent.

Then they queried why the valuation is so much greater than the insured rebuild cost. Of course, my explanation is that the valuation is what the market will pay for my house, not the rebuild cost, which would be less.


Yesterday, another e-mail as follows:

I am emailing because our underwriting department have some questions with regards to the phone call you had with one of my colleagues on 11/04 regarding the rebuild costs of the property being in the amount of £800,000. They are wanting to know how you have come to these rebuild costs and are you able to provide documentation so we can validate this?

Another useless phone call to tell them that the rebuild cost has been the same for the past five years and drops within their own guidelines of 700k to one million. furthermore, the letter from the agent pointed out that local rebuild cost in Surrey are around £300 per sq ft and for a 2700 sq.ft house, go figure!!! Additionally, as I have not rebuilt the house recently, how can I provide documentation?

I also pointed out that if it was a £300k maisonette or a £10 million oligarch mansion, the quotes for the roof repair are the same and it will not repair itself.

Not as if I am trying to rip them off for thousands, just want the roof repaired. Would do it myself but age v. height is the issue.

What is wrong with these idiots? (And I do know the answer, they don't want to pay up!)

Toodle pip

Posted By: djhThey want to establish whether you are under-insured, so they can pro-rata reduce the amount of your claim.

Yes, this.

The ABI has a calculator you can use at https://abi.bcis.co.uk/ Provided it comes up with a figure similar to or below your estimate it should strengthen your position.

Posted By: Mike1The ABI has a calculator you can use at https://abi.bcis.co.uk/ Provided it comes up with a figure similar to or below your estimate it should strengthen your position.

Interesting. I didn't really expect it to deal with my house but it only offers a choice of two wall types - brick or stone - and I think it was four roof types - none of which was metal - and doesn't cover 'listed or unusual' houses. So only for the very mainstream buildings, sadly.

The bit where they ask you for "rebuild cost" in any insurance application always bothers me. There's no way to determine it accurately. There's that estimator thing but it makes loads of assumptions and there's no way of knowing how relevant it is to any specific house - standard build or not.

Out of an insurance company, and a householder, who is best placed to make a judgement on the rebuild cost of a property? Surely it's the insurance company - in fact, isn't it pretty much the core of their job, to estimate how much something will cost in case of damage or disaster? It seems ridiculous to push it onto the householder.

Round here, the rebuilding cost is more than the market value, even without the value of the land. So if the house fell down it would be cheaper to buy a different house, rather than rebuild.

I think it's dubious to insure the house for its rebuilding value in this case, you will never claim for that much value. Arguably that is overinsurance, which has been the basis of mis-selling claims, they are selling me a product I can never use.

Posted By: revorHome building and renovating magazine have figures for building cost based on area per square M and level of specification of quality and area you are in.

It's fairly basic though. It doesn't offer any choice of construction method, or foundation type etc etc.

BTW, There's an interesting list of products at https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/eco-heroes - it seems a fairly sensible list to me.

My Buildings Insurance with Esure says 'unlimited'.

On another point, yes, assume your premiums will go up. I claimed for a carpet once and I'm sure they recovered the cost in additional premiums.

House insurers are an interesting bunch. The question 'construction of walls' - answer 'brick' as the best fit. Truthfully, the outer wall is block and render, however, inside that is a steel frame, but that is not the question they asked!

Thanks for the discussion. Just checked the link and the calculation provides a figure that is around £100k less than what it cost 12 years ago.

As for the insurance assumptions, it always annoys me when the when question asks, are there any trees of greater than X height within X meters of your property. In my case, yes, there are and that was handled during the planning application and build by having piled foundations. But I have to answer yes, and undoubtedly, the premium is adjusted accordingly.

Similarly, what is the construction? Timber frame. So it is a timber house? No, the structure is timber frame. But what is on the outside? Oh, that is block and render. So it is a brick house? No, it is timber frame with b&r on the outside.

I guess I could cancel the claim but I am sure that the record of having started a claim will not be removed, so future premiums will be adjusted accordingly. As it happens, the storm damage will not repair itself, and most roofers are not interested. After much searching, I did find a local guy who was happy for me to lead the repair while he assisted, and it is now done. I needed him to rivet some Z clips onto the verge trim and slide under the tiles, so hopefully, during the next storm, the trim cannot lift. I would have done it all myself, but not so keen on working from high ladders.

This is a storm claim. It will not impact future premiums. It happens to many properties.

Just shop around at renewal. If you had an at fault fire claim because you left the oil pan on, that is likely to impact premiums a bit more.

I am amazed they are queering a £2k claim.

Rebuild costs should increase each year automatically as inflation is always positive. My commercial broker has just renewed by 12 property policies for me and i have a 7% increase in build costs because of higher inflation.

I still get super cheap insurance. I pay £1 per £1000 of rebuild cost. However, it is very common for the retail market to get cheaper annual insurance than commercial due to the mass market deals they put together. Very often the "up to £1m insured rebuild offer" is a great deal for consumers. A commercial premium for me on a rebuild price of £800K would be £800, but retail consumers will pay much less than that.