Im looking for recommendations for my self build insurance my surveyor and mortgage company require cover for rebuild cost for £1.8 million

Most insurers online quote a max £1 mill rebuild cost

protek are quoting me just under £4k for 12 months this seems steep

any other recommendations or brokers?

Appreciate any recommendations for self-build insurance. We have planning and building control done, getting the financing together now.

Thanks.

I currently have site insurance from BuildCare/BuildStore. Can I move in before completion?

If I can, can I switch from site insurance to building and contents insurance? It doesn't cover contents and it's over £1200 pa. I think one solution is site insurance for building and separate contents insurance?

I've read other posts so I have a list of insurers to contact for quotes (or find a broker) for TF house with less than 20% timber cladding.

Cheers

I'm looking for broker recommendations, anywhere in uk.  Someone who will take on insurance on an existing project.  I've been directed to BIBA and found https://www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance/buildings-contents-self-build/ which returns 39 pages of results (10 to a page).  That's a lot brokers to contact.  I working through this list, nearest first for the want of any other option.  I'm not having any joy.

Any suggestions?

FYI my current insurer has refused to renew after accusing me of abandoning the project.  They backtracked on that when I said I could prove the project was not abandoned and that I wanted an apology for implying I am liar.  But they still refuse to renew saying the risk increases on projects that are long, saying that 2yrs is the normal limit for their self-build insurance.  Clearly they haven't watched Grand Designs etc. where projects that finish in under 2yrs are few and far between.  And I'm a literal self builder.  As on Grand Designs etc. things never go to plan and unexpected family issues meant I wasn't able to spend the time on the project I thought I would, but that's not the same as abandoning the project, it still moves forward, just half as fast as I would like.

Thx

I've tried getting quotes from GSI, Adrian Flux, etc and been refused, mainly cos it's not completed yet though being timber frame, SIP walls and concrete tile roof doesn't help. But I'm getting worried about the other questions, like are there trees within 15m and is there is cliff? I'm FTB so never had buildings insurance before. 

I have a wooded area at back and trees to one side, some with tree preservation orders. I thought the only issues with them was trimming branches, never thought about subsidence. Some trees are only about 4m away. 

Also the development is near the edge of an old quarry. Surveyor's report was all clear on if my house was going to fall down. 

Have a bought a dud, a clunker, a lemon, something that isn't insurable or ruinously expensive to insure?

I have a timber frame house, some of it is block with render and stone cladding and some is timber frame and wood cladding.  I am struggling to find building insurance that allows this. Can anyone with a build like this advise who they have insurance with. 

Protek are asking for a list of stuff that's longer than both my arms and my legs - like estimated costs to rebuild the 18th century barn back to its prior state. They're refusing to separate out the public liability insurance, which I need by Wednesday 20th ideally. Instead they want to quote for all aspects of insurance.

When I've done this for my IT consultancy businesses, some of which had their own offices, this was a trivial box-ticking exercise and I'm pretty sure was just a matter of filling an online form. Are any of y'all aware of someone that makes it this simple?

The alternative option would be to get our current home+contents insurance cover to insure the building works (which they have said they are willing to do for an extra fee).

Not sure if there are any particular gotchas of using the joint names insurance vs upgrading our current home insurance?

Thank you.

We're about to complete on a Victorian property, originally built as a house, but used as an office for the last 50+ years. Our plan is to redevelop in two phases - phase one to change the use back to residential, then phase two to remove a big single-story extension and reinstate a garden in that space, add more bathrooms, move the kitchen etc. We're well on in our application to change the use of the building back to residential. We're waiting for planning permission and although the building is in good condition (it was in use till late last year as an office), we need a building warrant to make the building 'habitable' which means fire suppression, an upgrade a bathroom and some other relatively small changes. There won't be any major building work at this point - just installation of a sprinkler/mist system, lots of fire retardant paint and the like. 

I'm really struggling to get insurance - I think because it's currently not listed as residential and will be technically unoccupied, as we can't live in it till we get change of use. Further complicated by the fact that more than half the roof space is currently flat - a huge store room at the back of the property that we will demolish in the second phase of development. We don't care about the flat roof - as we will demolish it in phase 2. But we really want to insure both the building and our stuff, most of which will be stored at the property while we live in our tiny temporary accommodation till the change of use comes through. 

I've tried lots of insurers already. I can't get regular residential as the building is technically commercial. Rebuild costs are high because it's a big house in a good area (not a plot or a shell of a building). But my only quote at the moment is £5K for a year - more than five times the regular cost of insuring such a property in my area. I'm in Scotland. 

Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone done anything similar? The other thing worth saying is we expect the work we're doing to take less than three months once we secure the building warrant and can book a contractor. It doesn't feel like a huge conversion job, but finding insurance feels very hard! 

Gallagher won't do it. Intelligent Insurance won't cover till it's residential. Protek might, but won't quote until I own the property - but I want it insured from day 1. 

Any experiences or advice very much appreciated, thank you. 

There have been some threads about this in the past but it seems new legislation has come into play in 2024 that changes things.

There are now 2 sets of PD and PC roles - one for CDM and one for Building regs.

My plan was to be the PD both BR and CDM during construction and just use our architects as and when required if we deviate from, or need to change, the drawings they provided. Likewise with the PC roles, as I am coordinating the contractors.

The architect seems to be very unnerved by the situation (because without written confirmation, he assumes those roles apparently) and has asked me to provide written confirmation from both the Principle Designer Adviser and Building Regulations Approver that I am recorded as the principal designer.

His latest email: "I am so sorry for being so square about this – but the regulations surrounding all this are very onerous now and I would hate for your site to be shut down, you sued etc etc if something went wrong, so there is a real urgency in establishing who is the Principle Designer."

So my questions:

1. Does anyone else have a Principal Designer Advisor?! 

2. Is it definitely not appropriate to "appoint" myself as the PD and PC for BR and CDM?

Note: We have used MBC for both the foundations and frame - they are currently doing the airtightness works.

Most of the posts I've seen on this site are a few years old and so quite soon after Grenfell when the insurance market was still in flux.

We're planning on building a 210sq m single storey house in ICF with a metal seamed roof.

At the moment we're planning on 100% timber cladding but I am considering the option of about 40-50% seamed metal cladding on the rear of the building instead for ease of getting insurance.

Has anyone got any recent experience of how insurance companies are reacting to buildings totally clad in timber?

Buildstore - £1950

24 month coverage

I need to check the small print and that they are quoting for the same thing but all things being equal is there any good reason to go for the Buildstore one?

Cheers

Here's what I'm finding:

• Normal home insurers aren't interested because the building is in poor condition and I won't be living there for the foreseeable future
• I've managed to find one specialist policy that will offer coverage, at about 5-10x the cost of a normal policy 😬
• Site insurance doesn't seem applicable until there are concrete plans in place.

I'm mainly concerned with liability, e.g. the classic "roof tile falls on someone's head" scenario. The building itself I'm less concerned about as it's a complete re-do job anyway.

Does anyone have any advice on what kind of cover makes the most sense to get?

We have just had our buildings and contents insurance cancelled after I informed them we were starting renovation work. I was expecting this and already have all singing, all dancing (read expensive) self-build site insurance in place so I just need contents insurance but am struggling. 

We will always be living on site either in the house being renovated or a caravan. Anyone got any recommendations of an insurance company who would insure personal contents in this situation?

Many thanks, 

Alex 

we have lived in our house for over a year now on normal house insurance but I read somewhere that I need an interim insurance not regular insurance , looking for advice please 

I am about to start a project to renovate.

The works are quite extensive - estimating about £200k and will be carried out mostly by a contractor.

I have been told that it would be wise to get home renovation insurance to cover any unexpected consequences of the renovation works.

This seems quote sensible - and so I'd like recommendations on which insurers to approach please?

Any thoughts gratefully received!

Thanks,

S

I'm shopping around for self-build insurance. Buildstore Insurance, Self-build Zone, and Protek are currently on my list.

When I fill in the online quote form, I notice that the forms for Buildstore Insurance and Self-build Zone seem to be identical. Are these two "brands" part of the same company, and if so, has anyone got different quotes from each? Or are they different companies just using the same web designer?

Finally, does anyone else have a suggestion for any other self-build insurers? We are demolishing an old prefab bungalow and building a new house.

Thanks

Ian

The builder we are working with is one that our architect has worked with several times, but doesn't operate with a contract to cover the build. He'll invoice us a daily rate each week to cover his time, and we will pay for materials directly, so no markup required. It means that we don't know how much it's going to cost us up-front but we're comfortable with the risk.

I called our current home insurance provider (homeprotect) and they said they need and exact contract value, which we don't have. What type of cover should we be looking at here? I'm waiting for the builder to send over details of his cover in the meantime. Are there any recommended providers for us to go with? We're estimating £300k as the total value of works, which will be split between builder, materials provider and other contractors that will bill us directly.

Thanks in advance.

My main contractor's insurance covers the entire build including liability etc but doesn't cover our timber frame kit as we're supplying and paying for this ourselves. Can anyone recommend an insurer that will cover materials only? I've had quotes from Protek and Clear Selfbuild but they cover the entire build including public liability etc etc which I don't need. Any ideas appreciated?

We are trying to get a quote of our recently finished self build

At this pint no one will quote on a timber frame / Metal roof !

Any providers out there you would recommend ?

Many thanks

Bob ,

Do we just need Public Liability for now?

Recommendations for what insurance / insurances  we need please.

It is a barn conversion in SE England. I promise more details when appropriate.

Bank of M and D.

It has been drifting along at lawyers' pace for many months and suddenly it is time to sign. 

And suddenly we realise we have to insure it. TOMORROW!! Nobody told us.

It seems that most of the specialist holiday home insurers assume that it's a second home, the primary risk being long periods of time unoccupied.

I wonder if I'm better approaching a more general insurer and seeing if they will allow me to also let it out?

It's probably a long shot but if anybody on here is in a similar position or can suggest a company, that would be really helpful. Insurance must be the most boring thing in the world so anything I can do to tick this off my to do list would be appreciated!

So - when moving from home A to home B, I wanted to know if typically insurances cover this, to what degree, or, if there are specific insurances I can add?

1- From a mover picking up a thing

2- Carrying it up to the house treshold

3- Into the van and on the road

4- Carrying it across the new house treshold

5- Putting it down

Am I correct that if I buy insurance for my new home (and starting it sufficiently long before the move) then I would be insured for items 1,2,4,5?

Or is "a random dude packing up the item and carrying it" usually excluded from insurance already? Any way for me to cover myself properly?