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I'm in a similar situation right now. My existing self build insurance expires mid-july. I could extend it for a 3 months...or for the same price get a full year home insurance. My house hasn't got the completion certificate yet but its essentially just external balustrades (and some minor work) waiting to go on otherwise all the other major work is complete and we are essentially "moved in". Interested to know why you still took out the home insurance if the chance of yoor claim being rejected was high because it wasn't "building control complete"?

In the end for me in order to get a self build mortgage, I needed the self build insurance but then I also had the All Risk in joint name taken out with me and builder in order to complete JCT contract. The joint name All risk wasn't 2.5k, closer to around 1k but I imagine its project specific. There are some overlaps between the two policies but they are also different in that anything you purchase yourself is covered by your self build insurance. I had non-negligence taken out too in addition to above in joint name due to my specific proximity to my neighbour's property (again this is project specific)

Hi All, Thought I would update this existing thread. I am due to start the build of project soon. Signed a JCT MW contract with the Main Contractor and my architect as the Contract Administrator. A question for anyone who has used JCT MW (or any I guess), have any of your builders found it difficult to get a joint name insurance (all risk, non-negligence, etc) which is mentioned in the contract? I ask because my builder is trying to add me to his insurance but his brokers seem to suggesting that his current insurances may already cover everything (as joint name its not very common to do) and as the project is "referenced" in insurance docs this should also cover me. I'm a little apprehensive as this is not exactly inline with the JCT. I have separately spoken to brokers myself (who do know about JCT Joint name) and forwarded them onto the builder but just wondered if anyone else experience something similar. I just find it odd brokers are having a hard time handling "joint name" insurances when JCT is supposed to be one of the more common/popular builders contracts. Cheers

Sorry, just wanted to steer the conversation back to the topic. Ignoring the deposit topic, I imagine someone must have been in a similar position to me? I have a self build mortgage offer which has insurance conditions (i.e. must have "All Risk", which is not the usual "SelfBuild" Insurance you get from Protek/BuildZone). This insurance is normally the Contractor's (or joint name) which implies I would need to have a contract signed with a Contractor before my mortgage can be completed. Is this generally what most people in a similar position did?

Thanks all, definitely food for thought. I will have a more detailed chat with the architect to iron this out. I realised the conversation went slightly down a different path but wanted to confirm if anyone did sign a contract with a builder even though their mortgage wasn't completed yet?

Interesting, I did generally understand to avoid deposits but assumed for larger projects i.e. a self build, it was reasonable for a small % ask due to initial set up costs be a lot higher. In fact this is what I received from my Architect (who has been great so far) in response: "Always an initial deposit is done when signing the contract for the contractor to secure the site, scaffolding, piling structural calculations, portable toilet, materials to be delivered, labour, etc. That also confirms that the client wants to go ahead with this particular contractor. Usually, we agree on an initial payment deposit as a percentage of the total amount and we discount the same percentage to the interim valuations, so with the final payment " It does seem to be a hot topic online which valid arguments on both sides

Hi All, Wondering if there have been anyone else in my position and how they handled trying to time signing a contract with a builder and completing on mortgage. Here is my current situation: Received mortgage offer - Have a few condition before completion & have 6 months to make the first drawdown. The main condition is the usual site insurances Builder - Will soon begin contract discussion with a builder and naturally will have to provide a deposit to get the project started Site insurance - I can obtain the self build site insurance but they say the work must being within 3 months of obtaining the insurance Question I have is did anyone sign a contract with a builder even though their mortgage wasn't completed yet? I ask because I am in a chicken/egg situation i.e. I don't want to sign the contract with the builder until I have secured funds (I do technically have enough cash reserve for a deposit) however I can't get insurances to complete my mortgage until I know a start date with my builder. My personal thoughts are (rightly or wrongly), I go ahead with builder contract, organise a start date and site insurance and can then "complete" my mortgage. Any thoughts/experiences?

I feel I may need to push the architect a little more on this topic. He does generally agree with what I mentioned. He says JCT MW would be the go to contract and that he will specify all the insurances (i.e. Public, Employer, All Risk and Non Negligence) the contractor will need to have. I will still take out self build insurance to cover any equipment, etc I will have on site that do not belong to the MC.

Correct will be a new build. From previous discussions there's a few contracts that were mention i.e. RIBA, JCT MW, etc. It seemed JCT MW was most suitable for my project potentially even JCT intermediate. Seems odd to have no allowance for a specialist sub contractor that has no connection to the Main Contractor to help on a project. I would assume the JCT MW is just clarifying that the MC can have no accountability (i.e. will not "govern") of the specialists work. Which makes sense to me i.e. I wouldn't expect my main contractor to have to be involved when I want a specific certain alarm system/flooring/fitted wardrobes, etc. Would be interesting to know what types of contracts people did use in these situations (i.e. Main contractor for most of the work + some specialists like a cctv/alarm company).

Definitely has my scratching my head for sure! I found this from the JCT website (for the minor works contract but I believe others are similar), which I think is designed to handle the scenario above you mentioned "If the project is for new works only and there are no existing structures, clause 5.4A is applicable and clauses 5.4B and 5.4C should be deleted in the Contract Particulars. Clause 5.4A provides that the Contractor shall effect and maintain a Joint Names Policy for All Risks Insurance for the Works. All Risks Insurance is defined in the contract and insurance cover must as a minimum cover those defined risks." "A Joint Names Policy (defined in the contract) is a policy of insurance that includes both the Employer and Contractor as a composite insured, which means that the insurers have no right of recourse against any person named or recognised as insured." "The cover required may be provided either by way of a specific policy or through the Contractor’s annual all risks policy (CAR policy) provided the CAR policy is extended to recognise the Employer as a composite insured in respect of the Works" So above mentions "All Risk" + Non-negligence cover is also mentioned in other JCT contracts (sections 21.2.1 / 6.5.1 in Intermediate 2016 but not mentioned in Minor Works 2016) as being in joint name too. My current stance is as follows (but you are right I should probably get some expert advice on this): My own insurance in my own name (this will cover me if say items I bought get stolen, rather than the main contractor's tools, materials, etc): Employer Liability Public Liability Legal expenses Main contractor's insurance in their own name (same reasons as above but vice versa): Employer Liability Public Liability Legal expenses Insurance in joint name i.e. both myself (Employer) and Contractor: Contractor All Risk Non negligence (if needed)

Good to know! I hope my Lender has a similar process to Ecology because that sounds ideal, especially the flexibility of not having to drawdown to full stage amount in one go

Hi All, I am currently in the tender process (main contractor) and am planning to use the JCT Minor Works contract (Architect as contract administrator). One thing I am trying to get my head around if the type of joint name insurances needed vs the usual selfbuild insurance that are more common (i.e. buildstore, protek, etc). "Normal" Selfbuild insurances (from Buildstore, etc) contains the following in your own name: Employer Liability Public Liability Legal expenses However the JCT contracts request insurances to be in joint name between the client and contract i.e. Contractor All Risk - this is the main one mentioned Non negligence - (optional) if you are doing piling, etc near a party wall of a neighbouring property. If something goes wrong but there was no negligence it will fall on to me to still rectify the neighbours property Public Liability Employer Liability Legal expenses Would be nice to hear about how people handled their insurances if they used a JCT contract with their contractor. I am trying to figure out whether its pointless getting the self build insurance in my own name if the JCT requests some of them to be in joint name anyway. I may be in a scenario where I do get a seperate flooring company/security company in to do certain work rather than the main contractor so maybe I would need my own policy. Just feels odd about potentially paying twice for some of the same cover. Cheers

Hi All, I am looking to understand the drawdown process in a little more detail. Generally from what I can see on the forum most people mention its fairly straight forward i.e. simply fill in a form > lender sends a valuer to confirm the uplift in value > lender then pays drawdown. However I just had a look at BuildLoans drawdown forms and they mention the following as "requirements": Confirmation of work completed from Warranty Provider or Professional Consultant Photographs confirming stage of build Valuation re-inspection (to be instructed by BuildLoan/Lender) Technical Audit instructed by BuildLoan (if not using Warranty Provider) Numbers 2 & 3 I understand Number 4 wouldn't apply as I will have Warranty in place Number 1 seems interesting i.e. have people had to sync up their warranty inspections with the mortgage drawdown stages? or request additional inspections from the warranty provider if the drawdowns and inspections don't sync? Would be good to hear people's experiences of their drawdown process Cheers

@Mike_scotland do let us know when you do eventually get the offer. I would be keen to get an rough idea as I am pretty much about to submit the application to the lender via BuildLoan too (DIP, costings, etc all done). For anyone interested, regarding BuildStore/BuildLoan, my experience has been a mixed bag but generally positive. You get passed onto a lot of people and how quick/competent they are is pot luck. Out of the 4 people involved in my application (Advisor, Case Manager, Underwriter, Costing), 3 of them were pretty good and fairly quick. 1 was unfortunately slow i.e. spent two weeks making no progress because they had wrong mortgage amount/costing , etc (which I then had to explain and cc everyone in to get back on track). Got there in the end and they did apologies for the misunderstandings. Like mentioned above, it definitely helps to maintain the communication and not wait for them for too long.

I am pretty much in a similar position and have the same understanding as you. Looks like the cover is to be under joint names (Contractor & Client) and is normally picked up by the Contractor to add (although we can organise it ourselves if we like..I think). I was planning on having a JCT Minor Works contract (with my Architect as the Contract Administrator) but it seems the non-negligence insurance piece is not mentioned there clearly (or I am blind). Seems to be mentioned in the JCT Standard, Design & Build, etc contracts. Just another thing to wrap my head around