Arranging Insurance for your Renovation, Conversion, Extension or Restoration Project
Taking on a renovation project is likely to be one of the most rewarding, exciting, stressful but hopefully enjoyable times for anyone willing to take the plunge. The work can take various forms; a renovation of a tumble down cottage, to something more akin to those found on a chocolate box. A conversion of a barn, school or if you are brave enough even a church. The restoration of a listed building is a brave exploit but undoubtedly one with unique rewards.
There is no doubt, once completed the renovator will look at what has been achieved with a sense of pride and satisfaction as well as memories of late nights painting skirting boards, dealing with numerous contractors and making endless decisions.
With all this going on the last thing you need to worry about is not having your building and site adequately or correctly insured. Renovation Plan Insurance is a unique product designed to meet the needs of the renovator. Not only can it cover Renovations and Conversions of Private Dwellings but it will also cover Commercial Buildings. For example, you may need to cover a former warehouse you are converting to flats or maybe shops. Perhaps you have an old village hall in need of restoration and extension to become your home. Our Renovation Plan insurance policy really can cater for virtually every scenario.
When we designed the policy we realised that we really needed to cater for not only different projects but also different budgets. For this reason you can choose between three levels of cover, handily called Level 1, 2 or 3.
- Level 1 cover provides the basic ‘FLEA’ cover. You may or may not have heard of this before but it stands for Fire, Lightning, Explosion and Aircraft (we also include Earthquake). FLEA cover is generally provided by Insurers when a property is unoccupied.
- Level 2 cover will however extend cover to include the other perils of Storm, Flood, Burst Pipe and Impact Damage.
- Level 3 will extend further to include Theft, Riot, Squatters and Malicious Damage.
Under Renovation Plan there is no need for you to occupy the site to get these extra covers.
So those are the unfortunate events that are included but what are we actually insuring. Well firstly the existing building whether it is bricks and mortar or maybe stone and slate, then there are the new materials and fixture and fittings that you are bringing in, these are generally described as the ‘new works’. One day they are a pile of bricks and the next that dream extension to the kitchen. So whether they are fixed or unfixed they will need to be insured! Other examples of items to insure are the new kitchen and its electrical appliances, the boiler and the pipes (metals are particularly attractive to thieves) or the new flooring. Whilst we appreciate that the house itself won’t get stolen it’s these items when not yet fitted that are vulnerable so we include them as standard under the Buildings Insurance section of the policy.
Every policy automatically includes Public Liability Insurance for the site and for you as the property owner. There are also options to include Hired in Plant and Employers Liability cover where you are hiring your own direct labour rather than using Contractors. These are offered as options so that we can keep premiums as low as possible and only charge extra when required.
We welcome your call and our expert staff are always happy to help talk through your renovation project. Alternatively you can buy instantly online through this website.
We very much hope that we are able to assist in arranging insurance for your Renovation, Conversion, Extension or Restoration Project as easy and stress free as possible even if the work itself won’t always be!
Best Wishes
The Renovationplan Team @ First Commercial Insurance Brokers Ltd
