Comprehensive cover for home building works

Comprehensive cover for home building works
Your home is probably your most valuable asset, so if you’re planning to carry out building works it pays to make sure you, your property and your investment are fully protected. If the unexpected happens - a collapsed wall, a serious fire or theft – you need to know that your insurance policy will cover the costs. Hiscox Home Insurance includes cover for renovation and extension projects up to £150,000 as standard, protecting your existing home, new structure, materials and liabilities. For projects over £150,000 Hiscox Renovation and Extension Insurance can be added to a new, or existing, Hiscox Home Insurance policy.
Our market-leading renovation and extension insurance offers the highest level and quality of cover you will find on the market – whether you’re renovating your dream home or extending a listed building, we provide a fully comprehensive policy.
Renovation and extension insurance covers you for the things that might go wrong while your building works are being carried out. Home renovations are complex projects, and the potential problems might not always be obvious. During this time, your home may be exposed to the elements, structurally unstable, vulnerable to theft, and controlled by contractors.
Although most contractors will have insurance for the works carried out on your home, this might not protect you in all circumstances. Different contractors will have different levels of cover, with their own limits and exclusions. For example, the following could be excluded from contractor’s liability:
If, for example, a fire broke out as a result of the building works, burning your extension down and if ‘application of heat’ was excluded from the contractor’s insurance, rebuilding your extension would also be excluded. This would leave you without an extension, having to sue the contractor or paying for the works once again, through no fault of your own.
Hiscox Renovation and Extension Insurance gives you comprehensive cover for your existing building, your contents, the works and all materials while the project is taking place. The cover makes sure that you have the right level of protection against the increased risks associated with a higher value project and puts you back in control of your biggest asset, your home. Watch our short video to understand the increased risks, cost and duration of building works.
Home insurers will ask you to notify them of works before they begin and may then either withdraw or limit the home insurance cover provided for your existing structure and contents - leaving your biggest asset potentially uninsured. If you take out contractor’s insurance, this is designed primarily to cover aspects of the works themselves. This might mean that you are not covered for certain things you would expect, such as:
With your home’s market value at risk, you want to ensure you are gaining full coverage for your existing home and the building works project, with peace of mind there are no gaps in coverage – this is what we provide.
Our renovations and extensions insurance is added to your Hiscox Home Insurance policy, meaning your building structure, contents and materials used are all covered if things goes wrong. Once your works are complete, we’ll remove the extra cover and your Hiscox home insurance policy continues uninterrupted.
Home building works rarely run as smoothly as planned, with over 87% going over-schedule and 92% over-budget*. If your building works might exceed £150,000, it is crucial that you don’t end up under-insured if anything goes wrong.
There are factors which are often forgotten when calculating how much insurance you will need. Some of the most common things overlooked are:
If these are not included in your policy, your reinstatement cost could far exceed your insurance, leaving you unable to complete your project if something should go wrong.
Hiscox Renovation and Extension Insurance removes the uncertainty of what is and isn’t covered by your insurance. It puts you back in control.
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By taking out a Hiscox Home Insurance policy and adding our renovation and extension cover for projects over £150,000, there’s no need to switch between insurance companies and different policies. It will cover the duration of the works with no gaps in your protection and means there’s no need to purchase a separate specialist building works policy.
First you need to have a Hiscox Home Insurance policy. By speaking to one of our insurance experts, you can immediately add the renovation and extension cover to your policy for the duration of the works.
If you need to make a claim, our award-winning claims team will assist you with getting your project back and up running as soon as possible. We will give you a dedicated, named claims handler wherever possible, who is there to take care of your case quickly, efficiently and fairly.
Once you've notified us that your project is complete, we'll remove the cover and your home insurance policy with us will continue without interruption.
If you're planning to extend, renovate, build or demolish any part of your property to a value below £150,000 you don't need to contact us. Hiscox Home Insurance includes cover for renovation and extension projects up to £150,000 as standard.
If the estimated cost of the works is more than £150,000, you must contact our insurance experts to notify us before the works begin. We can talk about your needs and add Renovation and Extension cover to your policy.
We recommend that all of our customers purchase a joint name JCT construction contract as part of their building works process. This is a separate contract to your insurance policy, however we will still provide a quotation for your works if you do not have one. Watch our short video about the benefits of a JCT contract.
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If you already have a policy with us and need to get in touch, our home insurance specialists are here to help.
When things go wrong, we’re the experts in putting it right
Need to make a claim?
Our UK-based claims handlers are here to act swiftly and in your best interests. Find out more about our superior claims service.