Self build insurance takes care of your risk

Self build insurance is a special type of insurance designed for people who are building their own home that covers against damage or loss to your building, materials or equipment during and even before construction.

Building sites are often subject to a host of different risks. These can vary from the building catching fire or even falling down, heavy construction materials may damage your building during construction. Materials and equipment can easily be stolen or vandalised and while the contractor has a responsibility toward, perhaps, their own equipment, you as the owner are responsible for most of the risk or losses pertinent to your building site as well as the people who work on it each day.

Self build insurance will typically cover such things as fire, lightening, wind, forces of nature, theft, damage and vandalism not only the actual construction but also to materials and equipment.

It is not easy to find alternative venues to store equipment when you are building. Goods need to be on site and within easy reach especially things such as tiling and sanitary ware, not to mention the thousands of bricks and hundreds of packets of cement. However the repercussions of having your expensive Italian marble tiles and sanitary ware either disappearing or being damaged can be very daunting.
It is also a good idea to check with your insurance specialist whether they cover floods, acts of war or intentional acts by you owner.

Generally this type of insurance is geared toward building from scratch on vacant sites but it may be possible to extend it to cover conversions or additions.

You can even take out various other covers that are tailored to make sure that your investment is sufficiently protected; one example is public liability cover. As a responsible property owner it is vital that make sure that you are able to insure yourself against possible damage claims arising from either personal damage incurred by visitors or workers while on your construction site and also cover that will protect you from any damage or theft to their property and/or equipment.

Public liability also covers any damage to a neighbour’s property, such as a tree falling into their garden or landing on their car.

It is these types of claims that can seriously threaten the success of your project and this is when self build insurance really comes in handy as you can take out public liability cover as soon you take ownership of the policy.