Getting Good Building Insurance
If you have just bought a property with buildings already on it or are intending on building fixed structures, you probably need to have building insurance. Building insurance is cover against damages caused by natural disasters or people. It covers only the structure of the building itself, not the contents of the building. For that, you need contents insurance. Let us stick to building insurance for now.
There are a number of different options when it comes to building insurance, each different type will cover you for different damages.
The first type of building insurance is loss and damage insurance. This type of insurance covers you against acts of God. That means you are covered against damage caused by natural disasters as well as damage caused by usual weather patterns, like lightning strikes or rain damage. It will generally cover your actual home as well as any other buildings on your property.
You can include standard accidental damage cover in your building insurance policy. This will cover you for damages caused to external fittings and add-ons to your home like solar panels and the glass in your windows. It can also be extended to include the piping and cabling that runs to your house.
For those of us who are lucky enough to own more than one home and rent the additional properties out, can invest in building insurance to protect the building but not the tenants belongings. What happens to the tenants possessions is not the responsibility of the landlord. However, tenants have a tendency to cause considerable damage to property and building insurance can cover the cost of repairs. One can also include legal and maintenance cover under this kind of insurance. In order for the tenant to be covered against theft and other eventualities, they have to take out their own insurance.
Then there is builders risk insurance, this kind of insurance covers the building against damages whilst it is still under construction. That way, should a particularly vicious storm cause damage to your building before it has been completed, you do not have to pay for the repairs out of your own pocket.
The type of building insurance you opt for is entirely dependent on what the intended use for the building is. With so many options available, you will find the one that you need. Other options are insurance for older houses and commercial building insurance. Building insurance for older houses, especially those that have historical value will never be made out for the replacement value, but rather for the actual cash value as the replacement value is incalculable. As for commercial building insurance, the options there are endless. A shopping complex requires different levels of insurance when compared to a warehouse, for example.
The general idea is to ensure that you are able to rebuild you building in case of it being damaged by any cause whatsoever, within reason of course, without costing you, the owner, very much. The more risks your building faces, the more you will pay in insurance premiums and the higher your excess will be. As with most insurance policies, it is often possible to tailor the policy to your needs.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 5:59 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.