Extension insurance that extends your peace of mind

Building reassurance into your building extension

An extension can breathe new life into a property and bring much-wanted extra space to the home you know. At Self-Build Zone, we know it’s a financial investment as well as an emotional one. Our extension insurance provides comprehensive protection so you can look forward to your home transformation with the right cover in place.

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What is building extension insurance?

Our extension insurance provides cover for your extension project from start to finish, including the existing structure (your home), the new extension works and the materials and plant equipment used to develop the extension building. These won’t be covered by your contractor’s insurance policy or by your home insurance if you’re creating a self-build extension, so it’s important to get the right cover in place. Plant, tools and equipment or a residential caravan can also be covered if that’s what you need.

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A brick building under construction with scaffolding, a pile of metal pipes, wooden planks, and a black bucket in front.

How else can extension insurance help?

Extension insurance protects you if any damage happens to your home while the building works are carried out. Most normal home insurance policies won’t cover you if you’re altering the structure of your home or doing works over £25,000. With our cover, you can benefit from:

Employers’ and public liability insurance – these are included as standard with our extension insurance, meaning that people including family and friends working on-site and their property are covered.
Cover for unoccupied home – standard home insurance often won’t cover an unoccupied home, but extension insurance will when the property is unoccupied prior to and during the extension works.
Flexible policy lengths – you can choose from 3 months of extension insurance all the way through to 24 months. Plus, if you’re coming to the end of your current extension insurance policy but the work isn’t finished, you can purchase a new policy to stay covered.
Contract wordings – extensions need a range of tradespeople to complete, so having the right contracts is essential, especially if there’s ever a dispute. We can bring you easy-to-use contract templates at affordable prices, with unlimited use of the contract wordings.
Legal expenses – provided as standard with our extension insurance, this type of cover provides legal advice and, if suitable, support to pursue a contractual dispute (terms and conditions apply).
JCT 6.5.1 insurance (party wall cover) – if you share a wall of your property with a neighbour, you may be responsible for fixing any damage caused to their property. We can help make sure you have the right cover in place.

A two-story stone building under construction, surrounded by scaffolding on all sides, with a partly cloudy sky in the background.

Why an insured contractor isn’t enough

While your builder should have their own insurance, it’s unlikely to cover the full cost of your extension. Most contractors only have public liability cover and their policy is often only active when they’re on site. Our extension insurance gives you peace of mind 24/7, protecting your structure and materials against risks such as fire, vandalism, theft, potential negligence by your builder and more.

It’s important to have home insurance, but normal home insurance policies have many exclusions that mean they can’t provide cover for things that may happen when building extensions, such as:

property damage caused by any negligence of the builder
damage caused by altering the structure of the home
works in excess of £25,000
burst pipes
fire
weather or storm damage
damage from an open roof
theft of equipment or materials.

That’s why you need to tell your home insurer about any renovations before they begin so you don’t end up uninsured. While they may withdraw or limit the cover you have in place, our extension insurance provides the extra protection you need to help plug the gaps.

Does an extension need a structural warranty?

Structural issues can take time to show. Home extension projects need a structural warranty to cover the costs of repairing or rebuilding any latent defects – and if you need to sell, mortgage providers require you to have one in place. Self-Build Zone’s 10-year structural warranty is lender-approved and one of the best ways to protect your project.