Renovation insurance – renew your home with reassurance

What does building renovation insurance cover?

To make sure everything goes smoothly when your renovations include building works, you can get insurance that’s custom-built to offer the right level of cover. Our renovation insurance covers your home while you’re renovating it, even if you’re not living on-site during the works. We can provide:

• Cover for materials and work in progress – from your tools and equipment, to the existing structure of your home, to materials you store on-site, we’ll keep your home covered – even while it’s unoccupied.
• Public liability and employers’ liability cover – included as standard with our home renovation insurance, these types of cover protect people on-site, including contractors, family and friends, as well as their property.
• Flexible policy lengths – every project is different so we make it easy for you. Our renovation insurance policies are available in different lengths and can be extended easily if your project takes longer than planned.
• Contract wordings – your renovations may 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 renovation building 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.

Does normal home insurance cover renovations?

As a rule, your everyday home insurance is unlikely to cover renovations because it’s not designed to cope with the extra risks that may come with renovating, 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 without realising it. While they may withdraw or limit the cover you have in place, our renovation insurance provides the extra protection you need to help plug the gaps.

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 renovations, including materials stored on site. Most contractors only have public liability cover and their policy is often only active when they’re on site. Our renovation building 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.