Personal Blog

Architect, Builder Insurance – Home Works Insurance

November 06, 2018

I have been helping my customers with Home Works insurance for many years now. Over this time I am pleased to say that the home works (also known as ‘contract works’) insurance products available on the market today are becoming ever stronger and I still believe that the quality of the home works insurance product is just as important as choosing the correct architect or builder for your dream project!

Home Works Insurance – Protect Your Dream

As an insurance broker specialising in private client home insurance, experience comes hand in hand with encountering claims, and this is why I know home works insurance is such a vital element of any build or renovation project. If you wish to find out more on the basics of home works insurance, also known as Contract Works Insurance, then please read this article.

“…the quality of your home works insurance product is just as important as choosing the correct architect or builder.”

The purpose of this blog is to highlight scenarios where claims do happen and unfortunately happen all too frequently! Therefore, please find below some examples of home works insurance claims that i’ve experienced; I feel this will cement in your mind the need for Home Works Insurance:

A listed home in a prime area of London was undertaking extensive home renovations and 3 months prior to completion a fire ripped through the property causing over £1,000,000 of damage! The fire caused significant damage to the property itself as well as neighbouring properties. It is suspected the newly fitted gas fire (which formed part of the construction works) had been installed sufficiently well but not to UK fire regulations or manufacturer’s recommendations. Safe to say that underneath the home works insurance policy, held in the home owners name, the existing home was restored and the renovations and extension were completed.
A home in Kingston was undertaking a large rear extension and the homeowners were continuing to live in the property whilst the works were undertaken. One evening after the owners had gone to bed, a pipe burst within the existing home and therefore was not discovered until the morning by which time the water had caused extensive damage to the ground floor and damaging some building materials. The homeowners were re-housed whilst renovations were undertaken and therefore didn’t delay the current rear extension.
The most common form of claim experienced, when undertaking work on your home, is theft, usually where building materials (mainly metals) and unfitted kitchens are taken. This can really delay a project whilst also adding considerable costs that are covered within a Home Works insurance policy. Likened to this, but far less frequent is malicious damage to a site usually caused by unhappy neighbours or opportunistic youths!

Non-Negligence extension

In addition to Home Works Insurance, if your home is attached to another property or a basement is being excavated, then I will always recommend the Non-Negligence extension. In short, this is cover to the existing property and neighbouring properties where nobody has been negligent. There have been some very extensive damages where cracks have appeared in neighbouring properties, houses collapsed and even fatalities where nobody is at fault.