Builder's Risk
We’re about to start a near gut renovation on two floors. I called my insurer (Brownstone) and they said that I’d need to get a Builder’s Risk policy for the duration of the construction, and gave me a referral to another agent and a lengthy application. I suppose this is all very necessary, and will…
We’re about to start a near gut renovation on two floors. I called my insurer (Brownstone) and they said that I’d need to get a Builder’s Risk policy for the duration of the construction, and gave me a referral to another agent and a lengthy application. I suppose this is all very necessary, and will add costs, but is there any other way? I guess I’d like an affirmation from a few of those who’ve gone through the process. I will speak to our contractor about the insurance they carry as well.
Thank you all for your comments.
Don’t necessarily just go with Brownstoner. Shop around. We were also told we needed a Builder’s policy, but then discussed this with our contractors, architect, and others, and found much better pricing elsewhere to cover both during the construction phase and thereafter.
We were “lucky” in that the timing of our constuction coincided with the renewal of our policy, so we just swapped carriers at the same time.
It is important to get the right coverage when your property is under construction. Feel free to give my agency a call for advice/ quoting:
Narrows Insurance Agency
(718) 745-1500
You can also get yourself as “named insured” for the contractor’s policy.
Just went through this. We did a gut on one floor but had to vacate for a number of months due to related work on the mechanicals in the rest of the building. Our homeowner’s carrier amended our policy at a substantial additional premium and increased the deductible from $1000. to $5000. for the duration of the work. Our carrier also specified minimum amounts of liability for each subcontractor to carry. We did receive back the unused portion of the additional premium when the work was substantially completed.
We just went through the same thing and had to get a Builder’s Risk policy. You want to have it. You’ll end up getting reimbursed the balance of the yearly policy fee after your project is complete assuming that it takes less than 1 year.
if you are starting to build completly new construction, then you need a builders risk policy, which will provide coverage against loss to a building in the course of contruction. Depending on the lenth and type of renovation, you might be able to make change to your Homeowners policy. Contractors policy will ocver their libility only, will not cover building structure.