Self build insurance

LoTwan

I got my insurance from Frost too but I had the cleptomaniac frost image too

8vSport

that's great, thanks.
we have waiting for a reply from frost regarding a quote, theres a couple of places that quoted over €2500 for 24months!

Lemlin

I went with Frost as well. They were the cheapest.

doniepony

Hey all. Just in process of dealing with banks and they indicated i need 'course of construction insurance' to cover the self build including public liability. Could anyone recommend by PM a company who they gave dealt with as prices seem quite expensive.

muffler

Moved to Prices/cost forum.

You will find a couple of recent threads there on the same topic.

Lemlin

doniepony wrote: »

Hey all. Just in process of dealing with banks and they indicated i need 'course of construction insurance' to cover the self build including public liability. Could anyone recommend by PM a company who they gave dealt with as prices seem quite expensive.

I found Frost Insurances the cheapest. By cheapest, they were 1500 for two years. Here's a recent topic on this:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056188907

muffler

I'll merge this with the other thread as both have the same topic

lollymob

Hi all,
I hope I am posting in the right forum. I am undertaking a new build hopefully starting in the next couple of months. Mortgage has been approved. I now need to sort out life assurance and construction insurance. Can anyone recommend where to start looking for construction insurance?
Thanks for any help or advice.
Lollymob

dos30

I found AIB were the cheapest for my house under construction home insurance.
They have a product especially for it.

AIB Smart Construct
"If your house is not yet your home, because it’s still under construction, we can insure it for you until the day you can finally move in. "

Frank Black

There's not a huge choice of providers AFAIK.
AXA certainly do provide it.

One piece of advice. The insurance you will take out will probably only cover the property from Fire/Flood etc.

We had major problems during our house build where our property was broken into a number of times during the construction phase and a number of fittings and pipes stolen, not to mention break in damage to windows and plasterboards where they tried to rip all the electrical wiring out.

We found out the hard way that our insurance did not cover for any of this and our builder told us that his insurance did not cover for this type of thing either.
We ended up paying to rectify all the damage out of our own pockets which cost well over €10K.

I'm not sure what exactly you can do to protect yourself against a similar occurence. I was told by the insurance company that you cannot get a policy to protect a property under construction from this type of event.

If you are employing a builder, I would ask for legal advice in drawing up a contract as to whether this risk can be passed to the builder during construction. Alternatively invest in security measures to prevent this from happening.

Having it happen is pretty unpleasant.
Having to shell out €10K as well, is a kick in the teeth.


We got our insurance through Goggins who are a broker btw.

yellow50HX

make sure you shop around are compare them as not every comapny has the same insurance. most also dont cover once you start and will only cover from a green field start up. Found Frost insurnace very good and they were able to cover from any point in the build, and cover theft from the site, (not sure about break ins).

fealeranger

I got mine from a broker Munster Group. I found them the most competitive for the self build insurance. Not connected or associated with them in any way or means by the way. The only thing I found with all the insurace companies including the one I picked in the end was the clause for property damage and theft. If you own it, it is not covered. The cover only covers the workers on site, their tools and equipment and any rented equipment is also covered from theft and damage. Insurance also covers storm damage, flooding, fire.

archtech

fealeranger wrote: »

I got mine from a broker Munster Group. I found them the most competitive for the self build insurance. Not connected or associated with them in any way or means by the way. The only thing I found with all the insurace companies including the one I picked in the end was the clause for property damage and theft. If you own it, it is not covered. The cover only covers the workers on site, their tools and equipment and any rented equipment is also covered from theft and damage. Insurance also covers storm damage, flooding, fire.

I know in some cases the policy excess on tools is in the order of €1500.

Bear in mind if a building contractor is building the house, he's (or should be) responsible for providing the insurance cover for any works associated with his building contract.That would include thief on his "watch". Something people should ensure is included within their building contract.

muffler

There have been lots of threads on this topic over the last coupe of years - see here



Edit/ I have merged this with another thread on the same topic as it keeps the issue up to date and will be useful to others.

Paudi04

Got approved for mortgage recently and bank wants to see insurance. I am going with a building contractor not self build. Is the contractor's insurance enough to show the bank or do I need another policy.

Frank Black

Paudi04 wrote: »

Got approved for mortgage recently and bank wants to see insurance. I am going with a building contractor not self build. Is the contractor's insurance enough to show the bank or do I need another policy.

I would imagine they mean the insurance policy to cover the building during the Construction phase.
It's your responsibilty to put this insurance in place - not the builders.
The bank won't let you drawdown any funding until you've provided them with this.

lollymob

Thanks very much for all the replies. Sorry to hear about all the trouble you had black francis, must have been a nightmare. Cheers for moving post Muffler. I'm off to make a thousand phonecalls!!

kkelliher

black francis wrote: »

It's your responsibilty to put this insurance in place - not the builders.

If it is a new build the responsibility is the builders until the property is handed over on practical completion, if it is an extension they will only cover their works area.

Frank Black

kkelliher wrote: »

If it is a new build the responsibility is the builders until the property is handed over on practical completion, if it is an extension they will only cover their works area.

Nope. It's the owners responsibility to ensure that the building is insured during construction and if you read this thread you'll see that this insurance is generally purchased by the owner.

You could probably enter into a contract with the builder specifying that he is responsible for acquiring this insurance - however it would still be the owners responsibity to ensure this is put in place and to provide the lending institute with the documentation which demonstrates this.

kkelliher

black francis wrote: »

Nope. It's the owners responsibility to ensure that the building is insured during construction and if you read this thread you'll see that this insurance is generally purchased by the owner.

You could probably enter into a contract with the builder specifying that he is responsible for acquiring this insurance - however it would still be the owners responsibity to ensure this is put in place and to provide the lending institute with the documentation which demonstrates this.

Under the standard form of building conteact it is the builders responsibility.

There is a marked difference in ensuring something is done and been responsible for it

Peplum

We just completed a project, as the main contractor, we were fully insured (EL, PL, CAR). However, the bank insisted the Clients take out their own self-build policy, even after viewing our insurance docs (which were more than adequate for the project). They shopped around and got a policy for approx €400.

kkelliher

Peplum wrote: »

We just completed a project, as the main contractor, we were fully insured (EL, PL, CAR). However, the bank insisted the Clients take out their own self-build policy, even after viewing our insurance docs (which were more than adequate for the project). They shopped around and got a policy for approx €400.

From strictly an insurance perspective this makes no sence. Two policies taking care of one insured risk!

If there was a claim during the build period the builders insurance would end up paying out one way or another

Frank Black

Peplum wrote: »

We just completed a project, as the main contractor, we were fully insured (EL, PL, CAR). However, the bank insisted the Clients take out their own self-build policy, even after viewing our insurance docs (which were more than adequate for the project). They shopped around and got a policy for approx €400.

I'm not sure what 'CAR' stands for.
Contents and Re-Build?
As a matter of interest though, does your insurance policy cover your Clients property contents from criminal damage caused during construction?

Peplum

kkelliher wrote: »

From strictly an insurance perspective this makes no sence. Two policies taking care of one insured risk!

If there was a claim during the build period the builders insurance would end up paying out one way or another

Yes I agree, and we argued that very point.....our insurance broker even wrote an explanatory note highlighting the fact that our Client was indemnified from any claim for the period our insurance was in place, and the Client provided this to the bank. The note went into as much detail as possible to explain to the bank that there was no need for the Client to take out their own policy. But to no avail. It was a condition of their mortgage, so the Client had little choice but to take out the policy.

kkelliher

black francis wrote: »

I'm not sure what 'CAR' stands for.
Contents and Re-Build?
As a matter of interest though, does your insurance policy cover your Clients property contents from criminal damage caused during construction?

CAR = contractors all risk policy

There should not be any client property contents in the property before practical completion.

Generally the contractors insurance will only cover damage to his works ie items he has paid for as before pc there should not be any other items in the property. Kitchens for example installed outside of the contract are in theory not covered by the contractors all risk policy as they do not fall within the scope of the contract unless nominated and therefore they should be insured by the client

kkelliher

Peplum wrote: »

Yes I agree, and we argued that very point.....our insurance broker even wrote an explanatory note highlighting the fact that our Client was indemnified from any claim for the period our insurance was in place, and the Client provided this to the bank. The note went into as much detail as possible to explain to the bank that there was no need for the Client to take out their own policy. But to no avail. It was a condition of their mortgage, so the Client had little choice but to take out the policy.

I suppose they are the same people who gave out mortgages to people who could never pay them back so its no suprise that they dont understand how insurance works

Peplum

black francis wrote: »

I'm not sure what 'CAR' stands for.
Contents and Re-Build?
As a matter of interest though, does your insurance policy cover your Clients property contents from criminal damage caused during construction?

Contractors All Risk, this covers all works under the remit of the contractor, the scope of which is usually specified under the contract. It includes work in progress, tools, plant etc. For a new build, its usually straight forward, as the main contractor will take charge of the site and this policy covers the works and the site contents for all loss or damage.......particularly important when the house is nearing completion stage, and the boiler, cylinder, sanitary ware, fireplaces etc are installed. But if the contractor is not responsible for these fit-out/finishes, the policy does not cover them

For works to an existing property, like an extension or alterations works, the policy only covers the works being carried out by the contractor, so the Client would need to maintain his own cover on the house. So as far as criminal damage to the Clients property goes, many factors would need to be considered to establish liability

Peplum

oops, just realised you got the answer ya need already!

Paudi04

Peplum wrote: »

Contractors All Risk, this covers all works under the remit of the contractor, the scope of which is usually specified under the contract. It includes work in progress, tools, plant etc. For a new build, its usually straight forward, as the main contractor will take charge of the site and this policy covers the works and the site contents for all loss or damage.......particularly important when the house is nearing completion stage, and the boiler, cylinder, sanitary ware, fireplaces etc are installed. But if the contractor is not responsible for these fit-out/finishes, the policy does not cover them

For works to an existing property, like an extension or alterations works, the policy only covers the works being carried out by the contractor, so the Client would need to maintain his own cover on the house. So as far as criminal damage to the Clients property goes, many factors would need to be considered to establish liability

Thanks for answers ill have to check contractors insurance to see if it covers everything and hopefully it will be enough for the bank!

Citizenpain

I assume the bank only care that the building itself is insured - Fire and Minimum Risk

For yourself though and probably a seperate issue really.. Isn't there some difference between Domestic and Nominated Subcontractors in that the "Builder's" insurance will only cover Domestic Subcontractors but you would need your own PL / EL Insurance to cover Nominated subcontractors