Rebuild Costs
Since the disastrous floods of 2006, insurance companies are keen to have a realistic opinion of the actual rebuild cost of the insured property. This is not the market value nor the sale value that may be achieved but what it would cost to physically rebuild the property. Rebuild costs for relatively new properties can easily be calculated using appropriate formulas as building materials and appropriate labour to reconstruct the dwelling are usually plentiful. Rebuild costs for Listed properties is trickier as the skills that are required to carry out the works are not usually readily available. Also listed or conservation planning officers and also English Heritage could have very strong opinions on what they would like replaced and in what materials.
Therefore basic formulas can not be used and every aspect has to be assessed. Each material or detail forming the building and its history has to be considered and what impact each form of devastation could have on it. This may be as a result of flooding fire or gales and the like. Each would result in different consequences to which the solutions and costs could be very different.
Our reports are very detailed and have proven very popular with various insurance companies. As far as is possible, this results in the property owner not being over or under insured. Consequently it also ensures that when a claim is made for partial damage of a property (which is the most likely claim) the insured is invariably recompensed for the full value of the renovation works as opposed to a smaller percentage, leaving the property owner to find the difference – excluding any excess set out in the policy.
As one of our clients commented: ‘They could not bear the idea of finding that in their hour of greatest need, they found that they were under insured !’ They believed that they owed it to their property and its future to be correctly informed and insured.
Despite this, it must be appreciated that every claim is different and has its own difficulties and consequences which may influence how a claim is progressed. |
