While most of us may never have to make a building or commercial property insurance claim, it’s important to have the option available for when accidents, incidents or unavoidable circumstances happen.
But what insurance do you need — and more importantly, what does it cover?
In this blog, we’re going to talk about what building and maintenance services are covered by insurance, what isn’t covered by it, how you can make the claims process smoother and what we can do to help you.
Let’s talk about cover.
Selecting appropriate cover
To give you a better understanding of insurance for homes, building and maintenance services, commercial buildings and schools, we’re going to break down the different policies.
Home insurance
The most straightforward of the insurance policies, home insurance protects your home and belongings. Home insurance consists of three options:
- Home and contents
This covers your house, other structures on your property, your belongings and any losses or damages caused by theft, fires or storms — for example.
- Home insurance
This covers your house and other structures on your property, including garden sheds, fences and swimming pools.
- Contents insurance
This covers items inside & outside your home for loss or damage from theft or fire.
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance (sometimes called building insurance or property maintenance insurance) covers all of the above plus riots, business interruption (if you lose income as a result of an event that damaged your property), stock and cash on premises and legal cover, i.e. public liability.
The cost of this cover will depend on several factors, including:
- Your business
Larger businesses will naturally have more to cover and possibly more at stake if that cover isn’t in place.
- Your property
Buildings with higher rebuild or repair costs will be more expensive to insure. This also applies if the building is in a high flood or crime risk area. If you want to reduce your maintenance costs, this blog will help.
What about schools?
Most schools will take out commercial property insurance and some form of contents insurance. This allows them to keep equipment and building cover costs separate and accurate. As well as these, motor vehicle insurance, travel insurance (for students) and construction insurance are also required.
Our advice? Shop around to get the best insurance premium. Get a few quotes from different insurers and see how much you can save. There are plenty of home and building insurance calculators that can give you an estimated cost for rebuilding/repairing your home or building.
What’s covered by building insurance?
- Natural or unexpected damage
Gradual damage to your plumbing, such as rusting pipes, seepage or faulty fixtures may not be covered by some insurance providers because they can all be avoided.
However, flooding, subsidence, structural damage due to earthquakes, fire, burst pipes, trees falling on your property and other “unexpected” or “natural” occurrences are covered by building insurance.
- Loss of or damage to structures
Home insurance covers your residential building, garages, structures like garden sheds or fences, domestic fixtures (items permanently attached to your home) and home extensions.
- Extensions
As long as you tell your insurer that you plan to make significant changes to your home, they should be able to offer you cover (albeit at a higher price). Failure to inform them could invalidate your policy if there are any damages.
What’s not covered by building insurance?
- Gradual, avoidable damage
Mould, leaking roofs, leaking pipes and other damages that could have been avoided with regular maintenance may not be covered by some insurers.
- Deliberate damage or pre-existing damage
If any existing problems could have contributed to the loss or damage, your policy may not be able to cover you.
- Poor maintenance
Wear and tear or general lack of maintenance are not covered by insurance policies. If you’re worried about property maintenance, we can help.
- Faulty work
Unsatisfactory work done by a contractor is not usually covered by home or commercial building insurance, so it’s important to enlist a reputable contractor to carry out the work.
Also, if you plan to make any changes to your property, you may need a specialist insurance policy — such as home renovation insurance.
What is an insurance claim?
However, when there’s an unexpected accident, disaster or loss that is covered by your insurance policy, you need to know how to make an effective claim.
When you claim an insurance policy, you are formally notifying your insurance company that you have suffered losses or damages that you believe are covered. The insurer will review your claim to see if the event or circumstances are risks covered by your policy. If they accept, they will replace your losses, repair your property or provide a payment to help address the issues.
So, what should you do when you make a building insurance and maintenance claim?
- Contact your insurer
As soon as there is an issue that you believe is covered by your policy, contact your insurance company as quickly as possible. Also, ensure that you have all of the information that the insurance company needs to see to review and action your claim.
Some insurance claims can be made over the phone without you needing to fill in a form — but most claims will require you to do so. This form will either be sent to you or available on your insurer’s website.
- Minimise your losses
Where possible, take steps to protect your property from further damage by undertaking temporary repairs or removing damaged possessions. There may be items that are a health hazard in their current condition, so move them to a safe area if you can (or dispose of them after taking a photo as you need a record for your insurer).
- Document and provide evidence
Keep a written record of what happened and if there’s damage to your property, take pictures. This can be used as evidence when you submit your claim (and insurers will ask for evidence). Do this as soon as possible as it’s easy to forget small details after the event.
If documents or photographic evidence are missing, your insurer will likely ask for a written statement of what happened. If you cannot provide them with sufficient proof, they will ask for more information.
Types of evidence include original receipts, police reports, valuation reports, medical certifications, product information, photographs or videos of property, items or the event itself. Try to keep all of the information together in a folder or notebook. To ensure you always have a back-up record, take photos of your supporting documentation.
Also, your insurer may ask you to keep all damaged items for inspection. If they don’t pose a health risk, keep them. Some items may also be suitable for repair.
- Work with the assessor
Large claims will involve an insurance assessor. They will examine your situation, your loss and its value. They will then provide this information to your insurance company so that they can decide on your claim.
How can we help you?
When it comes to building maintenance and repair, we can help you to look after your properties, commercial buildings and schools so that you never have to worry about insurance claims.
At First Response, we provide several building maintenance and repair services — painting, landscaping and grounds maintenance, preventative and ongoing maintenance, refurbishments, carpentry, electrical system design and installation, roofing repairs, flooring, plastering, plumbing and much more.
Also, if you’re planning on making changes to your buildings, we have the expertise and experience to deliver.
To find out more about our services and get a bespoke quote, just click on the link below.