House insurance - what is building and what is contents

[HurdyGurdy19]

Building and contents insurance is due for renewal on 1st December, and my head's in a spin!

Our rebuilding cost on our current insurance policy is put as £212,000 (house is valued at around £450,000). I am aware of how much building costs have soared recently, so I am assuming that the £212,000 is not a realistic figure now. How do you know how much it would cost to rebuild? (The cost for our building work - knocking two rooms into one and building a small extension to square the room off - has literally tripled in six years, from when we first got a quote.)

And if the house was razed to the ground by some extreme event, and had to be rebuilt, what constitutes rebuilding? Is it literally four walls, floors, ceilings and walls? Or would bathroom and kitchen costs be included in this? Doors? Fitted wardrobes?

We are having a new kitchen installed very soon (building works just coming to an end). Is the kitchen part of the building? What about the built in ovens and hob? And what about integrate appliances? Are they buildings, or are they contents?

Also, husband has build a huge shed in the garden. Is that included in any way? If so, would it come under buildings or contents?

Any and all advice welcome or pointers to any websites that could help.

Broadly speaking, if you could pick the house up, tip it upside down and shake it, anything that fell out would be a content and anything that stayed put would be a building. Fitted kitchens and bathrooms for example, would be a building. Freestanding furniture would be contents.

https://www.ourproperty.co.uk/guides/building_and_contents_insurance_explained/

Re-build: Dont' forget that the plot of land is also included in the value of your house if you go by Zoopla etc. If you would build from scratch you have to buy the land first so the building costs themselves are lower.

Outbuildings - they are normally extra

I would pick up the phone and check with some companies or download their T&Cs to check. There is a huge gap in what is covered as standard.

Think about it this way - “contents” are what goes in the removal van when you move house, “building” is the empty house once all the contents are out

You can usually find d a "rebuild cost" calculator on line - some of the comparison sites have one built in.
Remember a 3 bed semi in the home counties may have a resale value of 5 times a 3 bed semi in the north, but a lot of that is land value. The rebuild costs won't be as different.

I agree with the first reply - turn the house upside down. If the item fall out, it's contents. If it stays in place, it's buildings.

Don’t forget to factor in professional fees - eg architect/engineer. Plus VAT.

When I had to make a claim recently for dm we were told it was anything which would stay put if the house was turned upside down was buildings. So walls, ceilings, roof, flooring, doors, fittings like ceiling lights and bathroom suite, wall tiles and so on. Anything which would move is contents.

Thank you. Really helpful replies. I like the analogy of turning the house upside down and shaking it. That's a really useful idea!