Buildings Insurance - how much do you insure for?

[MrsMuddle]

I'm doing my contents and buildings insurance renewal at the moment, and I'm not sure how much cover to get for buildings. I called the insurance company, and they said to insure for the cost of rebuilding - ie, I'd still have the land, so it would be much less than the market value. My mortgage is 120k, the value is about 300k. I've NO idea how much it would cost to rebuild this house from scratch. What would you insure for? TIA

Just ask your Mortgage co, or the people who did your valuation.
Our house is worth 225k and the rebuild cost is only 95k.

You need to get advice from your insurers, so that they have some responsibility for the sum covered, should the worst ever happen.

Thanks for this. The difference between insuring for £100k and £400k is a matter of pounds over the year, so I'm going for the max, and then if the worst does ever happen, I'll be able to afford to build the house of my dreams, complete with an outdoor pizza oven and balcony wrapping around the whole of the upper level!

i'm with the halifax and they don't have a limit - they guarantee to meet the rebuild costs.

I know you were asking about building insurance but please ensure you are covered contents adequately too. If you are insured for 25K and you have a house fire and they calculate it would cost you 30k to replace, you will NOT receive the 25K you were insured for. As you were under insured, they will adjust the payout!!!!

Thank you. If anything, I'm overinsured for contents. Again, the difference between 40k and 60k was negligible, so I've gone for the higher one. I've nowhere near that worth of contents, but I suppose if you were to replace all carpets, curtains, kitchen appliances and units, plus books, clothes CDs etc, then it all adds up. I hate paying for "invisible" things like insurance so close to Christmas.

Mrs M - they wil only actually pay rebuild costs of a house exactly the same, so there is no point in being over-insured.