What home/Buildings content to get on rennovation project

[PostladyPatsCat]

I'm not sure if this needs to be in the property or money forum, so bear with me if I've opted for the wrong one!

I am purchasing a property that hasn't really been touched since 1960/70 so whilst it's 'habitable' (the elderly owner lived there happily until they passed away) it's not really up to scratch for modern living and consequently I will be undertaking a fairly extensive renovation project immediately.

All the buildings quotes obtained so far have obviously asked about windows, doors, locks etc and obviously these are all going to change within the first month or two and will presumably make the house more secure and therefore (hopefully) reduce my premium, but I don't know how to factor this into the insurance.

Any ideas lovely people?

Have you had a chat with your insurance broker? I've always been specifically asked whether I'm having any renovation work done - I guess there might be an increased likelihood of building damage caused in the course of renovation/overlap with insurance provided by the builder. (Which should be checked out.)

I did this via a broker but there are companies on line that offer insurance for extensive building work. We paid about £900 for buildings insurance only for a year. Most policies don't want the house to be empty for more than 30 days. Our renovation took over a year We are in the north west.

£900! eeek! I plan on getting Windows and doors doing pretty much straight away and then we'll try and live-in for the rest so hopefully that will knock a chunk off the premium.

Thanks for the advise - I'll call them and see what they suggest. I feel I could really do with just 2 or3 months insurance and then re-insure with the new security measures in place. 😏

You might be lucky and have nothing significant go wrong in the renovation. If it's major works, though - well it would take me an hour just to list the categories of problems that 'might' be caused to the house and/or neighbouring properties or services/land.

Check your builder's insurance at the very least.