Claiming on buildings insurance - can any professionals advise please?

[squashyhat]

Last month we had a fire in our garden which destroyed a shed and greenhouse and all the contents. It also melted the drainpipes, gutters and fascia and bargeboards on a ground floor corner of the house nearest the fire, plus bubbling the frames on 2 windows. All PVC.

Our contents and buildings insurance are with the same insurer. We have had assessors round for both and the claims are ongoing (contents is at a standstill but that's not my current issue) For the buildings cover, we were offered a cash settlement offer which in no way covers the cost. Taking into account the cost of replacing and installing a new greenhouse and shed, plus the excess we have to pay, the amount left to cover materials and labour for the work needed on the house is laughably small. I assumed this would be assessed seperately but apparently not. The alternative would be to use the insurance company's contractors to do the work on the house, but where does that leave the shed and greenhouse costs? I had a horrible call with the claim handler today during which I could tell she was getting frustrated with me, but I truly don't understand which is the best option, or if they are just trying to fob me off for a quick (and cheap) settlement.

I'm not out to make money but I do want to get this settled so we can get the work done before the winter. What further questions should I be asking? Should I be getting independent quotes before accepting or rejecting the offer? And if I can prove it will cost much more will they up the settlement?

Hopeful bump. Should this be in a different topic?

It sounds as if they consider the sum insured on the building to be insufficient so they have adjusted the amount you are claiming proportionately. E.g if the reinstatement cost for everything covered under the buildings section of the policy should be £100k and you have a sum insured of £75k there would be a 25k or 25% shortfall. If you then submitted a claim for £10k insurers would only pay a maximum of £7.5k less the excess under the policy.

what did the claim handler say on the call and what does their settlement offer state - it should all be explained in there.

@bouncydog thank you. I had never considered we might be underinsured and the claim handler didn't mention this (I am fairly sure the contents settlement will fall short as well, as I never got round to seperately declaring an electric bike in the shed ). It's so frustrating - there is no detail in the settlement offer at all. We will go ahead and get a quote for the building work before we decide what to do.

Does anyone else have any advice?

@squashyhat i suggest you go back to them and ask for an explanation as to why they are not covering the full amount claimed. At least that way you will know for sure (just in case it’s not under-insurance, although being under insured on the contents should not impact the buildings element of the claim if the building sum insured is adequate). By the way did they mention “average” in the settlement offer letter?