How Does Remodeling Your House Affect Your Insurance?

Insurance may not immediately leap to mind for you when you start thinking about remodeling your house. However, it is something you need to consider before remodeling. Changes should start before construction to ensure you don’t wind up with problems down the line. Report all changes you intend to make to your home to your insurance before remodeling your house. Otherwise, you may not be paid out for damages.

However, there are a lot of factors that influence how your insurance might be affected and what that might mean for you when remodeling your house. Being prepared before and even after your remodel will ensure you experience less hassle.

When should you expect to adjust your insurance?

The rule of thumb is that if remodeling your house increases the value by 10% or more, or you are living outside your home, you should always report the remodel to your insurance. Other adjustments may need to be made for the construction period as well.

When you use a contractor how is insurance affected?

When using a contractor, be sure that your contractor is properly insured. This means making sure they have liability insurance, workers comp, and possibly builders risk insurance. If they are not insured, you could wind up being liable for unexpected expenses while remodeling your house.

When you DIY how is insurance affected?

While DIY projects can save you a lot of money, they also bring new complications. On any new construction you make you may be liable for lawsuits. To lessen your risk after remodeling your house, keep before and after pictures to be able to show exactly what changes were made. In addition, increasing liability coverage is a good idea to lower the risk of a lawsuit and protect you.

When you are the general contractor how is insurance affected?

Being the general contractor doesn’t really help risks and liabilities that you could face. In addition to any work you do, you may be liable for any of the subcontractors. It is incredibly important that you look into making sure your insurance will cover your contractors. A call to your insurance agent can tell you what you already have in place and what you may need to add to your insurance while remodeling. That doesn’t mean that you will automatically need to add insurance. Your homeowner’s policy may have liability, check it out. But don’t stop there. You may also need workers’ comp insurance.

If you are looking into a major remodel and would like to hire experts to make sure you are doing everything as it needs to be done, please feel free to look into HTPB as an option. Check out our remodeling services and let us help guide you through the entire remodeling process.