If something catastrophic happened to your home (fire, tornado), would your insurance policy be enough to cover the cost of rebuilding it?
If your home is not insured up to its full replacement cost, you might have to come out of pocket to build it anew! Depending on how much time has passed since you first insured your home, how many and what kind of improvements you’ve made over the years, you may not be insured adequately to cover the full cost of rebuilding.
The costs associated with rebuilding your home might actually differ from it’s current market value. The costs of materials, labor and contractor fees can vary greatly from year to year and from location to location. Replacement cost estimates should take all of these things into consideration.
Key factors that impact the cost you pay for rebuilding a home:
- Size / Actual living area in square feet.
- Design or style of a home.
- Construction materials (wood frame, metal frame or brick).
- Number and types of functional rooms like kitchens and baths.
- Type and Quality of any custom materials.
- Garage or Carport structure (attached, detached, built-in).
- Specialized features such as fireplaces, porches and decks, skylights).
- Additions or enhancements made after initial construction such as finished basements, over garage apartments.
We recommend the following steps to take to be sure you are adequately covered:
- Come talk to us about the dwelling coverage on your homeowners insurance policy.
- Let us use our professional tools to help estimate your home’s true replacement cost.
- Re-evaluate your home’s replacement cost annually with us, especially if you have made improvements to your home. Be aware that even small improvements can impact the cost to rebuild your home.
Let us help protect your property with a Home insurance policy. Please call us at the Liveoak Agency to discuss your current insurance policies, and any changes that might be necessary!