Do I need home insurance for renovations?

Undertaking renovations to your home can be an exciting project. Painting your living room in a new colour can refresh your living space, while larger building tasks like adding a room can often add value to your home. 

But what effects could this have on your home insurance policy? Will additional rooms force your premium upwards, and does your home insurance plan cover potential accidents during the building phase?

This will all depend on your level of cover and the extent of your home renovations. But generally, if you’re planning on painting the walls and changing carpets, a standard insurance policy should cover potential accidents. Remember that this is a generalised statement, and you’re still strongly advised to check your policy documents.

Adding a garage or room onto your property, meanwhile, is unlikely to be covered by a common buildings insurance policy. Instead, you can add this level of protection onto your existing home insurance plan or take out a separate policy.  

More details on how this works are discussed below.

Besides cover for potential accidents, you’ll also need to consider if these renovations will be covered under your existing buildings insurance policy. Major renovations will add value to your home and will therefore likely increase your premium, while smaller renovations won’t require change on your policy documents. This is because a more valuable home increases the risk to your insurer, who would now have to fork out a bigger payout in case of damage or rebuild.  

If you’re undertaking a large-scale renovation, and you wish to insure your home for theft or potential damages during this period, then you may need to add additional cover to your home insurance policy. This can either be added to your existing home insurance cover or come in the form of an additional one-off policy.

Remember, if you’re adding additional cover to your plan, it doesn’t hurt to shop around for the best policies.

There are various insurers who provide home renovation insurance. This type of cover could include:

• Damage to your property during renovations
• Alternative accommodation if your home becomes uninhabitable
• Unoccupied property insurance
• Theft of work tools during renovations
• Public liability cover. Although your constructors should have this cover too.
• Legal cover if disputes arise with your chosen tradesmen.

If you do opt for additional home renovation cover, then you’ll likely need the following information at hand: