On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 14:59:35 GMT, "Claudia"
scribbled this interesting note:

Let me step in here on the "replacement" policy value. Replacement means
that if your house burns down and it is 35 years old and codes have changed,
it will bring your house to code.

How many homes have your personally built with your own hands? How
many homes have you personally repaired and taken apart and put back
together? Changes in foundation specifications and other code
requirements are not that big of a consideration when thinking of cost
of building. Sure, these items will drive up costs some, but not in
any truly drastic way, especially when you realize that most of us
don't live on tectonic plate fault lines or on volcanoes in flood
plains or in the path of every hurricane that comes along.

Replacement value means exactly that. The cost to replace your home
with a new home, and yes, up to current code, that was pretty much
just like your old one, on the same lot.

Then there are people like me who can built a house from the ground
up. My cost to replace my house would be far less than yours because
I'd be doing most all the work myself, and yes, it would be up to
code, and more importantly to me it would be built to my more exacting
requirements which, if you had a house built just like it would
probably cost you almost double what I'd spent. Why should I have to
carry the same replacement value on my house as my neighbor who may
have the exact same house in the same exact condition since my cost
would most likely be less than his?


--
John Willis
(Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)