I hope this comes within the realm of d-i-y.

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the
event of any claim.

The building is an 18C farmhouse, grade II listed, that has been divided
into 3 totally separate dwellings. The separate dwellings were formed many
years ago. It is of conventional construction - brick, timber & clay tiled
roof. Timber content 20%.

The entire building is in the same ownership and the 2 outer dwellings are
let to long term tenants of good repute. The middle part is partially
occupied, inasmuch as I visit it at least twice every day, set lights,
check heating, check alarm system and have a good look around etc. I live
within 50 metres of the building and work within 20m.
The building is in good order generally. All rewired & plumbing/CH renewed
within the last 12 years.
I wish to insure the building as a whole.

I have been told (by an insurance company) that rebuilding costs for this
type of building can be estimated at £130 per sq.ft. of total floor area. A
local agent has advised that this is "about right". I do not have any
previous insured value to use as a guide.

I have contacted a couple of insurance companies who have advised that
estimating the rebuilding cost is an entirely subjective matter.
One of the companies is willing to have their loss adjusters survey the
building (for the intended purpose only) and have quoted £675+VAT to do so.
The survey would "take not longer than 3 hours" and they would appoint a
local agent to carry out the survey.
I think this is extremely expensive.
I hope the above is an adequate description of the situation.

Questions:
.. If I take on the survey will this give me any guarantee of not being
underinsured?
.. Any recommendations for insurance companies, I have contacted NFU and
Home&Legacy?
.. Any pratfalls that I should try to avoid or questions that I am not
asking?

Many thanks

Nick.

e mail is

n ic k p atthingy br it is hf ar me rs d0 tc 0m
(remove all spaces and thingy, 0 is o)

In article ,
"Nick" writes:
. Any recommendations for insurance companies, I have contacted NFU and
Home&Legacy?

Look for a policy designed for lets, which covers long empty
periods, and providing you don't want loss of rental income
insurance, is similar price to regular insurance (or was 10
years ago when we had to insure a late relative's house).

. Any pratfalls that I should try to avoid or questions that I am not
asking?

Be very open and honest in what you want the cover for, in writing.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" andrew@a17 wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
"Nick" writes:
. Any recommendations for insurance companies, I have contacted NFU and
Home&Legacy?

Look for a policy designed for lets, which covers long empty
periods, and providing you don't want loss of rental income
insurance, is similar price to regular insurance (or was 10
years ago when we had to insure a late relative's house).

. Any pratfalls that I should try to avoid or questions that I am not
asking?

Be very open and honest in what you want the cover for, in writing.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Many thanks Andrew,

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the event of any claim.

It is the rebuild cost that I wish to establish.
I would, of course, be scrupulously honest & open in all correspondence.
The fact that 2 of the 3 dwellings are let does not seem to present any
problem
to the insurance companies that I have contacted so far.
There are not any long empty periods. This is known & understood by those
that I have contacted.
Loss of rental income may be worth considering in future, only after I have
proper buildings insurance in place.


Nick.

In message , Nick
writes
I hope this comes within the realm of d-i-y.

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the
event of any claim.

The building is an 18C farmhouse, grade II listed,


I have been told (by an insurance company) that rebuilding costs for this
type of building can be estimated at £130 per sq.ft. of total floor area. A
local agent has advised that this is "about right". I do not have any
previous insured value to use as a guide.

I have contacted a couple of insurance companies who have advised that
estimating the rebuilding cost is an entirely subjective matter.
One of the companies is willing to have their loss adjusters survey the
building (for the intended purpose only) and have quoted £675+VAT to do so.
The survey would "take not longer than 3 hours" and they would appoint a
local agent to carry out the survey.
I think this is extremely expensive.

Sounds a bit expensive to me as well, I had a 'full' survey done on our
present listed Victorian house on purchase a year ago, including a
rebuilding cost estimate for gbp 700 inc vat.

I would suggest ringing round some local surveyors and see how much they
would charge. You want someone with experience of old listed buildings.

Questions:
. If I take on the survey will this give me any guarantee of not being
underinsured?

I'm not sure that it does.

. Any recommendations for insurance companies, I have contacted NFU and
Home&Legacy?

We are currently with Home and Legacy they seemed to give a good quote,
and had some good recommendations. Previously with Nationwide but they
were very uncompetitive (as lots of the big names were for a listed
building)

The Period Property Uk website has a good forum that might be useful to
search/post to. :

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/cgi-bin/discussing/forum2.pl


--
Chris French

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:18:20 -0000, "Nick" wrote:

I hope this comes within the realm of d-i-y.

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the
event of any claim.


You can use the building cost tables in the back of Homebuilding and
Reonvating magazine. These work by area, build type, and size.

Even then I add a good bit, as I'd rather be ove rinsured than under
if the worst happens.

Rick

In message , Rick
writes
On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:18:20 -0000, "Nick" wrote:

I hope this comes within the realm of d-i-y.

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the
event of any claim.


You can use the building cost tables in the back of Homebuilding and
Reonvating magazine. These work by area, build type, and size.

Even then I add a good bit, as I'd rather be ove rinsured than under
if the worst happens.

You need to allow extra for listed buildings anyway, as repairs tend to
cost more as traditional materials and techniques may be required
--
Chris French

I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house.
I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to
avoid any underinsured problems in the
event of any claim.

Some insurance companies don't require a rebuilding estimate. I'm with
Barclays (better terms and cheaper than Direct Line for me!)

They list the rebuilding cost as 500,000 (i.e. about 4 times the actual
cost). They charge according to a formula based on number of bedrooms, type
of property and postcode.

Therefore, no expensive surveys, expensive overinsurance or risky
underinsurance.

Christian.

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:18:20 -0000, Nick wrote:


I have been told (by an insurance company) that rebuilding costs for this
type of building can be estimated at £130 per sq.ft. of total floor area. A
local agent has advised that this is "about right". I do not have any
previous insured value to use as a guide.

I would say that is fair and accurate. That is about what my brand new
house of similar nature cost to do post foundations and pre internal
fitout.

You CAN knock up a cheap blockwork structure with plain gables, pre-made
windows and te like for £60-80 a square, but not repair a classic style
building,or rebuild like for like.

AND you will be faced with likely a year without a house, renting, plus
loss of income from any rented out bits..

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:11:52 +0000, chris French wrote:


You need to allow extra for listed buildings anyway, as repairs tend to
cost more as traditional materials and techniques may be required

This is a vital comment.
Listing means repair, not replace wherever possible. And replace in the
style not simply rebuild.

That means skilled carpernetss, and expensive joiners..not a bunch of apes
slinging up blockwork..its actually BETTER if you lose the WHOLE builiding
rather than - say - a fire that takes out half the rooms or the roof.

As an example, I watched the carpenters building dormer windows in my
house. They took as long for a couple of dormers as for the whole roof
...their time was waht cost - not te small bits of timber...detail costs
money.

Its one thing to repair a square box with gable ends and a machine tile
roof..that is 60-80 a square. To repair a listed building with period
windows , dorneres and featires, a peg tile roof, leadwork, period
guttering etc etc etc..its something else entirely.

I use the figure of £65 per square foot for estimating purposes for
fair size extensions, being add on to existing buildings. Obviously x2
if two storey. At 130 per square foot you should be well in. However as
you state that the building is listed are there any special features
that would need to be kept if rebuilding? Stone mullions and steel
windows would soon eat into a budget as wood( pun intended) any
decorative external timbers. Any special fireplaces/ decorative
corniches?. Local surveyors would simply use tables according to square
footage plus any special costly feature that were highlighted.

HTH