Extension Insurance
Extension insurance is crucial when carrying out an extension project. This is because the works bring an increased risk of loss or damage. It is not just your new works, materials, and those people on site that need covering, but you also have increased exposure in the form of the structure that’s being extended. That property is usually your home. Extension insurance (site insurance) is incredibly important as home insurance does not normally adequately cover the risks that are inherent in an extension project.
How extension insurance works
Extension insurance needs to cater to both the existing elements of the property that are being extended and all the new extension works that go into the process. The existing structure is usually your house. So, if the property collapses while creating a new opening, the extension insurance will cover it. It completely replaces the requirement for building insurance, which is not suitable. All the works, including any temporary works, materials, plant tools, and equipment need to be covered. Public liability and employers’ liability are automatically included to ensure you are adequately protected.
When choosing extension insurance, it needs to be in place from the moment you plan to start works on the property and should continue to the point the project is completed and taken into full use.
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Help choose the extension insurance cover you really need
Our staff has many years experience in helping people get suitable cover in place for their projects. We have designed our extension insurance product to be inherently flexible both in terms of product options and choice of cover duration while being comprehensive and competitive. If you are utilising a contractor to carry out the works, issues may arise as to who is contractually responsible for insuring the existing structure because the contractor’s insurance may not cover it. Extension Insurance can solve that issue quite simply.
Why you should have Extension Insurance
It’s not just serious losses like a fire or flood that you need to be protected against, claims for theft of materials, plant tools, and equipment can become quite expensive if not insured. A collapse whilst knocking through to create an opening may have disastrous consequences for your house. Vandals gaining access to the part completed project could cause a huge amount of damage and destruction even if they don’t steal anything. The remoteness of a site just adds to the issue. You may have neighbors in close proximity and accidental damage to their property can become an expensive and emotional problem.
Building sites are hazardous places of work – injury sustained by contractors, friends or visitors to site – whether invited or not – can become your responsibility and claims for injury are usually very large and can result in prosecution.
Essentially it’s just not worth leaving your project uninsured. Protek’s extension insurance covers you for a range of eventualities.
Party Wall Agreements
Are you proposing to carry out work within three or six meters of a party or boundary wall? If so, you will invariably have to consider your liability under the Party Wall Act 1996. Your neighbor has the legal right to be compensated for any loss or damage you cause to their property. This means that if you have caused damage to the neighboring property inadvertently, public liability will not protect you as it is a foreseeable loss. To combat this, cover for your contractual liability can be included under Protek Extension Insurance.
Never run out of cover
Protek recognises that projects don’t always run to schedule. This is why we have flexible cover periods on offer. This gives you the ability to purchase short-term policies to extend cover as required effectively.
Legal expenses
This type of policy provides cover for contractual disputes with the contractors, trades, and professionals involved with your project. If you do find you find yourself in a contractual dispute, the cover provides legal help. If the prospect of success is good, legal assistance can help reach a resolution. It’s important to bear in mind that you must have contracts evidenced in writing. Advice on arranging contracts is available here. You can optionally include legal expenses in your cover when arranging your site insurance coverage.
10-year structural warranty
This type of policy covers the new works and consequential damage to the property. Cover is for 10 years against defects in the design, workmanship, materials, and components causing major damage. For more information see our structural warranty page.
