A huge increase in home construction prices has been an ongoing story in 2021. A pandemic-induced supply chain disruption, inflation and labour shortages have contributed to a 15 year high for home construction backlog. While housing construction activity is expected to be bogged down in the short-term, there is some optimism for a return to some normalcy in 2023.
For homeowners, it’s worth reflecting what a spike in construction costs could mean for you. If a problem like a natural disaster or fire destroys all or part of your home, your finances may take a wrong turn without the right level of coverage.
Buy Coverage That Absorbs a Spike in Home Repair Costs
The coverage within a home insurance policy pays to repair or rebuild your home if it’s damaged by a problem covered by the policy, like a house fire.
The coverage policy amount should be based on what it would cost to rebuild your home based on the local construction and labour costs. But certain situations, like a tornado that flattens entire neighbourhoods, can cause a spike in rebuilding costs. Suddenly your coverage amount could be insufficient in such cases.
Don’t Assume You’re Covered for Natural Disasters
Floods are not the only disaster commonly excluded from a standard home insurance policy. If you live in a disaster-prone area, you might need to strengthen your home insurance with endorsements or additional policies to ensure you’re fully covered.
For example, if you live in an area with seismic activity, you may want an earthquake insurance policy so that you can rest assured that it will be taken care of if disaster hits.
Before you buy another policy or add an endorsement to your home insurance, it’s a good idea to speak with your insurance agent in order to understand the options. Insurance for natural disasters can have complex limits (such as different limits for categories of property), exclusions and high deductibles.
Know How Much Stuff You Have
The personal property coverage in a home insurance policy pays to repair or replace belongings—your clothes, jewellery, furniture, pots and pans, musical instruments, electronics, books, art, and even the decorations you may keep on your shelves.
But how much personal property coverage do you need? One good way to find out is by creating a home inventory. A good home inventory can both speed up an insurance claim and help maximize your claim payment. If you forget what you owned, you won’t make a claim for it. It’s one of the smartest and easiest things you can do to prepare for unexpected home insurance claims.
Bump Up Your Liability Coverage
With so much focus on your house and belongings, it’s easy to overlook liability coverage within a home insurance policy.
Liability insurance pays for a legal defence, judgments and settlements if someone sues you over injuries or property damage and you’re legally responsible. For example, if someone takes a bad fall at your house, a lawsuit would fall under your homeowner liability coverage
A good rule of thumb is to buy enough liability coverage to cover your assets, or what could be taken from you in a lawsuit.
Get insured today
Usually, the perception about insurance, or any other finance-related service, is that it is complicated. There are too many technical words to understand and the terms and conditions are difficult to follow. That is one of the many reasons our team is here for you.
The G.A.P. Vassilopoulos Group acts as Brokers through their well-established relationships with international ‘A’ Rated insurers’ as well as the local Cyprus market can cater for a wide range of insurance products.
Drop us an email through our website or feel free to contact us at 77 77 77 75 to compare and select the most appropriate insurance policy with our specialized G.A.P. Insurance Agency team will respond promptly to your needs.