Buildings Insurance

Use your imagination for a second for us. If you were to turn your entire property upside-down, everything that didn’t fall out your house or off the ground would possibly be covered under our Building Insurance. So essentially, Building Insurance covers most of the structures, fittings, and fixtures on your property. This includes the main house, cottages, garages, tennis court, gates, walls, fences, and swimming pool. For items that do fall out your home, we offer Home Contents Insurance.

Our Building Insurance is comprehensive, which means it’s covered against a range of risks, such as fire, lightning, earthquake, burst pipes, damage caused by vehicles crashing into your property, intentional damage, and theft and break-in damage

Over- or under-insuring your home is an easy trap to fall into. Here’s why you should be careful to make sure your building is insured for the correct amount. 

If you under-insure, and you ever need to claim, we won’t pay out the full value of your claim – only a portion of it. So, if your home is worth R1 million but you only insured it for R700 000, we will only pay out 70% of the value of your claim.

If you over-insure, we won’t pay more than 100% of the value of your claim. This means you’ll have paid more than you needed to in monthly premiums for no reason.

If something ever happens to your home, there are a lot more costs involved than merely replacing what was damaged. There could be demolishing and debris removal costs in addition to labour, material, and construction charges. It’s important to take all these expenses into account when deciding how much to insure your home for. 

Moreover, make sure you insure it for the replacement costs, not what your fittings and fixtures are worth now. Here’s an example of what we mean: Your house was built in the 1970s and still has some of the original bathroom fittings, like an avocado-green bath tub. If your home catches fire and the bathroom is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt, the chances are slim that you’ll get the exact same bath you had before. Instead, you’ll be replacing it with a modern tub, so you’ll need to factor in the cost for this new bathtub.

Most likely, yes. Renovations are bound to change the value of your home, which means the value you insure it for will change. If you’re unsure how much you should increase your insurance by, try calling the bank with whom your home loan is registered. They may be able to send out an assessor and give you an accurate valuation. You can also ask our advice when you call us to update your sum insured and we can help you figure out how much to increase your cover by.

Most of the permanent structures, fittings, and fixtures on your property are covered under our Building Insurance. However, there are exceptions, as follows:

• Swimming pool equipment (can be insured under Portable Possessions).

• Borehole equipment (can be insured under Portable Possessions).

• Fire damage to a thatched-roof building unless your policy states you’re paying for this.

• Any structures that haven’t been approved by a local authority.

• Structures with faulty design or construction.

• Damage caused by roots and weeds.