Calling all amateur builders, decorators and craftsmen, before you strap on that tool belt and put in that first nail consider one thing. Will your house be insured will you carry out your DIY work?
If you are planning on carrying out DIY work on your property anytime soon don’t be too overzealous and dive straight in without letting your insurer know first. A recent report found that 10% of homeowners suffered damages to their property as a result of carrying out work. Of these people 27% were unaware that their home insurance doesn’t cover DIY work, leaving some people with £1000’s worth of repair costs.
Many home insurance policies cover damages to parts of the house such as ceramic hobs sinks and baths however it is definitely worth considering getting your coverage extended to cover against other DIY mishaps that can very easily occur. Additional cover can protect you against feet going through the roof, ladders smashing windows and burns on the carpet.
Over the last 5 years 90% of UK homeowners have carried out work on their home while 60% of these people undertook large projects such as adding a garage, building a loft or installing a new bathroom without notifying their insurer. Many of these people are unaware that their insurance cover may be completely invalid after carrying out large scale projects.
When choosing a tradesmen to carry out the work on your home make sure you check their certification as well as paying them directly into their account which will result in a paper trail of evidence confirming that they did in fact carry out the work on your property. Make sure the builder has Public Liability Insurance to safeguard any accidents that can take place on your property.
With substantial home improvements it is most likely that the value of your property will increase meaning you will also need to inform your insurer of the updated rebuild cost as you put yourself in danger of being paid out far less than your property is worth. Any new building methods may require you to take out specialist insurance as your previous insurance may not cover different materials and building methods.
At Crazy Compare we make it easy to find the best priced insurance to cover your home when you are undertaking DIY work or have hired a builder to carry out the work. The risks of something going wrong are simply too great to just hope for the best.
