FIRE - Could you afford to rebuild your home?

17th Jul 2012

You probably don’t want to think about it but 1000’s of Northern Ireland homeowners could be incorrectly estimating the cost of re-building their home in the event of a fire or serious structural failure. The Fire Brigade attends almost 3,500 major fires a year in Northern Ireland, a proportion of which require the house to be completely rebuilt.

Market Value vs Actual Costs: With little experience in construction, the market value is often used by homeowners as a guide for assessing how much it would cost to rebuild. Unfortunately this is a misconception; it rarely reflects the true, full cost of replacement. This and many other potential insurance pitfalls can make reinstating your home after a fire a nightmare.

Online Calculator: The Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors has produced an online calculator to help homeowners improve the accuracy of the rebuild costs. The service can be accessed at http://abi.bcis.co.uk/ alongside a comprehensive guide explaining all the aspects.