Renovating your home

Thinking about renovating your home? Here are a few tips to help you ensure your home is protected during the process.

Preparing for your renovation

Renovation projects can be costly and time intensive. The following steps can help you protect your home and contents before you get started.

• Make sure you’re covered – It’s important that you have insurance to cover your home and its contents before you start on your renovation project. Insurance can help protect your property from accidental damage, theft and weather events, and most home insurance providers will cover you for minor building work up to a certain value. You will also likely need additional insurance cover if you are planning major renovation work, like building an extension or knocking down a wall.

• Check the details – If you are about to embark on a renovation project, notify your insurance company, inform them of the extent of the work and check if they will maintain your cover. Most home insurance policies won’t cover renovations involving structural alterations, work on load-bearing walls, roofing or external cladding. If you are insured with us, you can find out more about how building work may affect your cover in the ‘New building work’ section of your policy document. Additionally, if the home you usually live in is going to be vacant for more than 60 days, you’ll need to let your insurer know as this may have an impact on your excess should something happen.

Ready, steady, reno!

Now that you’ve covered off the basics, you can get started on your renovation project. Here are a few things to think about whilst the work is underway.

• Secure your property - Look after your stuff during the project by keeping your tools safe, your new items and appliances locked away until they’re installed, and your house secure when you ‘down tools’ at the end of the day. Keep ladders, wheelie bins and anything that could be used to get access to your house out of sight. It also pays to know the tradespeople who have access to your property, and let your neighbours know who you’re expecting and when, especially if you’re not going to be living at the property during the reno.

• Future-proof your home - Renovating provides a good opportunity to think about how you can make your house safer and more secure. Consider window latches, deadlocks, smoke alarms, and security alarms that will protect you and your home throughout the renovation process as well as in the future.

• Need help? – If you’re undertaking the renovation yourself, there may be some minor work that you would rather leave to a professional. For minor maintenance, installation or repair jobs, our partner AA Home offer a solution for homeowners who would like access to an expert who can help get things done quickly and correctly. AA Home’s Book a Job enables you to book a plumber, electrician, locksmith or handyperson at a time that suits you. Check what services are available in your area.

After the reno

Your reno is complete – well done! There are a few final things to think about as you wrap up the project.

• Update your home insurance – There’s a chance your renovation will have added value to your home. Once the work is finished, call your insurance provider to update your home’s sum insured. This is the maximum amount your insurance company will pay to rebuild your home in the event of a natural disaster. It’s important that your sum insured is as accurate as possible; you don’t want all that hard work to be left out of the rebuild costs should the worst happen.

• Check your contents cover - Taking into account new tools, appliances, furniture and accessories bought during the reno, the chances are that the value of your contents has increased. Be sure to regularly check your contents insurance and make sure your sum insured reflects these additional expenses. You can do this using this handy guide to calculate the value of your possessions.