Home Insurance and Remodels: Updating Coverage as You Build

Here's a phone call almost nobody makes before a remodel: the one to their insurance agent. Homeowners will spend months on layouts and finishes, then leave a policy written for the old house quietly in place while the new one takes shape around it.

The gap matters more than you'd think. A remodel changes your home's replacement cost — sometimes substantially — and it changes your risk picture while construction is underway. Ten minutes with your agent at the right moments closes both gaps. This isn't legal or insurance advice, just the checklist we encourage every client to run.

Before construction: three questions for your agent

Call once your scope is settled and before demolition starts, and ask:

• Does my policy cover the home during renovation? Some policies limit coverage when a house is under construction or temporarily unoccupied. Better to know in January than mid-project.
• Should the project carry builder's risk coverage? This policy type covers the work itself — materials on site, the half-built addition — during construction. Who carries it varies by project; what matters is that someone does, on purpose.
• Is my contractor's insurance real? Any builder you hire should hand over certificates of liability and workers' compensation coverage without being asked twice. We include ours in every contract packet as part of our promise — treat any hesitation elsewhere as the red flag it is.

During construction: keep the paper trail

As the project runs, save your contract, change orders, and progress photos somewhere off-site or in the cloud. If anything ever does go wrong — a storm, a theft from the site, a burst supply line — documentation of what existed and what it cost turns a painful claim into a routine one. This winter's storms have been a good reminder that "it never rains here" is not a risk strategy.

After completion: reset the number

This is the step people skip. When the project wraps, your home's square footage, finishes, and systems may all have changed — and your dwelling coverage should change with them. A room addition that adds a primary suite, or an ADU in the backyard, can meaningfully raise what it would cost to rebuild your property. An ADU adds its own wrinkles: if you rent it out, tell your insurer, because landlord activity and a tenant's belongings sit outside a standard homeowner policy.

Underinsuring after a remodel is quietly common, especially with construction costs having climbed the way they have in recent years. You didn't invest in making your home better to leave the difference unprotected.

For a deeper look, see The February Design Sprint: Be Ready for Summer Construction.

The good news: all of this is a few phone calls, timed well. If you're planning a project this year and want a builder who makes the paperwork side boring in the best way, start the conversation or give us a call — we'll make sure the build is as well-protected as it is well-built.