I'm looking forward to hearing the responses. I just posted our long miserable story in a thread "need advice". We have a homeowners policy and our builder had builders risk. We're taking over as owner/builder at about 65-70% done. Finding out if we need builder's risk insurance is on our list of things to do.

Interested as well. We were told that we could not get any coverage until the house is completed w/c.o. We are also o/b'ing

Now, it has been awhile (10 years) since I was an insurance agent, and insurance law varies by state, but that answer doesn't sound right to me. I believe you need a CO before the policy will convert to a homeowner's policy. They may need to not be lazy and actually pay a visit to the site and take some pictures for their files. Then they can better assess the situation. Do you have an agent for renter's or auto insurance? Start with them, and speak with the agent, not the office person. Keep going until someone will agree to meet with you and go to the site. This is really important coverage and you want someone competent. Not that if it weren't important you would want someone who was incompetent, but you get my point!LOL!

Good luck,

Amy (who doesn't miss being an agent since I became a mom, but I was pretty good at it)

Boy have I been around the block with my insurance co (State Farm) on something similar. We were doing a major renovation, so no occupancy. But they would issue builder's risk only for a new house build, not a renovation (this made no sense, but whatever). Ultimately they issued the policy, and have renewed it, but not without a fight.

My advice is to ask about homeowners with a vacancy endorsement (which is what we have). That may cover it for the 6 months you have--tell them you absolutely plan to move in then.

Hi Amy,

We currently own a house with a homeowners policy. At first, that agent said that he could get us a Builders Risk policy on the new house, but then (two months later when I called and said where's my binder?) he came back and said his underwriter refused. Yes, I will be looking for a new agent for that policy here soon. :)

So, I am now having to work the yellow pages and have yet to find someone who will write a Builder Risk policy for a house that is 80%+ complete. I seriously doubt that a Homeowner's Policy will cover a lame sub who does something stupid causing the house to burn down. I have paid cash for this house and that's a loss I cannot afford, and the reason I need to find a solution!

Thanks,
Jerry

Hi Heimert,

Does your homeowners with a vacancy endorsement cover a lame sub who does something stupid causing the house to burn down? My main concern is damage caused by the subs.

I believe the good news is a homeowners policy will provide you liability insurance that the builder's risk policy probably would not. I'm sure more than one sub has made a claim against an o/b.

Thanks,
Jerry

We got a homeowner's policy with a construction rider which allowed the house to be empty, etc. The rider was then removed when we had hte CO and had moved in.

We just met with our insurance agent yesterday. He told us he checked with his underwriter and they would issue us a builder's risk policy if we were to OB, or as additional coverage to the builder's own policy. In addition he told us that the structure could be insured for damage and theft by estimating the value of the plans and issuing some sort of limited homeowner's policy from that, ie: we wouldn't need personal property coverage etc. It is some sort of special policy they offer for their clients building new homes. We have not completed our plans yet so that's all the info we have for now.

Hi Lucky Mom,

I've been told that getting Builder's Risk before a home is started is easy. It's after construction has started that the underwriters seem to get nervous.

Thanks,
Jerry

Texasjerry -- that's what I've been told. Being an insurance company, I suspect we'd argue over any claim. And, yes, there's a lot of personal liability on there too.

I'm an agent and that's correct. A builders risk policy needs to be taken out at our near start of build; otherwise a company won't write. The norm in this situation is to write the HO policy--no problem with most companies as long as completion date is within a year. HO policy is usually not only cheaper, but provides broader coverage.

We are not remolding but building from scratch. We had to get a home owners policy with a builders risk rider. Was crazy to me at first to have a home owners policy on a house that was not even built but I believe it was cheaper also. The underwriters still were jerks about it though. Almost like the bank!! LOL! Our insurance company (Liberty Mutual) told me that is the policy now, to write home owner policy's with the builders risk rider. Once we closed they just take off the risk rider.

Good luck with everything!
Kel

Hi brshow,

Are there any endorsements, waivers, provisions, etc. that I should request w/ the Homeowner's Policy to cover all risks?

Thanks,
Jerry

This is a follow up to the "3/4 done fire". As we were our own GC, went to
buy our construction insurance after we finished the concrete work and just started the framing and we were
informed it was "Too Late" to buy home construction insurance.We were quite "shocked" and completely unaware "in British Columbia that is"
the insurance had to be purchased when you start the
construction. Our hired carpenter had his own insurance to
cover any Major Mistakes so we couldn't see buying loss
insurance for a pile of concrete . Boy,we were wrong !!
Anyone else had this problem !!!!!!!!!!