Home Building Insurance

[hkmhuik]

Hi everyone and thanks for reading.

I live in BC and am building a house as the Home Owner Builder. We are doing 90% of the work, everything except drywall and the initial connection for electrical. My partner is an experienced home builder but has been out of the industry for two years, so we no longer have a business to have insurance through.

I'm struggling to find an insurance provider who understands that we are not using a General Contractor and are instead operating ourselves at the General Contractor as individuals.

We live in a rural community where I keep getting referred to insurance providers in larger centres that seem to not grasp the idea that we don't have a GC.

Any advice on how to obtain course of construction insurance for a house that we are building ourselves. We will be WCB covered, code compliant and have private funding. Our building permit is in place currently.

An additional question: my father in-law is on title on the property, will he need to be named explicitly?

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from someone who can help navigate this.

 

[abbysweet]

@hkmhuik I'm not familiar with BC, but it sounds like you're looking for a builders risk policy, which is sold even to homeowners doing major Renos so I would think you shouldn't have an issue getting one. I would suggest you notify the insurer when the project is complete and have it insured depending on its residence at that time. I don't see a downside to having your father in law insured. These situations can get complex especially if anyone has a construction related business, or you do this frequently, or there's a partnership agreement, etc. You should talk with your broker in detail about your eventual plans for the house.

 

[hkmhuik]

@abbysweet Thanks for your reply. I think I found an insurance company that understands what we're doing. Just sorting out the final details.