4 Homeowners Insurance Tips to Keep in Mind When Renovating Your Home

any before beginning a home remodeling project and keep the company in the loop while the project is ongoing. Your homeowners insurance agent can offer you policy adjustments that help protect your home and financial interests before, during, and after the remodeling process.
Read on to learn four homeowners insurance tips to keep in mind when renovating your home.
1. Opt for Dwelling Under Renovation Coverage
Before you or your contractors begin building a new room addition or revamping your kitchen and bathrooms, you should add dwelling under renovation coverage to your current homeowners insurance policy. Most standard home insurance policies do not cover the building materials that renovate a home until they are officially attached to your home structure.
Dwelling under renovation coverage protects home building materials that you or your contractors plan to use to renovate your home. This coverage extends to when they are inside your home or elsewhere on your property and while they are transported to and from your home and while they are stored off-site.
When you add this coverage to your policy, you can feel more secure. If your pricey home construction materials were stolen or damaged in a house fire, your homeowners insurance company would reimburse you for this loss
2. Increase Policy Limits in Increments as Projects Are Completed
While many home remodeling projects increase the value of a home, many homeowners forget to update their homeowners policy limits at all to reflect this increase in home value.
If you do not inform your homeowners insurance company of your home renovation project and how much it increases the value of your home, your insurance reimbursement may not be enough to cover the cost of repair of any damage that happens in your home after your remodel.
While you can increase your policy limit after a small home renovation project is complete, increase your policy limit in increments as small phases of a larger project are completed. When you increase your limit on an as-needed basis as the project is in progress, you can add just enough coverage to protect the value of each finished project without increasing your insurance premium more than you have to until all projects are complete.
Why not just wait until all renovations are complete to increase policy limits? About one-third of all house fires are from contractors working in the home, often during home remodeling projects. You want to receive full reimbursement for the value of your home, including any renovations already complete, if a fire were to destroy your home in the midst of a remodeling project.
3. Increase Liability Coverage Before Beginning Construction
Homeowners insurance policies provide liability coverage that protects you financially if someone injures themselves inside your home or elsewhere on your property. However, many homeowners only opt for the minimum in liability protection.
Even if you consider this amount enough coverage when no home renovations are being performed, you should increase this coverage before a home renovation project begins due to the additional hazards around the home during the home remodeling process.
If you perform renovation work on your own with the help of friends and family members, then they can easily become injured while helping you renovate your home.
However, even if fully insured professional contractors complete the work, neighbors and home guests can trip on building supplies located inside and outside of the home, play with tools left lying around the home and injure themselves, or injure themselves when they accidentally come into contact with hazardous chemicals used during the remodeling project.
To stay on the safe side, increase your liability coverage before beginning construction. Then, you can then decrease it after all renovations are done.
4. Consider Projects That Reduce Home Insurance Rates
While planning your home renovations, consider home improvement projects that can actually lower your home insurance rates.
Just a few of these home improvements include:
New roof installation. Replacing a roof that is over 10 years old can lower your insurance premiums.
Security system installation. While many insurance companies offer discounts for installation of any home security system, the heftiest discounts are typically provided to homeowners with security alarms with central monitoring that immediately notifies the local authorities in the event of a home break-in.
Emergency power generator installation. Electricity generators help prevent damage to a home, such as frozen water pipes that can burst, during a power outage.
Speak to a representative from your homeowners insurance company about any additional home improvement discounts they may offer.
If you plan to renovate or remodel your home soon, then keep these four homeowners insurance tips in mind before, during while, and after the projects are being completed. Contact the homeowners insurance experts at L.A. Insurance to discuss all of your homeowners insurance needs today.