Buying a house will be one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. There are many questions and concerns when it comes to what house to buy. The age, the condition, renovations, yardwork, taxes, etc. Buying your insurance is one of the decisions that is usually left until the end, when you have already made an offer.

So how does this work?

We gather information on the house from you and possibly, the realtor. This information usually includes things like: Year built, square footage, type of construction (Frame, concrete, brick); heating, electrical, roofing, plumbing – any updates that were done to these 4; flooring, siding, and some other questions about the kitchen & bathrooms. With all these answered, we can use our replacement cost calculators to determine what the cost would be to rebuild your house. These calculators are updated quarterly by contractors and suppliers to make sure that the numbers are up to date with current labour and material costs.

Once we have your replacement value calculated, we use this information with our insurance carriers to see if we can obtain Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage on your dwelling (GRC).  Depending on the year built and the updates that have been made, you may qualify for this coverage.

So why is this coverage important?

If a claim arises, perhaps a fire or flood, and your house has be torn down and rebuilt because of the extensive damage; you are going to have to rebuild a new house on your property. If your house was built in 1975, it will be hard to rebuild your house with materials and labour from 1975. So you are going to have to use today’s price; that being said, today’s prices can still vary from month to month.

Especially in Saskatchewan, our construction costs can vary, depending on which season we are in. So if you have to rebuild your house in the winter, the costs for labour, concrete, framing, etc., can be much higher as they are working in colder climates, which can cause delays or there are more costs to keep materials heated. So to rebuild an average house in summer might cost $350,000, however, that same house in winter, might cost closer to $375,000.
So how do we stay properly covered?  

By insuring to GRC, the insurance carrier guarantees to rebuild your house at the current costs of construction. For example, your house is insured for $350,000 and 6 months into your policy, your house burns down. When you get your quotes from your general contractors, they say to rebuild a similar house would cost $365,000 with the current materials and labour. Even though your policy looks like it is capped at $350,000, because you carry the GRC coverage, they will pay the full cost to rebuild of $365,000. This coverage just saved you $15,000.

So how do we make sure we keep this coverage in place?

Every 4-5 years, we are required by the insurance carrier to submit an updated evaluation of your dwelling. If you make any changes or updates to your dwelling, we need to re-calculate this evaluation and send it in to keep your value up to date. The insurance carrier, will also apply annual inflation protection to make sure they are keeping up with the increased costs year after year.

We want to make sure that your largest investment is properly looked after. This coverage will give you that peace of mind, that it is. If you have any questions about this coverage, please contact our offices.