When to get a firm quote
Once you are within 30 days of
expecting to commence work on your
project contact your insurance advisor
again to fine tune and formalise the
quote. If you are confident with the
advice you’ve received, you may also
choose to arrange the insurance at
this time. Your insurance advisor can
arrange the insurance ahead of time to
commence at the date you specify. By
this stage you may also need to provide
the local council with evidence that
you’ve arranged insurance, so requesting
that cover be arranged now will allow
you to provide this evidence.
When to start cover
If you’ve not already requested the
cover to be arranged at the quote stage,
be absolutely certain to arrange cover
prior to commencing work on the
project. If you neglect to do so, it can be
very difficult to obtain cover at all once
you’re already under way.
How many quotes should you get?
Over recent years the availability of
owner builder insurance has increased
substantially. There are now at least half
a dozen companies who specialise in
owner builder insurance Australia-wide.
You should not find it at all difficult to
obtain two or three quotations, and it
is often a good idea to do so. Choosing
the right one is, however, not a simple
matter of picking the cheapest. Take
a moment to compare the quotes, the
cover and benefits included. Even a
novice will notice some differences,
however big or small they may be.
Experienced providers will also include
a short (usually single page) document
showing their major policy benefits i.e.
what makes their policy stand out from
the others. This can be very helpful.
Comparing policies is not always easy
however, and while you may spot some
differences you may still be left thinking‘which one is best for me?’
So how do you choose? There are
three criteria you may like to ultimately
base your decision on:
1) Did a person or a company that you
trust specifically recommend the
provider?
2) Did you receive the quote from an
expert who understood your needs
and provided you with good advice?
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3) Was the policy cover and the price
competitive?
If you can answer yes to at least two
out of these three for any one quote
that you receive then you should choose
this provider. In fact if you can answer
yes to two out of the three on the very
first quote you receive then you may
not feel a need to even obtain further
quotes at all.
How to complete an insurance application form
Now that you’ve arranged the
insurance, you are just about finished
with this part of the business, but
not quite. An application form will
generally be sent out to you and will
need to be completed and returned.
Owner builder insurance is a type
of construction insurance and is
basically the same as the insurance
held by a registered builder. As such,
some of the questions on owner
builder insurance application forms
can be expressed in terms that builders
may readily understand, but that
owner builders often struggle with.
You will find that 90 percent of the
form will be quite easy to complete.
Here are some of the questions that
fall into that other 10 percent and that
owner builders often call and ask for
further explanation on.
QUESTION 1: Is the construction site subject to any adverse exposure or hazard?
Is there anything about your
construction site that will mean you
are more likely to have a claim arise,
compared to the average site? Examples
may be that your site will be susceptible
to bushfire, or you are in a cyclone or
flood prone area, or that you are on
a steeply sloped block. These are just
examples however, which is why the
question is very broadly worded.
QUESTION 2: What precautions are planned to minimise danger to the public at this construction site?
This may be best explained by giving
some examples. You may be planning
to put up a fence to keep intruders out,
or putting up warning signs. You may
even plan to always keep the site clear of
debris and left over materials. Mention
here anything along these lines. |
QUESTION 3: Details of any underpinning or piling
UNDERPINNING is the process
of strengthening and stabilizing the
footing of a building by extending the
footing in depth or in breadth so it
either rests on more supportive soil or
distributes its load across a greater area.
Underpinning may be necessary where
problem soils in certain areas of the site
are encountered.
PILING is a type of footing
distinguished by the depth they are
embedded into the ground. There
are many reasons an engineer would
recommend pilings, but some of the
common reasons are very large design
loads, a poor soil at shallow depth, or
site constraints.
If you are unsure if either of these
apply to your project you will need to
ask the company you are engaging to
design or construct your footing work.
QUESTION 4 (a): Do you require contractors to have their own liability policy?
QUESTION 4 (b): If yes, is this process monitored and enforced?
Part a) can simply be paraphrased as: ‘will you be telling contractors that they need
to have liability insurance?’
Part b) can be paraphrased as: ‘will
you be asking contractors to confirm that
they have liability insurance?’ For example,
you may ask contractors to advise you of
their policy number, or to provide you
with a ‘certificate of insurance.’ Owner
builders most commonly ask about
this question, not so much because
it is unclear but in truth because
they want to know if they should be
answering ‘yes’ to the questions. Of
course your adviser cannot suggest that
you provide any answer other than the
correct answer, which indicates your
actual intentions. The ideal answer is ‘yes’ however, as it is a good practice to
ensure that you engage workers who are
also insured responsibly.
Mark Adams is an insurance adviser
with Allrisk Pty Ltd. He has several years
experience in the owner builder insurance
market. Allrisk Pty Ltd is an authorized
representative of Westcourt General
Insurance Brokers (AR 338515), and is
also a specialist provider of owner builder
insurance Australia-wide. 1300 255 747,
allrisk@westcourtgeneral.com.au.
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