Remodeling Your Home - Make sure you are covered

If you plan to remodel your home, make sure that your home, the contractor and subcontractors have adequate insurance coverage.

In order to avoid unnecessary complications, it is important to contact your insurance agent before the construction begins to increase the insurance coverage on your house to reflect the increase in the cost of renovations and additions. If the new addition is destroyed or damaged before insurance coverage has been increased, you may be responsible for the cost of repairing or rebuilding the addition.

It is very important to verify the insurance coverage of the contractor and the subcontractors. In most home improvement projects, the contractor subcontracts the builders, electricians and plumbers. The workers hired may not be full-time employees of the contractor and therefore not covered under the contractor’s workers compensation policy. While some independent builders, electricians and plumbers may carry their own workers compensation coverage, others may not.

Courtesy of Donna Gesicki, Personal Insurance Department