Member Article

How much would it cost to rebuild your property?

You never think it will happen to you (and hopefully it won’t!), but disaster can strike at any time and every business needs to consider what would happen if their premises were flooded or burnt down.

What would your options be? Would you be able to relocate and continue operating from another location or would you have to stay put and fix it? Could you afford to put it right?

Whilst we don’t enjoy forking out every year for buildings insurance ‘just in case’ something might happen, it is a necessity and one worth getting right. Underinsuring your building just to save a few pounds on your insurance premium could prove to be a terrible mistake.

In the case of there being a claim a Loss Adjuster would seek to limit the insurer’s liability. If you are 30% underinsured they will pay out 30% less than you require to rebuild your property, how will you make up this shortfall?

On the other hand if you are over insured (which in the case of a disaster is far better than the former) you are paying out too much on an annual basis, which will add up over the years. So, who is the best person to accurately value your commercial property? Our advice would be don’t rely on the insurance broker! They are unlikely to know enough about rebuild costs. Don’t base the value on what you paid for the property either. Commercial values are based upon a number of factors including; use, location, condition, land value is also considered. Rebuild value is different again and takes into consideration the size, design and materials of the building.

Chartered Building Surveyors are experts in building costs and at Silverstone Building Consultancy we have a wealth of experience in Reinstatement Cost Assessments (which is the posh way of saying we carry out the necessary measurements, assessments and calculations required to provide you with an accurate valuation of your commercial building). This ensures you don’t over or under pay on your insurance and also means that in the worst case scenario we would be in a good position to fight your corner in a dispute with a Loss Adjuster.

Silverstone has recently carried out Reinstatement Cost Assessments for car parts manufacturer, Gestamp Tallent Automotive, this included assessing their nationwide portfolio of 20 manufacturing premises totaling almost one million sq ft. For this instruction we increased our Professional Indemnity Insurance from £5 million to £15 million for this particular service.

If you need advice on Reinstatement Cost Assessment for your commercial building then please contact either Ben Hunter or Richard Farrey on 0191 231 4263, we would be more than happy to share our expertise.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Taylor PR .