Case study
Case study
Case study
The Alvarez family had held the same home policy since 2016 and renewed it every year without reading it. When we reviewed the schedule at a routine renewal, the building sum insured was roughly forty per cent below a current rebuild estimate for a house of that size and age.
Nothing had gone wrong. That was the useful part: the conversation happened before the storm rather than after it.
The Insurize solution
A current rebuild figure
We ran a rebuild estimate using the floor area, construction type and current regional build costs, and set the sum insured to it — including demolition, site clearance and professional fees, which the old schedule had omitted.
Contents counted room by room
The contents limit had been carried over from an apartment the family left in 2016. A room-by-room walkthrough produced a figure close to double it, mostly in the kitchen and the garage.
Additional living expenses, sized to a real rental
The old policy’s allowance would have covered about six weeks in a smaller house. We raised it to twelve months at a realistic local rent.
Flood assessed separately
The property sat outside the mapped flood zone but downhill of a culvert. Flood was quoted as a separate endorsement and the family took it.
Results and impact
Eight weeks later, a storm removed most of the roof covering and water entered two bedrooms and the hallway.
The claim was reported the same evening with photographs taken from the garden. An adjuster attended within three days, a temporary roof covering went on within five, and the family moved into a rented house nearby for the duration of the repairs.
Three things made the difference, and all three were decided before the storm:
- The rebuild sum covered the actual repair schedule, so no proportional reduction was applied
- Additional living expenses covered the full rental period, not six weeks of it
- The room-by-room contents list settled the personal property claim in one pass
The family paid their deductible. The repair ran to a figure the old schedule would have met less than two thirds of.
Conclusion
Underinsurance rarely announces itself. It sits quietly on a renewal notice for years and only becomes visible on the day of a claim, when the insurer applies the shortfall to the settlement. Reviewing a sum insured takes fifteen minutes and is the highest-value thing most homeowners can do with their policy.
