Will Home Insurance allow me to rebuild my house as it was?

If you’re a home owner, you probably have Home Insurance — or you’re thinking of getting it. But how do you ensure that your chosen policy will be enough to restore your home to its former glory?

Choosing the right sum insured

Your ‘sum insured’ is one of the biggest factors in determining whether or not your insurance policy is adequate. It’s the amount listed on your policy as the most your insurer will pay to repair or rebuild your home.

With Suncorp Insurance, you’ll be able to specify your sum insured when you get a quote or renew your policy.

Get a quote

Your sum insured should reflect the amount it would cost to rebuild your home from scratch should you ever need to. That can be tricky to estimate, but our Home Building Calculator can help.

You could protect your home from a wild weather event, such as storms, bushfires and cyclones

Home Insurance can help you fix your house following wild weather, but this doesn’t always mean your home will be stronger and more resilient when the next extreme weather event hits.

That’s where Build it Back Better can help.

What is Build it Back Better^TM?

If your home is damaged by an insured event and the assessed repair or rebuild costs are more than $50,000 or 10% of your sum insured (whichever is higher), you’ll be offered additional recommended resilience options to help protect against severe weather. Depending on your level of cover this could be up to $5,000 - $10,000. This feature is now available on new or renewed (after 25th March, 2021) Suncorp Home & Contents and Building Insurance policies.

Build it Back Better is automatically included with Suncorp Building Insurance and Home and Contents Insurance policies. The amount we’ll pay for resilience enhancement options depends on your level of cover.

• For Classic policies, we’ll pay up to $5,000.
• For Classic Extras policies, we’ll pay up to $7,500.
• For Classic Advantages policies, we’ll pay up to $10,000.

Conditions apply. Please read the PDS for full details.

Learn more about Build it Back Better ^TM

Help protect yourself against underinsurance

If your sum insured isn’t enough to rebuild your home as it was, then you’re underinsured.

Rebuilding costs may gradually creep up over time, as things like materials costs and demand for building services increase. So a sum insured that seemed okay when you took out your policy may not be when you make a claim — especially if it’s been a while since you reviewed it.

That’s where Safety net home protection can help.

What’s Safety net home protection?

It offers an extra payout for covered claims if rebuilding costs exceed your sum insured. The amount depends on your level of cover:

• Classic Home Insurance policies have up to a further 25% of your home sum insured safety net available as an optional cover
• Classic Extras policies have up to a further 25% of your home sum insured safety net included.
• Classic Advantages policies have up to a further 30% of your home sum insured safety net included.

So say, for example, your home is destroyed by fire and your sum insured is $300,000, but you realise it’ll cost at least $350,000 to rebuild. You either have to fork out the extra money yourself, or settle for a rebuilt house that’s not as good as it was — but a 25% safety net would mean that you can access up to $375,000.

Conditions apply. Check out the Product Disclosure Statement for details.

Read more:

• Your flood recovery guide
• Calculating home insurance before you buy a home
• Does home insurance cover pool damage?

Insurance is issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as Suncorp Insurance. Read the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. Go to suncorp.com.au for a copy. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.