Higher end renovation - do I need Builder's Risk Insurance

[Stephanie Heron Weeber]

Hi - I've completed about renovations in 14 years and have never come across this before. My insurance agent can't find me a policy that will cover more than $1m for a vacant house undergoing a renovation.

I paid $1.3m for the house and will be putting in about $700k. Will take about 9 months.

I'm told Builder's Risk can run anywhere between 1 and 4% of the covered amount - Yikes. I'm used to paying a few hundred dollars a month to cover a "vacant property under construction". 

I approached a broker and have filled in the 6 page application which asked all sorts of questions about the nearest fire hydrant/fire station, will I be flying in any of the building materials, are there lights on all sides of the building? Kinda intense. Just want to make it looks pretty and sell it LOL.

Any ideas? 

[Stephanie Heron Weeber]

Thanks for the responses. I got a quote from a local broker and fortunately it was not as bad as I thought it might be. Maybe double the vacant under contruction we paid for the last one. A necessary evil.

To your question Arman - technically doing it solo (I own the LLC) but my husband is a licensed GC.