Dwelling/Fire insurance providers in Illinois that offer higher liability cap?

Question

I'm looking for some Dwelling/Fire insurance providers in Illinois with higher reconstruction caps/ dwelling liability.

My current provider is requiring a bundled homeowner policy to qualify for the dwelling/fire renewal, but I'm a renter out of state, and just want a standalone policy as this is not for an owner occupied building.

So I'm shopping around and discovering that many providers have a dwelling cap of $700k. This is for a 2-story frame multifamily w detached garage in Chicago. The agents are assuring me that the estimate total rebuild would be 630k in 2025, but i do not believe them w inflation, material cost, etc.

Any dwelling fire insurers I should be looking at for standalone policy in Illinois?

Andrew Bish · Answer

Yes, can't really recommend a single carrier as it varies, but there are many who go above $700K. I think you need to work with a broker, it sounds like you are dealing with captive agents working within their product guidelines. Have you had the chance to review the RCE or ERC completed by the agents? While we readily have access to exterior fixtures and features (assessors, google, listing, or driving by), the interior sometimes has poor listing photos or none at all. It is possible they may not be capturing the quality of the interior fixtures and features. At the end of the day, these numbers we come up with are estimates meant to be the minimum recommended coverage to replace the dwelling. You can typically increase the dwelling coverage beyond the estimated replacement cost.

It has also been pointed out by @Tony Wilcox that you should be asking about extended replacement cost or additional replacement cost when comparing quotes. It is usually a cheap endorsement that can drastically increase dwelling coverage for unexpected price spikes. I see your tag is for Chicago so I'd also recommend checking your ordinance or law coverage. A lot of our older structures here are grandfathered into modern building codes and, in the event of a significant loss, you'd likely benefit from the extra bucket of coverage meant for bring structures in accordance with modern codes.

Andrew Bish · Answer

I am not very familiar with stand alone tools or Xactimate, however, it appears to be more on the claims side, not 100% sure if it is the same thing, but it does look like there is some overlap. I believe most of the systems I use tie back in someway to Verisk or Cotality or some other large data/actuarial aggregator. Unfortunately, I am merely a broker so I don't get to access or work with their full data set. The access I do get is in the context of putting together a quote for a customer.

Andrew Bish · Answer

Yes, @Jonathan Klemm. It is the replacement cost estimate or estimated replacement cost, I'm sure there are other variations of the phrase too.

Most of us are not construction experts so we'll input details on the structure's fixtures and features to an insurance carrier's replacement cost estimator and it will produce an estimated cost to rebuild the structure, often including estimated labor and debris removal costs. It is pretty much just a calculator to select different building materials and features of the structure.

A lot of the inputs are pre-filled by scraping from public data like the local assessor but they may have copied over incorrectly or no longer accurately represent the structure. The labor and material costs are also based off of historic data typically trailing by a few months. The estimate is certainly not the final say but serves as a good starting point.

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

Okay that makes sense @Robin W.   What is HCOL?

So, some insurance policies require that you live in the same state where you have the investment?  @Andrew Bish why would this be the case?

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

I've seen some of those estimators @Andrew Bish - the one I am most familiar with is Exactmate.

Are these RCE and ERCs something you have access to, so if a client like @Robin W. needed help figuring out the replacement cost by an insurance estimator, she could touch base with you?

I'd personally love to look into more of the Chicago data.

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

Hi there @Robin W. - I am not sure I fully understand your situation.  You are currently renting outside of the state of Illinois, but own the property as an investment here in Chicago?

@Andrew Bish - What is RCE and ERC for all of us non-insurance people?

Robin W. · Answer

That's right Jonathan, I have a rental property investment in Chicago where I'm originally from, but my work takes me out of state in a HCOL area where I rent. This makes it difficult to meet any second bundled homeowner policy requirements for some carriers' fire/dwelling policies.

Aaron Zimmerman · Answer

Following - also commenting for visibility. I don't personally have someone that I can recommend but I do know that they're out there!

Owen Rosen · Answer

Sent a DM. This shouldn't be difficult but every situation is unique.

Dwelling/Fire insurance providers in Illinois that offer higher liability cap?

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