Adding a Home Addition: Insurance 101

You know the importance of protecting your home, your family and your finances from the unexpected — that’s why you have home insurance in the first place. But when you start planning an addition to your home, whether you’re building up or out, your insurance becomes even more important. You’ll need a separate type of insurance to protect your home and the addition project.

Does Home Insurance Cover Additions?

When you build on to your home, you may be increasing your home’s value. If the value goes up, your current insurance limits could be outdated. And if something were to happen in your home, your limits might be too low to cover the repair and recovery. That’s why it’s important to talk to your American Family Insurance agent (Opens in a new tab) about reviewing your insurance policy annually and any time you make structural changes to your house.

How to Insure Your Plans for a Home Addition

In terms of covering the actual renovation and materials, you’ll need to add dwelling under renovation coverage in order to protect yourself from things like stolen materials, hydrostatic water pressure damage and more. And if you hire someone else to do the project, check their licenses, permits and insurance coverages before they start your home addition.

Insuring Mobile Home Additions

Manufactured and mobile homes have obvious differences than traditional single-family homes, the main being they’re made in one place and moved to a semi-permanent location to be lived in. But just like typical homes, they need to be protected by homeowners insurance to help their residents and owners recover from unexpected setbacks.

Before you make an addition to your mobile home, you’ll need to check with your agent just the same as you would if you were adding on to a typical family home.

In addition to making sure your mobile and manufactured home insurance is up to par and the actual renovation project is protected, check in with your agent regarding other structures coverage. If you’re constructing a new structure on your property such as a garage or shed or you’re adding a fence, you’ll want to make sure you’ll be able to repair or rebuild them if the unexpected happens.

Is it Cheaper to Add On or Build Up?

When most people think of home additions, they think of adding an extra room on to the side of a home. But if you don’t have room on your property and are set on adding another level to your home, it is possible to build up! So which option is cheaper?

Short answer — it depends. First, you’ll need to check whether building up or out is allowed by your locality. Review local zoning laws, height limits and any other home addition or renovation laws enforced in your city, town and/or neighborhood. There are plenty of ways to save on your home remodel whether you’re building up or out, though. And the key to being cost effective on your home addition project? Taking your time, carefully planning and finding the right people and/or companies for the job.

Need help figuring out how your decision will affect your homeowners insurance and other policies? Your American Family agent (Opens in a new tab) is always happy to help. Get in touch today and make sure you’re getting the protection and peace of mind you deserve.