Insure your building for what it costs to rebuild.
The right rebuild figure for your buildings insurance — whether you manage a block, share the freehold of a converted building, or own your own home. It's an assessment of cost, not market value, so your cover is neither too high nor dangerously short.
It's widely estimated that around seven in ten UK buildings are either over- or under-insured. Over-insure and you pay more than you need to every year; under-insure and the policy may not pay out in full when it matters most. A reinstatement cost assessment fixes the figure your cover is built on — which matters most where one policy covers a whole block.
Rebuild cost is not market value.
This is the single most important thing to understand — and the most common reason buildings end up mis-insured. The two figures answer completely different questions.
What it's worth
What someone would pay to buy the property — including the land, location and demand. It's the figure for selling, lending or tax. It is not what you insure for.
What it costs to rebuild
What it would take to rebuild from the ground up after a total loss — demolition, debris removal, professional fees and rebuilding to the same size, layout and condition. This is the figure your buildings insurance should be based on.
What our assessment considers.
Every assessment is specific to your building. Three factors do most of the work.
Location
Rebuilding the same property in different parts of the country can cost very different amounts. We assess costs for where your building actually stands.
Construction
For most properties we cost a like-for-like rebuild. For non-standard construction we cost a modern equivalent instead.
Condition
The figure reflects rebuilding to the same external and internal condition — including fixtures, fittings and the mechanical and electrical installations, plus boundary structures where relevant.
Blocks, share-of-freeholders and homes.
Most of our reinstatement work is for the people responsible for insuring a whole building.
Blocks of flats
For managing agents and freeholders arranging buildings insurance for a block — the right rebuild figure, and a sound basis to apportion the insurance contribution fairly between leaseholders.
Converted houses & small blocks
Own a share of the freehold with your neighbours? We assess the whole building so the cover you arrange together is right — neither over the odds nor short if you ever claim.
Homes, flats & maisonettes
Individual houses, flats and maisonettes, including buildings converted into flats. Provided on its own, or added to a homebuyer survey when you're buying.
Two ways to instruct us.
A reinstatement cost assessment commissioned as its own report — for a block, a converted building or a home. Blocks and larger buildings quoted individually.
Request a quote online →Buying a home? A reinstatement figure can be added to your Level 2 or Level 3 survey as an addendum — a cost-effective way to get it alongside your inspection.
See Home Surveys →Assessed properly — and joined up.
Your assessment is carried out by one of our RICS surveyors and set out clearly enough to give your insurer with confidence. Because we also handle lease extensions and collective enfranchisement, we often already know your building and your leases — and can combine instructions to save you time.
One building, one team.
Victorian terrace converted to four flats
A four-storey Victorian mid-terrace reconfigured into four self-contained flats. Our assessment covered the full fabric of the building — walls, floors, roofs, stairs, partitions, doors, windows and the internal M&E — plus boundary walls, retaining walls, patio and canopy, so the owners were neither over- nor under-insured on the shared policy.
Enfranchisement today, reinstatement tomorrow.
Many of our reinstatement clients are share-of-freeholders and block managers we're already helping. Once we've handled a collective enfranchisement or lease extension for a building, we'll often prepare its reinstatement assessment too — one team that already knows the property.
Explore leasehold reform →Reinstatement cost, answered.
What is a reinstatement cost assessment?
Is the rebuild cost the same as the market value?
How much does it cost?
How long does it take?
What about non-standard construction?
Do you assess blocks of flats and share-of-freehold buildings?
Can you handle our lease extension or freehold purchase too?
Get the right rebuild figure for your building.
Tell us about the property — a block, a converted building or a home — and we'll come back with a clear quote and explain how the assessment works.