Home insurance quotes from licensed Australian brokers

Building, contents, or both

Building cover insures the structure and usually the permanent fixtures: the house itself, the garage, fences, driveways, in ground pools and built in appliances. Contents cover insures what you would take with you if you moved. Owners typically need both, renters need contents only, and investors need landlord cover instead. Many insurers discount a combined policy, but combining is not automatically cheaper than two well chosen policies.

• The building, including outbuildings, fences and permanent fixtures
• Contents, including furniture, appliances, clothing and valuables
• Legal liability as owner or occupier, commonly to a substantial limit
• Temporary accommodation while the home is unliveable after a claim
• Removal of debris and professional fees on a rebuild
• Optional accidental damage, portable valuables and motor burnout

Getting the sum insured right

Rebuilding a home is not the same as buying one. The figure needs to cover demolition, debris removal, council and design requirements that may have changed since the house was built, professional fees and the cost of building a single house rather than a whole estate at once. Some insurers offer a safety net that pays a percentage above the sum insured, and others offer total replacement cover on eligible homes. Use a rebuild calculator as a starting point and ask your broker whether the number holds up.

Flood, storm and the words in between

Australian policies use a standard definition of flood, so the same event is treated consistently across insurers, but whether flood is included, optional or excluded still varies. Storm, storm surge, actions of the sea and rainwater run off are separate concepts and are not interchangeable. If your property is near a watercourse or the coast, this is the section to read first. Insurers price flood on address level data, so quotes for the same house can differ dramatically.

What affects your premium

Location does most of the work, since it determines exposure to flood, bushfire, cyclone and storm. After that comes construction type and age, the sum insured, security and your claims history. Roof age is increasingly relevant on hail exposed properties. The excess is the lever you control most directly, and specific excesses often apply to particular perils such as cyclone or earthquake, so ask for the full structure rather than the headline figure.