When it comes to a homeowners insurance policy, one of the most important aspects is dwelling insurance coverage. That’s because if your home endures damage from a covered event, such as a fire or a fallen tree, dwelling coverage helps pay to have it repaired or rebuilt.
Residents in New York often wonder what kind of dwelling insurance they need and how to find the best policy. Muller Insurance is an independent insurance agency with decades of experience in this type of insurance in New York and many other states. Here, we offer insight into dwelling coverage to help clients determine whether they have enough.
How Much Dwelling Coverage Is Enough?
In terms of dwelling coverage, homeowners should have enough to cover costs should their homes need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. Therefore, it’s important to make certain your homeowner’s insurance policy features a dwelling coverage limit that is equal to the home’s replacement value.
Most insurance providers will provide clients with relatively accurate replacement costs. Homeowners can attempt to get a rough estimate by multiplying the square footage of their home by the average local building cost per square foot.
It’s important to note that replacement value is different from a home’s market value, or the amount of money the homeowners paid for the house. Market value is based on factors such as location, the value of the land, and what buyers are willing to pay for comparable properties. Whereas replacement value is determined by the size of the home, average building costs per square foot, and the price of materials and labor.
It’s also worth noting that a home’s replacement cost and property insurance price can increase over time. This is most notably due to extreme weather events, rising material costs, and an understaffed labor force. For this reason, it’s recommended that homeowners review their dwelling coverage each year and make changes if necessary.
What Does Dwelling Insurance Cover?
Thankfully, for homeowners, dwelling insurance covers a variety of damaging events. These events are often referred to as perils in the policy. Dwelling insurance typically provides coverage for the following perils:
- Fire and smoke
- Severe storms, such as wind, hail, and lightning
- Ice or snow
- Vandalism
- Explosions
Provided a homeowner’s policy doesn’t exclude a specific disaster, your dwelling insurance coverage should offer protection for it.
Even the best policies won’t cover certain disasters. To account for this, homeowners can add additional coverage options to their policies. Extended protection can help protect against events such as earthquakes.
Discover More About Dwelling Coverage With Muller Insurance
When it comes to sufficient dwelling coverage for your homeowner’s insurance policy, trust the team at Muller Insurance. Serving residents in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and other states.
As an independent agency, we offer our clients several advantages, including access to affordable policies from a wide range of providers. Our agency is pleased to partner with the following insurance companies:
- Chubb Insurance
- Plymouth Rock Insurance
- Travelers Insurance
- The Andover Companies
- Franklin Mutual
- Safeco
- Farmers of Salem
- Narragansett Bay
- Cumberland Mutual
Contact us today at Muller Insurance to learn more about dwelling insurance coverage or to get a quote.
