Your home and/or commercial property are amongst your most valuable and important assets. Updating, upgrading, and maintaining your properties not only protect your investment and make practical sense, but also could affect insurability.
Home Insurance
Insurance companies require details regarding the major components of your home, including the roof, plumbing, electrical, heating, and hot water, which must be updated or replaced within a time period they prescribe in order to ensure continued insurability of your home. If you do not update these features of your home within the insurance company’s stated time, your coverage might not be renewed, because homes that are not adequately maintained create higher risk. Your Murrick Group insurance agent will inform you when the time is nearing when an update or upgrade may be required by your home insurer.
Major Home Renovations
When you are planning major renovations to your home, generally costing more than $10,000 or involving any structural changes, you are required to inform your insurance company before the work begins because the risk is higher during renovations. These major renovations include roof replacement; complete renovations of bathrooms or kitchens; additions of an additional wing, level, or room; and stripping an area to the studs to upgrade the entire area. However, minor or cosmetic renovations do not need to be reported to your insurance company. Before commencing renovations, please contact your Murrick Group insurance agent with a list of the work being planned and we can recommend whether or not your insurance company should be informed.
Protect Your Investment
The upgrades and updates that insurance companies require protect your investment in your home and prevent potential damage and disaster such as flooding from burst water pipes or a leaking hot water tank; water damage caused by leaks from your roof after heavy rain or snow; or fire caused by outdated electrical wiring or electrical panel.
Commercial Property Insurance
Supply of capacity for commercial property insurance is dwindling and therefore, guidelines for insurance have become more stringent. Insurers are reviewing the physical risk details in depth to ensure their capacity is well-used.
Your Murrick Group insurance agent is now asking for complete update information for any commercial building constructed more than 20 years ago. This information includes, but is not limited to:
- Roof covering material — date of last full or partial update
- Electrical — updates of circuit breakers, fuses, or knob and tube wiring; amperage into the building and throughout the building; recent inspections
- Plumbing — copper or plastic piping; date and details of the latest system update
- Heating — date and details of the latest system update; details of secondary/auxiliary heating system
Often the current owner does not know the specifics of the updates done by previous owners. We strongly encourage all commercial building owners to obtain as much updating information as possible from previous owners/sellers and to record and pass along maintenance and updating information for subsequent owners.
If you have any questions regarding requirements for home or commercial property insurance, please contact your Murrick Group insurance agent.
