What type of insurance should an owner-builder carry during course of construction?

Question

Our family is building a second home. We have a general contractor who is putting up the shell. However, we will be doing all of the interior and exterior finishing ourselves. We have tried to get a home owner's insurance policy, but they won't cover us until we have the house finaled. We are looking for both coverage for the cost of the structure and liability insurance. What kind of policy should we be looking for and what type of insurance agents should we be contacting?

Answer 1

The policies we sell are called builders risk.  

Answer 2

Course of Construction (COC) policy.  Also called Builders Risk but usually Builders Risk is used for commercial construction.

I know Farmers Ins. sells COC's for a very low premium.

Answer 3

For the liability, you should be able to extend the liability from your primary house, to this "secondary location", for under $50 a year.  That's the best way to do it.

BUT, for the property, you're looking at a "Builder's Risk" policy.  Some homeowners carriers will write a homeowners with a builder's risk endorsement on it, for cheaper than a straight builders risk policy.

Any local, independent agent should be able to help you out with either of these.  Sounds to me like you're only asking your State Farm or Nationwide agent - these types of captive agents have a pretty narrow scope of what they can and can't insure.  An independent agent, will have a LOT more options.

And shame on your current agent, for not suggesting extending the liability to the place under construction.