Across 6,719 households in one of the oldest towns in Arizona, a good deal of the housing is being restored rather than merely maintained. A house under renovation is not the house your policy describes.
Major work changes the risk and sometimes the occupancy. A standard policy may not respond during it.
Three things about insuring a house that is being worked on.
A standard homeowners policy assumes a finished, occupied dwelling. Significant structural work, an open roof or a house emptied for the duration changes both the risk and the occupancy, and policies contain conditions about each. Builders risk cover exists for exactly this period and it is a different product rather than an endorsement people happen to have.
Lumber, fixtures and appliances delivered but not installed sit in an awkward category. They are not part of the structure and they are not ordinary contents. Theft from a work site is common and whether anything responds depends on how the cover was arranged.
A contractor’s liability policy covers their negligence. It does not cover your building, and it does not make their certificate a substitute for your own cover. Asking for the certificate is still worth doing, because a contractor without one is an exposure you absorb.
The period between the old house and the new one.
It decides whether a vacancy condition comes into play.
Cosmetic and structural are different conversations.
Ask for the certificate. A gap there becomes yours.
Tell us what work is planned, how long it will take and whether anyone will live there.
We arrange cover for the building period, not just the finished house.
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