Hello 🙂
Our house burned down a few months ago. It had to be rebuilt down to the foundation walls. So far, so good.
The house was built in 1936 and is just a typical single-family home. Now we have received a complete restoration quote of over €350,000.
Roof, facade, insulation, masonry, windows, etc. Everything, basically. ^^
Now the question is, is this price justified? Our insurance agent was nearly shocked and can’t believe it costs this much. The masonry alone costs €70,000, which is more expensive than the roof.
So now the question is if this is a rip-off or if prices have simply risen this much nowadays.
Until now, we didn’t have any concerns because everyone said it was all fine and proceeding as expected. But now the insurance coverage is not enough, and everything is on hold for the time being. It’s not too bad because the fire department couldn’t extinguish the fire properly since no water came from the hydrant, and the city has to take responsibility for that (according to the police, it was not an isolated case, and we were advised to contact the city). This was even covered in the newspapers because of water pressure issues.
We actually wanted to avoid all this because now we’ll probably have to go to lawyers, and everything will take ages...
I just wanted to hear your opinion. So far, the project manager has handled everything, including finding the companies and so on. And now this...
Another question: is it even worth it, or would it be cheaper and easier to build a prefab house? Or to completely demolish everything and rebuild from scratch?
Or would that not be much better cost-wise either?
The house should be around 160m² (1722 sq ft), with bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room on the ground floor, and living/bedrooms upstairs. It should all cost around €250,000.
We have no experience with this kind of thing. We also heard that prefab houses can have many hidden costs.
Our insurance company is coming again on September 17th. So the question is in which direction we should go: rebuild or new build?
I hope someone can help us and maybe answer some of our questions... the whole thing has become a bit more complicated ^^
Our house burned down a few months ago. It had to be rebuilt down to the foundation walls. So far, so good.
The house was built in 1936 and is just a typical single-family home. Now we have received a complete restoration quote of over €350,000.
Roof, facade, insulation, masonry, windows, etc. Everything, basically. ^^
Now the question is, is this price justified? Our insurance agent was nearly shocked and can’t believe it costs this much. The masonry alone costs €70,000, which is more expensive than the roof.
So now the question is if this is a rip-off or if prices have simply risen this much nowadays.
Until now, we didn’t have any concerns because everyone said it was all fine and proceeding as expected. But now the insurance coverage is not enough, and everything is on hold for the time being. It’s not too bad because the fire department couldn’t extinguish the fire properly since no water came from the hydrant, and the city has to take responsibility for that (according to the police, it was not an isolated case, and we were advised to contact the city). This was even covered in the newspapers because of water pressure issues.
We actually wanted to avoid all this because now we’ll probably have to go to lawyers, and everything will take ages...
I just wanted to hear your opinion. So far, the project manager has handled everything, including finding the companies and so on. And now this...
Another question: is it even worth it, or would it be cheaper and easier to build a prefab house? Or to completely demolish everything and rebuild from scratch?
Or would that not be much better cost-wise either?
The house should be around 160m² (1722 sq ft), with bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room on the ground floor, and living/bedrooms upstairs. It should all cost around €250,000.
We have no experience with this kind of thing. We also heard that prefab houses can have many hidden costs.
Our insurance company is coming again on September 17th. So the question is in which direction we should go: rebuild or new build?
I hope someone can help us and maybe answer some of our questions... the whole thing has become a bit more complicated ^^
Matthew03 schrieb:
Where does he say that he is underinsured?Christian911 schrieb:
But now the insured amount is not sufficient, and everything has been put on hold for the time being.M
Matthew0331 Aug 2018 11:53That is not the same, even if it sounds like nitpicking 😉
If he is underinsured, that would be very unfortunate and his problem. If the insurance amount is not sufficient to cover the current new construction costs, but he is not underinsured, then it is the insurance company’s problem and their calculation.
If he is underinsured, that would be very unfortunate and his problem. If the insurance amount is not sufficient to cover the current new construction costs, but he is not underinsured, then it is the insurance company’s problem and their calculation.
M
Matthew0331 Aug 2018 12:26...then he should mention it or correct it now.
But the insurance company doesn’t have to provide you with a house full of modern technology if you have been living in a house from 1936 with the standards of that time, right? They certainly won’t replace it with a newly built house with all the latest features...
For example, if you previously heated the cabin with a wood stove, you won’t suddenly get a heat pump. Or if you had an outhouse, they probably won’t cover a high-end, expensive toilet system now... I’m not sure exactly how they calculate this, but I can’t imagine you’re allowed to end up better off than you were before.
For example, if you previously heated the cabin with a wood stove, you won’t suddenly get a heat pump. Or if you had an outhouse, they probably won’t cover a high-end, expensive toilet system now... I’m not sure exactly how they calculate this, but I can’t imagine you’re allowed to end up better off than you were before.
apokolok schrieb:
Well, the problem is that it’s underinsured.
The city won’t pay voluntarily either; there will be a long legal battle with expert reports after expert reports.
If the fire department had extinguished it, everything would have been ruined by water damage anyway, not much difference there.
I wish you good luck that you come out of this relatively unscathed. Underinsured due to the property value increase in recent years. Quite a bad joke. I’ve actually never seen it like this or worried about it before.