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12. Boring stuff: Building Contract and Insurance

Updated: Feb 20

With the design finalised and more-or-less back on budget, the next steps before starting on site were the crucial but unexciting tasks of:

  • drawing up the building contract; and

  • putting the right insurance in place.


The Building Contract

The last time I came near a building contract was about 30 years ago, in the early days of working as an architect. My career in large-scale masterplanning meant that – despite lots of other sorts of contracts - I never saw a building contract again. I was therefore very happy for my architect, Russel Hayden, to take the lead on this.


We’ve used the standard contract published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – the RIBA Domestic Building Contract 2018. This is specifically designed for projects on the client’s own home. Link here:


The contract is really easy to understand – written in Plain English, with clear guidelines on how to use it. Section D, Contract Documents, is a key section as it defines the scope of the project. There is flexibility to list whatever you want. For the EcoBungalow, the Contract Documents are:

  • a Schedule of Drawings – i.e. a list setting out drawing numbers and titles of all of the design drawings;

  • a Specification for the project – this sets out a written description that sits alongside the drawings;

  • a ‘Contractor’s Design Proposal’ – this is the completion of the design of the heating and hot water system by the builder in response to the specification; and

  • a Pricing Document drawn up by the builder, Alex Burn.


Insurance

The contract provides guidelines on insurances that should be in place for the project. There are 4 types of insurance listed:

  • public liability;

  • contractor’s employer’s liability;

  • all risks insurance in joint names to cover the works;

  • all risks insurance in joint names to cover damages to the existing structures.

The first two are the responsibility of the contractor, the second two are mine as client.


Your normal home and contents insurance won’t cover a major building project like this. For the duration of the works, I need to replace my normal insurance with specific renovation insurance. ‘Joint names’ wasn’t something I’d come across before. By naming both me as the homeowner and Alex as the builder, a Joint Names policy:

  • ensures that the policy cannot be cancelled by one of us without the other’s knowledge;

  • means that any claim is paid directly to me. If the policy was in the contractor’s name only, payouts would go to the contractor. So if Alex accidentally burns my house down during the works and we’re no longer speaking to one another, there are no problems with getting hold of the payment; and

  • provides protection in the event of the builder going bust, as the insurance isn’t tied to just the contractor.

I got in touch with specialist insurers for a quote. Two that were especially helpful were:




Be warned: renovation insurance is expensive compared to normal home insurance. For my project, the insurance is around £1,200 for an 8 month build period. It also needs to be in place for the Building Contract to be signed, so allow at least a couple of weeks.


Not the most exciting blog post, but the boring stuff is crucial to a successful project!

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2 Comments


Sylvia Nock
Sylvia Nock
Oct 16, 2023

Am finding the whole project fascinating; and the blog very informative.

Wishing you every success within the planned time line.

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Sue Rowlands
Sue Rowlands
Oct 16, 2023
Replying to

Hi Sylvia, Great to hear you're finding the blog informative! Sue

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