When to get Homeowner's Insurance?
Last Post 21 Feb 2007 09:02 AM by FlaICF. 9 Replies.
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hmp2zUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2007 08:55 AM
Hi!  We are having an ICF home built but don't know at what stage we are supposed to purchase homeowner's insurance.  Is this after the home is completed, and the loan rolls over from a construction loan?  Our builder has all the necessary builder's insurance, so is this what would cover us if, for example, our home was damaged by fire or winds during the construction process?

Also, we're in Florida, the state from which many insurance companies like State Farm are withdrawing their homeowner's policies.  Any suggestions as to specific insurance companies that you know are in Florida would be greatly appreciated, specifically if they gave ICF construction discounts :)

Thank you,
Heather W
James EggertUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2007 10:00 AM
As a builder I carry liability and workmans comp insurance, however, I do not cover the work in place because I do not carry Builder's Risk Insurance.
That is typically covered by the Homeowner, who carries a builder's risk policy or homeowner's policy, depending on your terminology, because it is usually required by the lender.

Discuss this immediately with your lender, if there is one, who will tell you what they require, and who, by the way should have required this UP FRONT, typically during the paper signing stage. If you are carrying your own paper, and have sufficient funds to pay for the construction as it progresses, then this should have been covered by your attorney!
Take Care<br>Jim<br><br>Design/Build/Consulting<br>"Not So Big" Design Proponent
jredburnUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2007 03:20 PM
Heather
I am a Florida ICF builder and we always carry builders risk on our projects until they are completed. Then the owner furnishes home insurance to the mortgage company at the final closing. If anything should go wrong this keeps the owner and us out of a lawsuit. It is very cheap insurance.
If you build your house to the IBHS "Fortified" Standards the Florida Insurance companies are not only required to cover your house but they have to discount the wind blown portion by 30% to 70% depending on the company.
My house is covered by State Farm and we recommend them to all of our customers.
Regards,
Joe
James EggertUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2007 06:24 PM
One of the reason we don't carry the Builder's Risk is because some lenders want to protect their position by being "first" in a recover situation. As a builder, I would want to be first followed by the mortgage provider so I can be protected. It's all in how the property will be insured, however, I do think it is a good idea that someone takes out a policy!
Take Care<br>Jim<br><br>Design/Build/Consulting<br>"Not So Big" Design Proponent
hmp2zUser is Offline
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17 Feb 2007 08:54 PM
Thank you for the help!  I will just follow up with our builder, to verify that he carries Builder's Risk Insurance.  I'm pretty sure that he does, and I know that he sent us copies of his insurance certificates early on in the process, so I guess I need to check that.  I didn't know what policies would cover the house, though, so this is good to know!

Joe, we actually had contacted State Farm early on in the process, but they told us they weren't writing any more Florida Homeowner's policies, so wouldn't cover us.  They contacted us again a few months ago, to follow up, and said that, at that time, they still weren't issuing new policies.  Too bad...  We'll probably try Nationwide and hope for the best - I really don't want to have to go with the uber-expensive state plan.

Thank you again!
Heather W
Our ICF Home Construction Blog: http://hmp2z.wordpress.com
James EggertUser is Offline
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18 Feb 2007 11:07 AM
Heather
I am a member of the ICFA and also a board member of the Building Systems Council of the NAHB. A lot of effort has gone into exploring insurance rates, value and return on ICF houses. The intent is too provide reduced rates for ICF homeowners simply due to their strength weathering the storm and the consistant end result of less damage, therefore less insurance payout(loss). These discussions were ongoing last year, and STATE FARM was one of the hosts of these meetings in the Midwest because they were very interested in being involved with the ICF Industry. Suddenly not writing a state, especially where ICFs are growing enormously in use like Florida, may be business to State Farm, but that's not the impression we in the industry had when trying to educate the insurance industry about the better value and strength of ICFs.


I would appreciate any written negative insurance info you could forward to me so I can discuss it with a few background sources.

By the way, I have State Farm for my own home, and have for many many years!
Take Care<br>Jim<br><br>Design/Build/Consulting<br>"Not So Big" Design Proponent
hmp2zUser is Offline
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18 Feb 2007 06:58 PM
Jim, I just forwarded you the message I'd gotten from the State Farm agent here in FL.  I first began a conversation with him about insurance coverage in April 2006, since I was aware that getting coverage might be an issue.  At that time, he told me that they'd frozen their policies in FL, and that I would have to wait for someone else to drop a policy before I could get coverage.  He then wrote to me in November, with bad news, which I just forwarded on to you.

I was quite disappointed, because I'd heard good things about State Farm.  This is our first house, and we have life insurance through our employers, so we weren't current State Farm customers for other types of insurance, which seems to have disqualified us.

Thank you for any thoughts/ insight!

Heather W
Our ICF Home Construction Blog: http://hmp2z.wordpress.com
James EggertUser is Offline
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19 Feb 2007 09:20 AM
Heather
No emails as of this morning. Check your pm box
Take Care<br>Jim<br><br>Design/Build/Consulting<br>"Not So Big" Design Proponent
James EggertUser is Offline
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20 Feb 2007 09:22 AM
Joe
I sent you a pm

Jim
Take Care<br>Jim<br><br>Design/Build/Consulting<br>"Not So Big" Design Proponent
FlaICFUser is Offline
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21 Feb 2007 09:02 AM
I am currently completeing and ICF home in St. Pete., FL and looking for insurance. No one I have spoken to has given me any apppreciable quote discounts for ICF construction. I am, at present, just like my conventional constructed neigbors. Even mitigation details like hip roofs and self sealing roof under layments are not easily gotton and are tiny disounts to the big picture. I have a quote that allowed $88 for wind loss mitigation credit on a $4000 policy. Nuff said. FL insurance is in turmoil.Untill we can get insurers to look at building singularly I see no change. Hopefully 6 mos. from now we may see some relief but not on the level we need for this type of building. GR
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