Rebuilding costs

[Lobster]

I've just been using the on-line rebuilding cost calculator at

to check up on my insurance valuations on a pair of adjacent terraced houses I own (regular readers will recall all my plaintive cries for help earlier this year while I was in the midst of subdividing these from the single property which it used to be!).

Now, I've used the calculator to generate rebuild costs for each house, and then for the hell of it, added them together to get the costs for the whole original property. Slightly surprised to find that this was precisely equal to the sum of the two smaller properties; ie, rebuild cost is proportional to the floor area and nothing else.

I realise that's the principle of insurance rebuild costs as opposed to market valuations, nevertheless, can this be right? Surely, now there are two bathrooms and two kitchens for example; there are two sets of 'professional fees' to be included etc.?

Another oddity (to me) is that rebuild costs seem to be a lot higher for older houses than for modern ones. Why is that? If you're having to rebuild from scratch in the event of total loss, what difference does it make how old the original burnt out shell was?

David

[Christian McArdle]

Because if my house burnt down, I'd expect it to be rebuilt with the same patterned brick and wooden sash windows that wouldn't be required rebuilding some crap and cheap uPVC and stretcher bonded modern hutch. I'm also not losing my intricate plaster mouldings that adorn the staircase. That all costs, and I have no problem paying higher premiums to cover the risk.

Christian.

[Ian Stirling]

If your 15th century cottage burns down, and you want to replace it exactly, then older construction techniques can be considerably slower than timber framing.

[Christian McArdle]

P.S. Other things that might apply

(a) Chances that asbestos will be discovered, making demolition more expensive. (b) Problems with planning/conservation issues. (c) Possible greater fire risk (won't affect rebuild cost, but might affect premiums). (d) Use of proper roof structure, rather than cheap trussed rafters. (e) Use of more expensive materials, such as real slate on roofs. (f) Requirement for more highly skilled crafts.

Christian.

[Neil Jones]

or

subdividing

proportional

Obviously these are ballpark figures. I assume they work on the basis that a big house is likely to have a larger posher kitchen and a couple of bathrooms, etc.

I bought one of those building and renovation magazines the other day and they have these figures per sq m, but also say that if you know the exact cost of a kitchen, for example, then deduct £20 from the price per sq m and add on the cost of the kitchen at the end.

They also had a whole load of figures for using different outer skins, different types of roof tile etc etc. It was quite interesting, in its own rather dull way.

[The Natural Philosopher]

In many cases it is precisely that.

Yu may have to bring the older house up to modern standards I suppose.