Why choose our contract works insurance
If you’re doing renovations or alterations to your house buy Contract works - Renovation cover to help give you peace of mind during the process.
Home renovation insurance provides cover if your renovation cost is more than the amount covered under your house insurance minor renovation benefit or the work requires consent from your local council. It also includes works like installing a permanent swimming pool or spa pool, or building a deck.
You should consider home renovation insurance before your renovation kicks off. Our policy covers damage to the work being done and theft of materials during the construction period.
Natural disaster damage
We’ll pay for natural disaster damage to the renovation work during the construction period.
Supplied materials cover
We’ll cover the goods, materials or equipment you buy for the renovation, once they’re delivered to your house.
One event, one excess
If you have multiple policies with us, and multiple items get damaged in one event, you only pay one excess.
We're award-winning
We're over the moon to have won Canstar ’s 2023 Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance Award, as well as the General Insurer of the Year 2022 at the NZ Insurance Business Awards.
Our Contract works - Renovation cover policy includes
This is a summary only. For all of these benefits, please make sure you read the policy wording to understand the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that may apply.
Contract works - Renovation cover
Up to your chosen sum insured
Sum insured value as per existing house policy
Renovation contract amount
Renovation cover amount
Amount specified on certificate of insurance
Up to 2.5% of renovation contract
Up to 2.5% of renovation contract
Up to 5% of renovation contract
Up to 10% of renovation contract
Contract works - Renovation cover FAQs
There is no difference. Contract works is the commonly used name understood by the insurance industry, but this policy is specifically for renovations, so we're calling it Contract works - Renovation cover.
If you're doing renovations or alterations to your house, consider Contract works - Renovation cover insurance when:
- the renovations cost is more than the amount covered under your House insurance - house under minor renovation benefit. Refer to your policy wording or My Tower for limits; or
- the work requires consent from your local council. This also includes work like installing a permanent swimming pool or spa pool, or building a deck.
You need to hold a current Tower House insurance policy to purchase Contract works - Renovation cover. The best time to buy this is once you've got your quotes or contracts in place and you know when the work is going to start, or any materials you have purchased for the job are ready to be delivered.
It's important to have your renovation insurance in place before work starts and as soon as goods arrive so that you have cover should something go wrong.
If you buy Contract works - Renovation cover after work has started, we may not be able to offer cover and we won't pay for damage that's already occurred.
You'll need to check with your builder about what is included in your contract.
If your builder is organising your contract works cover, it's important that you check that there's coverage for existing structures (the house) and that the right liability insurance for the project is in place.
When setting your sum insured, consider the total cost of the renovation work (such as the total amount of your fixed price contract or the sum of all your quotes). Also consider the cost of materials, appliances, fixtures, and fittings you might be supplying yourself. There will need to be included as a separate amount under the Principal supplied goods benefit.
This policy covers any sudden or accidental loss or damage that occurs during your renovation. If you have issues with the quality of work completed, this falls under the Building Act and is something that you would need to discuss with your tradesperson.
The Principal is also known as the policyholder and, often, the homeowner. They may buy fixtures and fittings like taps, basins, kitchen appliances, or other materials themselves rather than leave those purchases to the tradespeople. These items are what we call Principal supplied goods.
Any items purchased by the homeowner for the renovation that aren't included in the builder's contract must be insured at a specified amount, which is then detailed on the certificate of insurance.
Yes, just contact us. We can extend your cover and increase your sum insured at any stage.
Contact us to change the end date or if the contract value increases, to change the sum insured. We can extend cover and increase the sum insured at any stage of the renovations. We will ask a few questions to understand the reason for the delay or increased costs.
You can log into My Tower to check when your Contract works - Renovation cover is due to end and the amount insured.
Once your renovation has finished, review and update your house and contents sum insured in My Tower if the quality of finish has improved or if your house has increased in size.
If you are unsure on how much cover you will need after the renovation is complete, you can use our sum insured calculator.
Call us on 0800 379 372, and we'll cancel the policy from the start date and refund any premium payments you've made.
After the end of the construction period, we provide an additional 12 months cover for damage that was done during renovation but not discovered. This is known as the Loss during maintenance period benefit.
Talk to us if anything changes in the work being done. Sometimes people may extend the work to renovate beyond what they initially planned or discover things that need to be fixed along the way. It's important to let us know so we can help make sure the appropriate insurance cover is in place.
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