Insurance Reinstatement Cost Assessments in London
Your buildings insurance should reflect what it would actually cost to rebuild your property — not its market value. Wimbledon Surveyors provides RICS reinstatement cost assessments across London that protect you from under-insurance and the average clause. Request a reinstatement assessment.
Why Rebuild Cost Differs From Market Value
Rebuild cost includes demolition, debris removal, professional fees and rebuilding to current regulations — and can be higher or lower than market value. Insuring on the wrong basis is a costly mistake.
The Danger of Under-Insurance
If your sum insured is too low, insurers can apply the average clause and cut your payout proportionately — leaving you short exactly when you need to rebuild after a loss.
Period and Listed Buildings
Older and listed properties across London need specialist assessment, as traditional materials and conservation requirements significantly raise rebuild costs.
Flats and Blocks
For leasehold blocks we assess the whole building, giving freeholders and managing agents a defensible sum insured to declare to insurers.
Get Properly Insured
A periodic reinstatement assessment keeps your cover accurate as building costs rise. Contact us to arrange yours.
Insurance Reinstatement Cost Assessments (Rebuild Valuations)
The figure your buildings insurance is based on is not the market value of your property — it is the cost of rebuilding it from the ground up, including demolition, debris removal, professional fees and VAT where applicable. Get that figure wrong and the consequences are serious: under-insure and your claim payout is cut proportionately under the “average” clause; over-insure and you pay inflated premiums year after year. Our RICS surveyors provide insurance reinstatement cost assessments (RCAs) for houses, flats, blocks and commercial buildings across London and Essex.
Why Market Value Is the Wrong Number
In much of London, land value means market value far exceeds rebuild cost — so owners who insure at market value often over-insure. Conversely, period properties with brick façades, sash windows, ornate plasterwork or non-standard construction can cost far more to rebuild than their market value suggests, so owners relying on lender estimates or index-linked figures from years ago are frequently under-insured without knowing it.
What Our Assessment Includes
- Measured survey of the building (gross external area) on inspection.
- Rebuild cost using current BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) data, adjusted for location, specification and access.
- Allowances for demolition, site clearance, professional fees and statutory compliance with current Building Regulations.
- Specific consideration of period features, listed status and non-standard construction.
- A clear declared value your insurer or broker can apply directly.
Blocks of Flats and Managed Buildings
For residential blocks, the lease usually obliges the freeholder or management company to insure the whole building adequately — and directors of resident management companies carry personal responsibility for getting it right. RICS guidance recommends a professional reassessment periodically, with index-linking in between. We assess whole blocks including common parts, plant and external works, and can advise alongside our commercial valuation and building survey teams for mixed-use buildings.
When to Get a Reinstatement Assessment
Commission an RCA when you first insure a building, after any extension or major refurbishment, when buying a property with unusual construction, on a claims dispute, or if the sum insured has only ever been index-linked from an unknown starting point. Costs of rebuilding have moved sharply in recent years — an index applied to a wrong base figure simply compounds the error. Most assessments are fixed-fee and reported within a week of inspection.
Frequently Asked Questions
An RCA is a professional calculation of the full cost of demolishing and rebuilding your property to its current design in compliance with current regulations, including professional fees and debris removal. It sets the declared value on which your buildings insurance — and any claim — is based.
No. Market value includes the land and reflects what buyers will pay; rebuild cost is purely the construction cost of reinstating the building. In London the two figures often differ dramatically in both directions, which is why insuring at market value is a mistake.
Most policies apply “average”: if you are insured for 70% of the true rebuild cost, any claim — even a small one — may be reduced by 30%. A correct declared value protects every claim you might make, not just total loss.
Professional guidance is to obtain a full reassessment roughly every three years, or immediately after extensions, conversions or major refurbishment, with index-linking applied in the intervening years. If your figure has only ever been index-linked, a rebase is overdue.
Yes. We assess whole blocks for freeholders and resident management companies, and listed or period buildings where traditional materials and craftsmanship substantially increase rebuild costs. These are the properties where professional assessment adds the most protection.