Property Reinstatement

What Reinstatement Actually Means

Reinstatement is the rebuild that follows an insured loss: returning the building to its pre-loss condition. It covers structural repair, plastering, electrical and plumbing works, joinery, decoration and reinstating fixtures and fittings.

It is what your buildings policy promises. Cover is not limited to making the property safe and dry — it extends to putting it back as it was.

In practice the industry splits this in two. A restoration firm handles mitigation: make-safe, strip-out, decontamination and drying. Then a separate builder handles the rebuild. That split is where claims lose weeks, and where accountability gets blurred — the builder was not there for the drying, and has no record of whether the structure ever reached target moisture content before they plastered over it.

We carry both sides. Same team, same moisture data, same schedule of works, one point of responsibility from the first call to handover.

The Schedule of Works Is the Whole Claim

If you read one document carefully during a claim, make it this one. The schedule of works is the itemised list of every task, material and cost required to reinstate your property. Your insurer, the loss adjuster and the contractor all work from it.

It defines exactly what will and will not be done. Anything omitted at the point of agreement becomes a variation you have to argue for later, usually after work has started and from a considerably weaker position.

Things worth checking before you agree it:

• Does it cover matching items — if half a floor is damaged, is the whole floor replaced so it matches?
• Are decoration allowances realistic for the rooms affected, including ceilings?
• Is drying included and, crucially, is reinstatement conditional on verified target readings?
• Are electrical and gas testing and certification included?
• Is alternative accommodation covered if the property is uninhabitable during works?

You can usually appoint your own contractor rather than the insurer's panel firm, provided costs are reasonable and the scope matches. Confirm it in writing first.