Reinstatement
Cost
Assessments
An accurate RCA ensures your buildings insurance sum insured reflects what it would actually cost to rebuild your property today. Around 80% of UK properties are underinsured.
A Reinstatement Cost Assessment is a calculation of what it would cost to completely rebuild your property from scratch, in the event of total loss or severe damage. It is not the same as a market valuation. Where a valuation reflects what a buyer would pay for a property, an RCA calculates the actual cost of demolition, clearance and full reconstruction to current building regulations.
The figure produced by an RCA is used to set the buildings insurance sum insured. If that figure is too low, your insurer may only pay out a proportion of any claim, leaving you to cover the shortfall yourself. If it is too high, you are simply paying more in premiums than you need to.
What an RCA Covers
A reinstatement cost assessment considers everything that would be required to rebuild your property from the ground up, not just the bricks and mortar.
Construction Type and Materials
We evaluate the specific materials, construction method and architectural details that would be required to replicate the building, including any non-standard or heritage elements.
Location and Access
Local labour rates, site access constraints and proximity to suppliers all affect rebuild costs. We factor these in to ensure the assessment reflects the true cost in your specific location.
Current Building Regulations
Rebuilding to current regulations can cost significantly more than rebuilding to the original specification. We ensure compliance costs are fully accounted for in every assessment.
Demolition and Professional Fees
The cost of demolishing and clearing the existing structure, together with architect, engineer and project management fees, are often overlooked but can represent a significant proportion of the total reinstatement cost.
Why Reinstatement Cost Assessments Matter
Rising construction costs, labour shortages and material price inflation have made accurate and up-to-date RCAs more important than ever.
Avoid Underinsurance
If your sum insured is lower than the actual rebuild cost, your insurer may reduce any payout proportionally. An accurate RCA protects you from this risk.
Keep Pace with Inflation
Construction costs have risen sharply in recent years. An RCA that is more than three years old may significantly understate the current cost of rebuilding.
Lender and Insurer Requirements
Many lenders and insurers require an up-to-date RICS-compliant RCA as a condition of cover or finance. We provide reports that satisfy these requirements.
Annual Desktop Updates
For high-value or complex properties, annual desktop updates between full inspections are becoming increasingly common. We offer both services.
How often should you update your RCA?
Construction costs do not stand still. Inflation, labour shortages and rising material prices have all pushed rebuild costs up significantly in recent years, meaning an assessment carried out even three or four years ago may no longer reflect what it would actually cost to rebuild your property today.
We recommend updating your RCA every three to five years as a minimum. For high-value or complex properties, an annual desktop review is increasingly common and gives insurers and lenders greater confidence in the figures. If you have carried out significant works to your property since your last assessment, an update should be commissioned regardless of when it was last done.
find out if your property is properly insured
If you are unsure whether your current sum insured reflects the true cost of rebuilding your property, we are happy to have an initial conversation at no charge. Fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.
