What is considered a building in an insurance policy?
The term "building" refers to the set of elements that form part of the construction of a property. This includes dwellings (flats, houses, terraced houses) as well as offices, commercial premises, factories, industries, garages, warehouses or owners' associations.
Within the continent they include:
- Foundations, walls, roofs, doors and windows.
- Fixed installations: water, gas, electricity, solar energy, satellite dishes, telephony, etc., up to their connection to the general network.
- Building-integrated elements such as lifts, awnings, bathroom and kitchen furniture, built-in wardrobes, sanitary ware, carpets, parquet, paint or wallpaper.
- Security installations such as fire and burglary detection systems.
They are also considered part of the mainland:
- Storage rooms and outbuildings.
- Fences, walls, fences and trees.
- Garages, swimming pools and sports facilities.
It is important to note that there may be slight differences in this definition depending on the insurer. Each insurer will specify exactly what it considers to be a building in their general conditions.
How to calculate the value of the continent?
To calculate the value of the building to be insured, the construction value of the property is taken as a reference, not its market value. This value depends on the type of property: it does not cost the same to build an industrial building as a house, nor is the cost of a villa the same as that of a flat.
For a proper estimate it is necessary to know the value per square metre of the type of property to be insured. A good reference can be the data provided by the architects' association of your province.
In addition, the quality of the materials used in the construction has a significant influence. The higher the quality, the higher the value per square metre.
Once this value has been defined, it must be multiplied by the built square metres of the property. This gives the value of the building that should be insured, avoiding both the underinsurance such as overinsurance.
Finally, the value of those facilities or elements integrated into the building should also be added, as indicated above in the definition of the building.