Buildings and Contents Cover Calculator United Kingdom

This buildings and contents calculator sets your sum insured: buildings cover from the rebuild cost, plus contents cover for belongings and high-value items.

What it does

The Buildings and Contents Cover Calculator adds up the two halves of a home insurance policy — the cost to rebuild your property and the value of everything inside it — so you can set a sum insured that will not leave you underinsured.

Data sources & parameters

This calculator uses standard financial formulas and runs entirely in your browser. It needs no external rate data — your result is computed only from the values you enter above.

We always strive to use the latest data for every variable so our results and reports are as accurate as possible. Even so, errors are possible — you should not rely on this tool or its report alone, and we accept no liability for any decision made based on it.

The formula

Contents cover = contents value + high-value items; buildings cover = rebuild cost; total sum insured = buildings cover + contents cover

How it works

It takes your rebuild cost (the RICS/BCIS figure, not the market value) as your buildings cover, adds your general contents value to any high-value items you list separately for your contents cover, then combines the two into a single total sum insured.

Where it is used

Setting the right sum insured before you buy a home policy
Checking you are not underinsured at renewal
Splitting a combined quote into its buildings and contents parts

Worked example

A rebuild cost of £250,000.00 plus contents of £40,000.00 and £5,000.00 of listed items gives buildings cover of …, contents cover of … and a total sum insured of ….

A home insurance policy is two policies in one, and where the line falls decides whether a claim pays out in full. This calculator splits your cover into the cost to rebuild your property and the value of everything inside it, then adds them into one sum insured you can quote.

The two halves of home insurance

Buildings insurance protects the structure of your home: walls, roof, floors, ceilings and the permanent fixtures that would stay behind if you moved out, such as a fitted kitchen, a bathroom suite or built-in wardrobes. It responds to major events like fire, flood, storm, subsidence and impact damage. Contents insurance protects what you would take with you: furniture, electronics, appliances, clothing, books and everyday belongings. Owners of houses normally need both. Many flat owners find the freeholder arranges buildings cover through a block policy, leaving them to insure only their contents.

Why buildings cover is the rebuild cost, not the market value

The most common mistake is insuring buildings for what the property would sell for. Market value includes the land, the location and current demand, none of which can burn down. Insurers need the rebuild cost: what it would take to clear the site and reconstruct the same home to the same standard, including labour, materials, scaffolding, debris removal and architects’ fees. In many areas the rebuild cost is well below the sale price, so insuring at market value means paying for cover you can never use. In some high-cost or unusual cases it is higher. Either way, the right figure comes from a rebuild assessment, not estate agent particulars.

For a standard home, the BCIS rebuild cost calculator, which draws on RICS rebuild cost data, gives a reliable figure. Listed buildings, non-standard construction such as timber frame or thatch, and large or heavily extended homes are worth a formal survey from a chartered surveyor, because the standard tables do not capture their real cost.

Valuing your contents and listing the expensive items

Value contents room by room on a new-for-old basis: what it would cost to replace each item today, not what you paid years ago. Include the loft, garage and garden. Once you add up sofas, beds, white goods, televisions, computers, tools and a wardrobe of clothes, the total is often larger than expected.

Standard contents cover has a single-item limit, a cap on what it pays for any one possession. Anything worth more, such as an engagement ring, a good watch, original art, a professional camera or an expensive bicycle, has to be specified separately to be insured at its full value. The high-value items field captures these, adding them on top of your general contents figure.

A worked example

A three-bedroom home has a rebuild cost of £250,000. The owner values general contents at £40,000 and separately lists £5,000 of jewellery and a road bike. Buildings cover is the rebuild cost, £250,000. Contents cover is £40,000 plus £5,000, or £45,000. The total sum insured is £295,000. Splitting it this way makes it obvious if either half has fallen out of date.

How to use the calculator

Enter your rebuild cost as the buildings figure, using the BCIS calculator or a surveyor rather than the market value. Add your general contents value, then open the advanced options to enter the total of any single items above your policy’s single-item limit. The calculator returns buildings cover, contents cover and the total sum insured, with a chart showing the split between structure and belongings. Review the figures at each renewal so they keep pace with building costs and new purchases.

Assumptions and limitations

This is a planning aid, not a quote, and it does not price a premium. It assumes the rebuild cost you enter is accurate and that your contents figure is on a new-for-old basis. It does not check individual policy single-item limits, model accidental damage or away-from-home cover, or allow for a block buildings policy a flat owner may already have through the freeholder. Underinsurance can trigger the condition of average, so if you are unsure of your rebuild cost, get a professional assessment and check the wording of any policy you take out.

About This Tool: Buildings and Contents Insurance

Buildings and contents insurance: use this tool to get an instant estimate based on the figures you enter. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between buildings and contents insurance?

Buildings insurance covers the structure of your home (walls, roof, floors and permanent fixtures such as a fitted kitchen or bathroom) against events like fire, flood and subsidence. Contents insurance covers the movable belongings inside, from furniture and electronics to clothes and kitchenware. A combined home policy bundles the two, and the total sum insured is the buildings figure plus the contents figure.

Should buildings cover be the rebuild cost or the market value?

The rebuild cost. That is what it would take to clear the site and rebuild your home, including labour, materials, debris removal and professional fees. It excludes the land, so it is often lower than the price you paid. Insuring at market value usually means paying too much, while guessing too low leaves you underinsured if you ever need to rebuild.

How do I find my rebuild cost?

For most standard houses and flats, the BCIS rebuild cost calculator, based on Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) data, gives a reliable figure. For listed buildings, unusual construction or large properties, a chartered surveyor can produce a formal rebuild assessment. Review the figure every few years, because building costs change.

What are high-value items and why list them separately?

High-value items are single possessions worth more than your policy's single-item limit, commonly jewellery, watches, art, antiques, cameras and expensive bicycles. Standard contents cover caps what it pays for any one item, so anything above the limit must be specified individually or it will only be paid up to the cap.

What happens if I am underinsured?

If your sum insured is lower than the true value, insurers can apply the condition of average and cut a claim in proportion to the shortfall. Insure for 80 per cent of the real value and a claim can be reduced by about a fifth, even for a small partial loss. Setting accurate buildings and contents figures from the start avoids this.

About the author

Written and reviewed by

Taha Kheirandish

Economics student and independent researcher

Taha Kheirandish reads tax codes the way other people read maps — to find out where a system actually leads, not where it claims to go.

He is an economics student, and his work here is comparative by design. A pension deferral bonus in Quebec, a commuting allowance in Germany, a rent-increase ceiling in the Netherlands: each is a decision a government made about how money should move, and each reads differently once you set it beside eight others. He builds and checks these calculators across nine markets from primary sources — the regulation rather than a summary of it, the ministry’s own circular rather than a news item quoting it.

That is the editorial standard of the site as well as his habit. Every rate, threshold and bracket here carries the document it was read from and the date it takes effect, and gets re-checked when the law moves rather than when someone happens to notice.

He is a researcher, not a licensed adviser, and nothing on this site is personal financial advice. It is arithmetic done carefully with its sources shown — so that you can check it, and take it to someone who is.

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