Show Notes
Who's responsibility is it to set the sum insured value on your house insurance policy? How accurate are online calculators? Should you use a valuer or get a rebuild valuation done by a quantity surveyor? Andy and Jackie sit down to tackle these questions and dispel the misconceptions they hear every day about sum insured and house insurance.
More from Rebuild Confidence
The insurance market is shifting and signs have started to point to a hardening market by year's end, with major Insurers already signalling rate increases. In this episode, Andy and Brett unpack what that means for property owners: why under-insurance risk doesn't disappear just because premiums are low, how construction costs are climbing again despite a slow housing market, and why waiting too long between Rebuild Valuations can leave clients exposed.They also cover the labour and materials pressures reshaping build costs, from skilled trades moving to Australia to global material demand spikes. A practical, grounded conversation for anyone advising clients on insurance and rebuild risk right now.
Andy and Brett sit down to unpack a recent industry report on underinsurance in New Zealand, and what it reveals about the state of residential cover across the country.They work through the gap between non-insurance and underinsurance, what actually happens when an underinsured property is hit by a major event, and why economic conditions like recessions and softer premiums can shift how many people stay properly covered. The conversation closes on a shift worth watching: banks increasingly treating underinsurance as a risk to their own lending, not just a homeowner's problem, and what that means for anyone renewing or taking out a mortgage.
Our Founder, Andy Thomson sits down with Nick Sollitt, Executive Manager of Personal Lines at NZI, whose 27-year career with the company has spanned claims, earthquake recovery work, and now leading the personal lines business. They talk through the story behind Distinction, NZI's product for high-value and complex homes, why a proper Rebuild Valuation can uncover shortfalls Insurers only otherwise find at claim time, and why the responsibility for getting Sum Insured right is shared across the industry, not just the customer. The conversation also touches on the mix of clients turning to contents-only cover, and a decades-old insurance ad that's stuck with Andy ever since he first saw it.
In episode 19 of the Rebuild Confidence Podcast, Andy sits down with Jax Wilson, Head of Personal Lines Portfolio at Ando with 24 years of experience within the New Zealand insurance industry. Together they discuss one of the most pressing issues facing property owners today: underinsurance.In this episode they cover:- Why underinsurance remains so widespread despite being entirely avoidable.- What Ando Elite is and why it was built for high-value residential risks.- Why a rebuild valuation sits at the centre of the product.- What brokers should be doing differently for high-value clients.- Why claims service is where trust is really built or broken.This is a conversation you don’t want to skip. Learn more about Construction Cost Consultants: costconstultants.co.nz Learn more about Ando Elite: ando.co.nz
Brett and Andy address one of the industry's most pressing and least-discussed issues: the gap between what people think they're insured for and what it actually costs to rebuild.They work through the mechanics of underinsurance, how common calculators fall short, why costs keep rising even in a flat market, and what happens when homeowners find out at claim time that their figure was wrong.