Having carried out RCA’s on a range of units and portfolios in both the public and private sector, you can trust Centrick’s RICS accredited valuations team to provide you with a reinstatement cost assessment you can rely on.
Whether you own a single unit, or your portfolio spans multiple buildings, one thing is for sure – building and contents insurance are crucial. But simply having insurance isn’t enough. Property owners and portfolio managers need to know that their insurance is appropriate for their building and its contents or risk having inadequate or overly expensive insurance. This is why reinstatement cost assessments are so vital.
A reinstatement cost assessment is undertaken by RICS professional valuers to determine the extent of damage inflicted onto a property. A qualified valuer will attend your property and examine it in full to reach a conclusion regarding the total predicted costs of a rebuild in the event of extensive damages, otherwise known as “Reinstatement”. In the unfortunate event of property damage, the RCA will be used to inform your insurance provider how much money is needed to restore the property in full. In the event of a claim for damages, your reinstatement cost assessment is likely to be used to justify any payout from your insurance provider.
At Centrick our team of RICS qualified surveyors work across residential and commercial property to provide accurate, professional assessments – we’ve valued buildings of all types from standard construction to listed buildings, considering all elements of the core build in addition to any extensions, alterations and any unusual features that may be more difficult to replicate.
Find out more about RCAs and what they can cover for you.
An RCA considers how much it would cost a property owner to foot the bill for a comprehensive rebuild of the property in question. Essentially, if the property were to be built again from scratch in the event of horrific damages, how much would it cost to bring the unit back to its condition at the time of the cost assessment?
After your chosen valuer has carried out their RCA, you will receive a detailed review. Your assessment will break down the estimated costs not only for the rebuild of the property, but the demolition of the remaining structure, removal of debris, and professional fees.
It is important to obtain an RCA regularly, with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors recommending that a new assessment ought to be carried out every three years. This should be even sooner should you undertake any major works on your property. It is also important that you obtain updated RCA’s that are adjusted for inflation – many surveyors will utilise the ABI/BCIS House Rebuilding Cost Index in between comprehensive assessments.
In times of economic change it is vital to review your RCA on a regular basis and in line with current and forecast levels of inflation.
It is crucial that property owners take the time to obtain a RCA that is as accurate as possible, or risk obtaining inappropriate insurance. Under-insuring your property could leave the policyholder footing the bill for damages in the shortfall, as an insurance pay-out would not cover the extent of the damages. In fact, studies suggest that 79% of properties across the UK are under insured.
On the other hand, taking out an insurance policy where values are inflated or overstating the estimation of potential reinstatement costs could result in the policyholder spending far more on their insurance than is necessary. For those with a portfolio of properties, multiple units with unnecessarily high insurance premiums can greatly impact your bottom line. This isn’t to mention that obtaining the wrong insurance could result in a claim from your insurance provider for negligence, voiding of policy and loss of premiums.
At Centrick, we carry out RCA’s on a daily basis and have national coverage, making us well equipped to help with a broad range of properties. We are also subscribed to the Build Cost Information Service (BCIS) which is the most comprehensive database on build costs across the UK, allowing us to give extremely accurate cost assessments based on high-quality data.
We are a people business which is why you’ll always work with a named surveyor; we’ll always know what’s important to you and we’ll work tirelessly to deliver.
Trusted by region and national partners our local knowledge is second to none, drawing on our in-depth knowledge to deliver precision valuations every time.
We’re agile, and we deliver cutting the delivery time for complex valuations to help you service your clients and keep your transactions moving.
Today we deliver hundreds of valuations every year, and we’ve grown by 150% in the last 3 years alone.
Get in touch with Head of Valuation, Katherine Nolan, to see how the Centrick team can help…
Director, Head of Valuation
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