Home Insurance Estimator

Homeowners insurance is priced on the cost to rebuild, not on market value, and conflating the two is the most common and most consequential error in setting coverage.

Market value includes land, location, and demand. Rebuild cost covers materials and labour to reconstruct the structure. In expensive metropolitan areas market value often far exceeds rebuild cost, because land dominates the price. In some rural areas the reverse holds and rebuild cost exceeds what the property would sell for. Insuring to market value therefore risks paying for coverage you cannot use, or being badly underinsured, depending on which way the gap runs.

A standard policy has several distinct components. Dwelling coverage rebuilds the structure. Personal property covers contents, typically as a percentage of dwelling coverage, and may be settled at actual cash value — depreciated — rather than replacement cost unless you have specifically chosen otherwise. Liability covers injury or damage you are responsible for. Loss of use covers living costs if the home is uninhabitable. Each is worth reviewing separately.

Standard policies commonly exclude flood and earthquake entirely, and these require separate cover. Flood in particular is widely assumed to be included and is not. Some policies also apply a separate percentage-based deductible for named storms or wind, which can be far larger than the standard fixed deductible.

Raising the deductible lowers the premium, and is sensible only if you could comfortably absorb that amount at short notice. This tool produces a planning estimate only — actual premiums depend on the specific property, its construction and age, claims history, and local risk factors that no general calculator can assess. Quote with insurers directly before budgeting on any figure here. Everything runs in your browser — no login, no upload, and no figure you enter leaves the page.