Your home is almost certainly the largest thing you own, and most homeowners policies are written once and never looked at again. Construction costs move. Renovations get done. Coverage limits set five years ago quietly stop being enough to rebuild.
We review homeowners policies against what it would actually cost to rebuild your house today, not what you paid for it, and not what it would sell for. Those are three different numbers, and only one of them matters after a fire.
What a homeowners policy covers
- Dwelling: the structure itself. Should be set to rebuild cost, including the labor and materials premium that follows any widespread storm.
- Other structures: detached garage, fence, shed, deck.
- Personal property: everything inside. Worth checking whether yours pays replacement cost or depreciated value, because the gap is large.
- Loss of use: pays for somewhere to live while your home is being repaired.
- Personal liability: if someone is injured on your property, or you are held responsible for damage elsewhere.
- Medical payments: minor injuries to guests, handled without a liability claim.
The gaps worth asking about
Standard homeowners policies exclude more than people expect. Flood is not covered by a standard policy anywhere in Indiana. It needs a separate policy. Sewer and drain backup is usually an endorsement, not a default, and it is one of the most common claims in older Indianapolis housing stock. High-value jewelry, firearms and collections are typically capped at a few thousand dollars unless scheduled individually.
We go through these explicitly rather than leaving them for you to discover during a claim.
Bundling and deductibles
Carrying your home and auto with the same carrier often lowers both premiums, and we will price it both ways. We will also walk through what raising a deductible actually saves per year against what it costs you if you do file. That trade-off is worth doing with real numbers rather than by instinct.