Colorado · New construction · After the keys
What to ask a Colorado builder about insurance
Picking a builder is a contract decision. The insurance consequence shows up after closing, when a carrier underwrites the finished house: roof, siding, wildfire exposure, and what it will cost to rebuild. A warranty and a homeowners policy pay for different failures. This is not a ranking of builders.
Policy side: Colorado homeowners, wildfire, and how the house’s design affects insurance.
The policy starts when you own it, not while they are framing
During construction, the builder’s risk policy, or a course-of-construction policy, covers the unfinished structure against the perils that form names. Materials on site can be included. Your homeowners policy is not that coverage. It is written for a completed residence. If you close before the house is finished, ask which policy is in force on the closing date and which perils it actually includes. A gap between the builder’s policy ending and yours starting is an uninsured house.
Once you own it, the dwelling limit should be the cost to rebuild, not the purchase price. Custom mountain houses, long drive times for crews, and code upgrades can put rebuild cost above what you paid. Ordinance or law coverage, if you add it, helps pay the extra cost of meeting current code during a covered repair. It does not pay to fix a construction defect. Replacement cost versus actual cash value, explained on a Texas page but the same idea: replacement cost vs actual cash value.
Roof, vents, and the questions underwriters ask
Hail on the Front Range and the eastern plains is a roof claim. Ask which covering is specified, whether it is an impact-rated product, and who warrants the installation. A class rating on a shingle is a lab test of impact. It is not a promise that a carrier will discount the policy, and it is not a promise the roof will never bruise. The carrier will ask the year, the material, and sometimes for photos. Vague specs slow that conversation.
In the wildland-urban interface, embers are the usual way a house burns, not a wall of flame. Screened vents, ignition-resistant siding, and a deck that does not connect vegetation to the wall change the physical risk the underwriter is pricing. Defensible space is landscaping you maintain after the builder leaves. The builder can set the vents and the siding. You keep the brush cleared. Colorado wildfire insurance.
A warranty is not a peril
| Builder warranty | Homeowners policy | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Defects in workmanship, materials, or a system, for a stated period in the contract. | Sudden covered perils: fire, wind, hail, theft, and liability, subject to exclusions. |
| A leak from a bad flashing job | Often a warranty or a construction-defect claim, if you are still inside the period and the contract covers that item. | Faulty workmanship is a common exclusion. The policy may still pay ensuing damage from a covered peril, and deny the cost of fixing the defective work itself. Read the ensuing-loss language. It is narrow on purpose. |
| Hail that bruises a properly built roof | Not a defect. The warranty does not become storm insurance. | A covered wind or hail claim, minus the hail deductible, which may be a percent of the dwelling limit. |
| Wear after year ten | Usually expired. | Wear, deterioration, and maintenance are excluded. Insurance is not a substitute for the warranty you let lapse. |
A longer look at warranties versus the policy: home warranties and homeowners insurance. Gaps that show up after closing: common coverage gaps.
What to take to the agent before closing
- A specs sheet: roof product, windows, siding, HVAC, square footage, and garage.
- The date the builder’s policy ends and the date you need yours to start.
- Whether the lot is in a wildfire area and what ignition-resistant details were actually installed.
- The warranty periods in the contract, so you do not file an insurance claim for a defect the builder still has to fix.
Materials, theft, and whose name is on the policy
Lumber and appliances on a job site disappear. Builder’s risk often covers that theft, sometimes with a higher deductible and a list of excluded property. Your homeowners policy does not, because you do not have a completed residence yet and the materials may not be yours until closing. Ask to be listed correctly if you already own the lot and are hiring the builder. Additional insured and loss payee are different. Additional insured can give the lender or the owner certain liability protection. Loss payee is who gets paid for property damage. Getting those words backward is how a claim check goes to the wrong party.
