Insurance during Construction

[Jimmyg]

I haven't checked with my homeowners insurance yet but expect they do not cover an airplane being built at home. Where have others of you gone for insurance during construction?

Thanks

[Dave S]

Jim,

Home owner's insurance usually doesn't know what to do about airplanes - a person could check with their home owner's insurance provider to be sure.

I purchased my construction insurance from Falcon Insurance.

If I recall - Falcon wanted in the neighborhood of 1% per year for construction insurance. Don't know if that is the same today but a quick check should determine what is current.

I figured the cost was well worth it. I have to depend on good choices because I know what my luck is like....

Think of the cost of construction insurance as an additional incentive to get to work and get it flying....

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF 7 Trigear - Flying
St Paul, MN

[DesertFox4]

I've never heard of a homeowners policy covering aircraft or aircraft projects. You will need a specific policy for construction. Shouldn't be hard to locate one. Falcon is fine. I used AIG through a broker in Minneapolis. If you want his number let me know. I still have my insurance with them and have had good service. Wish I could give more detail but it's been over 8 years now since first flight and I can hardly remember what I did yesterday.

[Agfoxflyer]

I have State Farm for homeowners. When I asked the question about a rider for the airplane construction, the said NO WAY. I used Avemco for Construction policy. Cost about $350 a year for $40,000 coverage.

[n85ae]

My homeowners policy has a blanket amount of coverage towards general
stuff in the home. It is far more than the contents of my home. The only
thing that could destroy my kit in the home is fire, in which case the
blanket coverage would easily pay for the kit along with the rest of my
belongings ... So I don't have kit insurance.

Regards,
Jeff

[Tom T]

Love this topic...
I too have State Farm Insurance and have covered two project under my homeowners. My agent is a pilot and officer for one of our local flying clubs, so has a little more that the average insight to the issue.

The rub on this is that when questioned closely the underwriters do not consider a kit under construction an airplane until your airworthiness has been issued. So people might feel this is jinking the system but we have emails documenting the ruling in my files in case we had a loose and a forgetful underwriter.

You can also get separate coverage the Nation Air and others.

Keep building

[jtpitkin06]

Your airplane is not covered by any homeowner policy just as your automobile, motorcycle or boat are not covered if your garage burns down. Check your exclusions. Homeowner contents include household goods and appliances but almost always exclude motor vehicles, art work, jewelry and any other big ticket items.

Falcon provided me with a non-flying builder pollicy for a hull value of $35K for just $250 a year. It includes transport on a trailer to the airport. It is peace of mind to know if the shop catches fire the airplane will be covered. I'm not too worried about theft or flood in my area but they are covered, too.

Just be sure to save your receipts in a safe location (not in the shop) to prove your investment. You will also need a reserved registration number. A full registration is not required.

If you are building in a rented space like a hangar or a rented garage you absolutely need a separate policy for loss and liability. I know of one case where the wind blew a hangar door into a non-insured airplane. The aircraft was a total loss. The owner didn't renew the policy because it was in annual inspection and wasn't flying. He though he could get a "free" month. Oops!!! Scratch one Bonanza from the registry.


John Pitkin

[n85ae]

Not the case with my policy:

My policy with State Farm specifically pays a blanket amount of $dollars$
towards the "contents" of the house in the event it is destroyed. I do not
need to say ,my airplane went with the house, I just say - My house is
destroyed.

They pay replacement cost of house + blanket amount

Fire, or major storm is the most thing I can think of that would likely wipe
out my garage, and kit. So this would entail the entire house going away,
as well ... So I'm ok with just getting a blanket payout.

Regards,
Jeff

Your airplane is not covered by any homeowner policy just as your automobile, motorcycle or boat are not covered if your garage burns down. Check your exclusions. Homeowner contents include household goods and appliances but almost always exclude motor vehicles, art work, jewelry and any other big ticket items.

Falcon provided me with a non-flying builder pollicy for a hull value of $35K for just $250 a year. It includes transport on a trailer to the airport. It is peace of mind to know if the shop catches fire the airplane will be covered. I'm not too worried about theft or flood in my area but they are covered, too.

Just be sure to save your receipts in a safe location (not in the shop) to prove your investment. You will also need a reserved registration number. A full registration is not required.

If you are building in a rented space like a hangar or a rented garage you absolutely need a separate policy for loss and liability. I know of one case where the wind blew a hangar door into a non-insured airplane. The aircraft was a total loss. The owner didn't renew the policy because it was in annual inspection and wasn't flying. He though he could get a "free" month. Oops!!! Scratch one Bonanza from the registry.


John Pitkin

[n85ae]

In fact I have a couple valuables in the house that I wanted to make sure
were covered so I called them, and they asked "are the valuables plus the
contents of your house in excess of the blanket amount?". I replied "no
they were not" they said "don't worry about it then, the blanket amount
would be paid if your house burned"

Your policy might be this way as well, if you call to say "is my Kit Plane
covered" they might say NO! However, your payout if your house burned
might easily cover the cost of the kit in addition to the rest of the house
and belongings. So why bother insuring it???

Regards,
Jeff

[rogerh12]

Everyone keeps mentioning fire damage, but those Rotax 912s are a pretty penny these days. A guy around our club told me a story about a fellow that went out to his plane only to find the Rotax Engine had been removed overnight, with a chain saw !!!!
Like John, I had the Falcon hull (non flying) insurance on my Zenith 601 during the rebuild stage, and it was a fair deal. As a plane can get trailered around in the construction phase, that's a good time to get it damaged by a car or truck or anyone else not paying attention (they are kind of vulnerable on that trailer). The insurance covered the plane during transport too, which gave me piece of mind.
Roger