Self-build insurance in Ireland: what you need and when

Arrange insurance before work starts, with cover for damage to the build and the liability risks of running a site. You may also need mortgage protection and separate cover for structural defects that appear after completion.

How much does self-build insurance cost?

You need a quote for your project to know the premium — the price you pay for insurance. The Optis product page and Arachas self-build page do not supply a reliable general price for self-build insurance in Ireland. They are not a basis for an average premium or a percentage of your build cost.

The sum insured is the amount of cover set for the works, not your insurance bill. The rebuild-cost subtotal later in this guide helps you discuss that amount with a broker; it does not calculate a premium.

What to have ready for a quote

Brady Insurance’s Irish quote form asks for the following project details. Use these to prepare for a broker conversation:

• Value and size: the buildings sum insured and floor area. Ask the broker to confirm the rebuild-cost basis before settling the sum insured.
• Build route: whether you hire trades yourself (the form calls this direct labour) or use a contractor. Explain any split between the two.
• Stage and dates: whether work has begun, what is complete, the start date and expected duration.
• Property: the site address and Eircode, and whether it is a new building, extension or renovation. Describe any existing building affected by the works.
• Lender and claims: your bank’s name and any insurance protection it requires as your mortgage lender, plus property-insurance claims in the past five years.

This is a preparation list, not a pricing formula; brokers may ask further questions. If work has already started, say so when requesting cover rather than assuming a policy can cover earlier work.

When quotes arrive, compare the period, excess, exclusions and total payable, including fees. Unsure which cover to ask about? Am I covered? helps you make a checklist for your build, with the option to request an insurance callback; it does not give an instant price.

What insurance do you need?

Cover	What it is for
Building (site or contract works) insurance	Loss of or damage to the works, materials and, depending on the policy, construction machinery and equipment on site, for example from fire, storm or theft
Public liability	Injury to other people, or damage to their property, arising from the site
Employers’ liability	Injury to people working for you, where you employ them directly
Mortgage protection and life cover	Repaying the loan if you die. Usually required for a home mortgage, subject to exceptions and lender conditions
Latent defects (structural) cover	Defects in the finished home that appear after completion. See structural defects cover

Names vary between insurers, and a single policy sometimes bundles several of these. Compare what each one actually covers, not what it is called.

What lenders ask for

Your lender needs insurance in place to protect the unfinished house. Check which policies it requires before the first drawdown and whether you can choose your own provider. Building insurance and mortgage protection serve different purposes, so arrange both where your offer requires them. See insurance requirements for a mortgage.

Owning the site before work begins

Owning land carries risk even before anyone starts work on it, for example if someone is hurt while visiting. A builder’s insurance generally applies to the builder’s own works and operations, and may not start until they begin on site, so ask what, if anything, covers the gap between buying the plot and the builder starting. This is a question for your insurer or broker; policy terms vary.

If you project manage the build

When you hire tradespeople yourself rather than a main contractor, check cover for your own role as well as each trade’s work; hiring a trade does not automatically make you liable for every accident. Ask each trade for evidence of their own public liability and, where relevant, employers’ liability cover. Ask your insurer how a policy treats subcontractors and whether any work is excluded.

Choosing a broker

Insurance for a self-build is specialist, and a regulated broker can compare several insurers for you. Check that the broker is on the Central Bank of Ireland’s register, ask which insurers they approach, and ask for the policy documents to read before you commit. If you later have a complaint that the insurer or broker does not resolve, you can bring it to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman.

Who arranges cover for your build?

The same house can be built in three ways, and the insurance picture changes with each. A shell is the main structure; fit-out is work inside it such as wiring, plumbing and finishes. The contract must say exactly which items each label includes.

Route	What to establish before work starts
Main contractor (including a ready-to-move-in contract)	Who arranges contract works cover, whose interests it protects, and the contractor’s liability cover
You project manage and hire each trade	Cover for your role, how direct hires and family help are treated, and each trade’s insurance
Contractor builds the shell, you hire the rest	Written responsibility for cover at each stage and any overlap or gap at handover

Give your building contract’s insurance clauses to your broker. Ask whether you and the contractor must both be named as insured parties (joint names), what protection each receives, and whether the policy meets those clauses. A certificate alone does not establish that every activity or person is covered.

What the main covers actually do

Contract works (building) insurance

This pays for loss of or damage to the works as they stand, plus materials on site, and sometimes construction machinery and equipment, from insured events such as fire, storm or theft. Questions worth asking:

• Sum insured. It should reflect the full cost to rebuild the works, including materials you supply yourself and labour you do not pay for in cash. Ask your broker to confirm the valuation basis, including fees, debris removal and any taxes required by the wording.
• Uplift. Costs rise during a build. Ask whether your policy has an automatic uplift, how much it is, and when the sum needs reviewing.
• Excess and exclusions. Theft of materials left unsecured, defects in design or workmanship, and damage caused by water or frost can be excluded or carry a higher excess.
• Materials stored off site. Timber kits or windows held at a supplier may not be covered until delivered.
• Existing structure. If the project includes an existing building, a contract works policy may not cover it. Keep its home insurance in place. Tell its home insurer about the proposed work and get written confirmation of any cover restrictions before relying on the policy.

Public liability

Public liability may respond where you are legally liable for injury to other people or damage to their property, subject to the policy terms. An accident on your site does not by itself establish liability or cover. Ask your broker to confirm the liability limit required by your lender and contract, which people are insured, and what activities are excluded.

Ask whether the liability limit applies per claim or across the policy period. Describe deliveries, visitors, neighbouring property and access to the site before work begins so the broker can confirm the scope.

Employers’ liability

Tell your broker how everyone on site is engaged: your employees, independent trades, subcontractors and unpaid helpers. Employment status and policy definitions matter; paying someone directly does not settle their status by itself. Ask what cover you need for each arrangement and get the answer in writing. See insurance when you project manage for the checklist.

Mortgage protection and life cover

Mortgage protection repays the loan if you die, subject to its terms. It does not cover an accident or damage on site. With interest-only repayments during construction, you pay loan interest without reducing the amount borrowed. Check how much life cover your lender requires for that arrangement. One available interest-only option requires life cover of 103% of the loan; that is a product condition, not a rule for all mortgages.

Some lenders allow you to buy building insurance and mortgage protection from any provider, provided the policies meet their conditions. The law allows exceptions to the usual requirement for mortgage protection. Ask your lender whether an exception applies to you and whether it will still require cover. See insurance lender requirements. Your site cover may need to begin before the first drawdown.

Latent defects (structural) cover

Latent defects policies are available for new homes, with benefits, limits and exclusions that depend on the product. This is separate from construction-stage cover and does not guarantee payment for every defect. Ask the provider to confirm eligibility for your one-off self-build, when inspections and registration must start, and your lender’s requirements. See structural defects cover.

Health and safety duties: a related obligation

When you commission construction work on your home, you are a client under the Construction Regulations 2013. Under those regulations you appoint a project supervisor for the design process (PSDP) and one for the construction stage (PSCS), the people who coordinate health and safety. Both are required where there is more than one contractor, a particular risk, or work exceeding 30 working days or 500 person-days (one person working one day is one person-day). These triggers apply to the appointments; a project supervisor construction stage (PSCS) is not automatically required for every small domestic job.

A “particular risk” is a risk specified in the regulations, such as work near high-voltage lines or deep excavation in poor soil. Ask your designer or contractor to identify these risks using the HSA’s homeowner guidance.

Make required appointments in writing and obtain written acceptance. Assess competence for each role; being the architect, builder or homeowner does not automatically qualify someone. For work expected to exceed 30 working days or 500 person-days, check the HSA project notifications: the client’s AF1 form and the PSCS’s AF2 form. Ask your supervisors to confirm when each is due and keep copies. Ask the PSCS for the construction-stage safety and health plan, explaining how site risks will be controlled, before work begins. At completion, obtain the safety file from the PSDP: information for safe future maintenance and alterations. Keep it with the written appointments and your build records. Check your duties when you project-manage and use the Health and Safety Authority’s guidance to plan the appointments. Insurance does not replace these duties. Building Control means your local authority’s building-regulations section; it is separate from the HSA.

How do you compare insurance quotes?

You cannot compare quotes by premium alone. Ask for the proposed policy schedule: the document listing your specific cover, amounts, dates and conditions. Use it with the full policy wording to fill in a table like this, rather than relying on the sales email.

Item	Quote A	Quote B
Total payable, including premium, insurance taxes and broker fees
Sum insured for the works
Does it include materials you supply?
Uplift during the build
Excess (theft / water / other)
Public liability limit
Employers’ liability limit and who is covered
Subcontractors covered or excluded
Other exclusions and conditions that affect your work
Joint names with your contractor
Period of cover and what happens if the build overruns
Cover for the site before work starts
Security conditions (fencing, locked storage)

Shop around, then compare the cover as carefully as the price. For your self-build, the policy needs to fit your contract, your lender’s conditions and the work you will actually arrange. A cheaper premium can leave you paying more after a loss if the excess is higher or an important risk is excluded.

Insurance across the life of a lender-funded build

Put your insurance dates beside your mortgage milestones. The example below follows one available four-stage mortgage, including its six-month first-drawdown deadline and later completion deadlines. These are example terms; use the dates and evidence required by your own offer.

Point in the build	What the lender releases or requires	Insurance consequence
Before the first drawdown	Mortgage protection and building insurance must be in place. The first drawdown must be within 6 months of the offer letter	Have the contract works policy start on or before the day you begin, not the day the money arrives
Mortgage payout 1, floor level	Foundations complete and certified by a qualified professional your lender accepts; confirm whom you must appoint	Check that foundations and the work already completed fall within the cover
Mortgage payout 2, roof level	Shell or frame built and certified	Review the insured value and weather-protection conditions with your broker
Mortgage payout 3, finished	Habitable, plastered, water and electricity connected	Before fit-out materials arrive, confirm theft conditions for fittings and appliances stored on site
Mortgage payout 4, post completion	Final valuation, a Certificate of Compliance from the assigned certifier (the professional coordinating building-regulation inspections and certification), and a final Building Energy Rating (BER). Ask the lender and certifier which compliance documents are required. The final drawdown must come within 18 months of the first and no later than 24 months from the offer letter	Check the actual policy end trigger and arrange home cover with no gap; completion, handover or occupation may matter

The 18 and 24 month limits matter for insurance as well as finance. Compare your policy’s actual end date with your expected completion date. If construction cover would end too soon, check extension or replacement terms before it expires.

If your build is delayed or paused

Tell your broker as soon as the programme changes, even if the policy end date is months away. A stoppage condition can affect cover before that date. Use the situation below that fits your build.

Still building, but approaching expiry

Send the revised programme to your broker now. Ask whether the insurer will extend the construction cover or whether you need a replacement, what it will cost and when it will start and end. Asking for an extension does not put it in force. Obtain written confirmation of acceptance, dates and any conditions before relying on it.

Work has temporarily stopped

Tell your broker when work stopped, why and when you expect it to resume; say if the restart date is unknown. Ask which stoppage terms apply now and what must be agreed before restarting. Keep the site secure and ask your construction professional how to protect the unfinished work during the pause.

For example, the Optis Self Build wording V082024, General Conditions 5, printed page 18, suspends Item 1 cover after three consecutive months of stopped work unless the insurer agrees in writing to continue it. It also requires practical steps to protect the insured property during a total or partial stoppage. This is one product’s condition, not a three-month allowance to wait before notifying your broker. Ask them to identify Item 1 in your own policy schedule — the document listing your cover — and check the wording and any amendments that apply to you.

Cover has already expired

Contact your broker urgently. Give the actual expiry date, current work status and details of any loss or damage. Ask whether cover can be arranged from now and get its start date and conditions confirmed before further work. Do not assume a new policy covers the uninsured interval or that an insurer will accept an already-started build. For a loss that may fall under earlier cover, follow the claim-notification steps promptly.

What to send your broker

• Your policy reference, insurer and scheduled end date.
• The stage reached, work completed and work still outstanding, with current photographs.
• The last work date, intended restart date and reason for the delay.
• Your revised completion date and updated full rebuild value, including changed costs or scope.
• Site security and protection arrangements, including who checks the site while it is idle.

Ask for written confirmation of works and materials cover and, separately, your liability as site owner: what applies during the pause, on restart and through the revised completion date, with conditions and any extra premium. A builder’s policy does not establish your own protection. Do not switch automatically to ordinary home insurance while work continues; agree a suitable changeover with the insurer.

Need help listing the cover to discuss? Make your build-specific cover checklist and, if useful, request an insurance callback. The checklist does not confirm an extension or arrange cover for a gap.

A worked example: setting the sum insured

The sum insured is the amount declared for the works on the policy. It should reflect the full rebuild basis required by that policy, rather than just the cash you have spent or the land’s market value. The figures below are invented to show costs worth checking, not a recommended valuation.

Say the builder’s full price for the shell and fit-out is €300,000 including VAT. Kitchen units (€18,000) and flooring (€9,000) are outside that price. A relative will paint; replacing that unpaid work with paid labour would cost €6,000 including VAT. Assume a further €22,000 for professional work that would have to be repeated after a loss, and €5,000 for debris removal. Each allowance is separate from the builder’s price; none is counted twice.

Item	Amount, including VAT where applicable
Builder’s full price	€300,000
Extra materials you supply	€27,000
Replacement cost of unpaid work	€6,000
Professional work to repeat after a loss	€22,000
Debris removal allowance	€5,000
Rebuild-cost subtotal to check with your broker	€360,000

Professional fees already paid are not automatically irrelevant: a rebuild may need fresh drawings, inspections or certification. Ask which repeat costs the policy requires in its sum insured, which it covers separately, and what limits apply. Optis’s self-build product lists additional cover for professional fees and debris removal. Ask whether your proposed policy includes these costs and what limits apply.

The example adds no allowance for price rises. Ask your broker whether an automatic uplift applies, what it covers and whether any extra allowance is needed. An actual claim depends on the insured loss, valuation basis, limits, exclusions and excess (the amount you pay towards a claim). Underinsurance can reduce a partial claim where an average clause applies: the insurer may pay only the proportion represented by the sum insured divided by the required rebuild value. Ask how your policy treats it.

Turn a quote into a cover record

Before accepting a quote, write down the proposed start date, end date and insured parties beside the build programme. Attach the current contract, a description of the construction method and a list of work you will arrange separately. Include any planned early occupation or materials stored elsewhere. Ask the broker to identify any question that needs the insurer’s approval rather than treating silence as acceptance.

For example, if the main contractor finishes the shell in March and you arrange the kitchen in June, ask who insures the intervening work and materials. Does the contractor’s cover continue after leaving site? Does your policy include damage to the shell while another trade works on it? Record the answers with the policy schedule and endorsements (documents adding to or changing the standard terms). Repeat the check if the dates or scope change. This is a way to expose a gap before a loss; it does not itself extend either policy.

Common mistakes

1. Insuring the quote, not the cost. Sum insured set from the builder’s price, ignoring materials you buy, your own labour or design fees that a rebuild would repeat.
2. Letting cover lapse on a delayed build. Check the steps for a delayed or paused build as soon as the programme changes; the end date is not the only condition that can affect cover.
3. Assuming the builder’s policy covers everything. Its scope depends on the wording and insured parties. It may not cover your own mistakes, your direct hires or your site before the builder starts.
4. Forgetting the occupation date. Check whether completion, handover, occupation or a fixed date ends your contract works cover. Home insurance must be in place by then, and some lenders want it earlier.
5. Not telling the insurer about changes. A new extension of scope, a change of construction method or someone moving in early can affect cover. Tell your broker in writing.
6. Treating payment-stage certificates as insurance. An engineer’s stage certificate releases your lender’s money. It is not a guarantee of the work.

If something goes wrong

Report the loss to the insurer or broker straight away, keep the damaged materials and photographs, and read your policy’s notification conditions. Follow the steps for making a claim. If you are unhappy with how the insurer handles it, first use the provider’s complaints process. You can then bring an unresolved complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman through its online form. The service is free.

Questions to ask a broker before you commit

• Which insurers did you approach, and why this one?
• Who is named as insured on the policy, and whose interests does it protect?
• What is the sum insured and what is not counted in it?
• How are my direct-hire trades treated, and what evidence of their cover do you need?
• What happens to cover between buying the site and the build starting?
• Does the policy meet my lender’s written conditions? Please confirm in writing.
• What notifications do I have to make, and when does the policy end?
• Can I extend it if the build overruns, and at what cost?

What to do next

1. Read your lender’s conditions and note every insurance requirement.
2. List who will be working on the site and under what arrangement (main contractor, direct hire, family help).
3. Ask a broker for quotes on the covers above and compare the policy wording.
4. Keep copies of every certificate of insurance with your build records.