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redneckpaul
Member
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# Posted: 16 Sep 2021 11:46pm
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Do you have it? How much does it cost?
Insurance is one of the most crooked businesses out there. Love to take your money but when it comes to paying out its a PITA.
I choose not to have insurance for my cabin, I don`t think I could get it anyway so I haven`t tried.
How do you insure something that doesn`t exist in the eyes of the county?
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:15am
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You could call around to local agents. The county has nothing to do with insurance and the insurance company dosnt talk to the county..at least here.
The towns dont even talk to the county here as far as building.
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Houska
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:55am - Edited by: Houska
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Insurance varies quite a bit by jurisdiction.
My answer is for Ontario, ymmv.
Property insurance policies are not well-designed for small cabins. Policy value minimums are generally way more than a cabin is worth and so premiums are expensive. And many providers will want a building inspection you will not pass.
However, liability coverage is important. While your duty of care to trespassers is pretty low (don't set traps), the same is not true of your duty of care to invited visitors. And recreational cabins can be pretty dangerous places, especially to the inexperienced and careless.
You probably have liability coverage on your primary residence. Check your policy wording since that liability coverage will likely extend to what you do on vacant land, but not on non-vacant land. How the latter is defined varies. In some cases, you're protected if you have a small shed (which you may be sleeping in...); in others, literally a small woodshed or outhouse may turn the land non-vacant and void your coverage.
To solve that, you need a "seasonal or secondary" residence policy, including its own liability coverage (and that property coverage limit probably higher than you need). If you need that, your main residence provider may write it as a rider or separate policy without inspection; or a local agent may know what companies are DIY-built friendly.
In our case, we have a separate seasonal policy on our recreational property, with the 8x12 (actual) shed as the primary structure and outhourse and yurt we actually sleep in as outbuildings. With a minimum coverage level for the shed that would be excessive if the siding were out of gold, but where a very high ($5k) deductible makes the premium low-ish. We don't actually intend to ever make any small-ish claims on the property coverage (since we know policies routinely get cancelled after a 2nd claim) and so would only likely get $ back if a fire destroyed everything. But we do get liability coverage that our primary home policy excludes on our land due to the "structures" we have built.
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Alaskajohn
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:04pm
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I spent many hours and have called every insurance carrier that does business in Alaska and I have found zero that will cover a 1500 square foot home in the middle of nowhere. All have said that you have to be in an area where a fire department can respond to in order to be able to be insured.
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snobdds
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 02:06pm
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I'm an actuary and know how the pricing of insurance works. I built my place to be insured. THere were a number of things I did that facilitated a good rate and were required to obtain it.
1. It had to have a concrete foundation that is off the ground. Most fires are spread from the ground to the structure. A sonotube foundation worked.
2. The forest service and county fire guy had to sign off on the defensible space requirements. It took us 8 years of clearing trees to get this.
3. No combustible exterior materials, outside of trim. My roof is metal, my siding is concrete, my decking is composite.
4. A wood stove can't be the primary source of heat. I put a direct vent propane heater in as primary and wood stove as secondary. I have used the propane heater once and the wood stove all the time. It's strictly for insurance purposes.
That is all that was needed. I pay $1500 per year and I'm insured for 500K, to include all out buildings and equipment. I am in the middle of the national forest, that had a major fire last year. I'm not going uninsured as I have lots of high dollar equipment.
You have to know the game and play it.
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BRADISH
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 03:57pm
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Quoting: Alaskajohn I spent many hours and have called every insurance carrier that does business in Alaska and I have found zero that will cover a 1500 square foot home in the middle of nowhere. All have said that you have to be in an area where a fire department can respond to in order to be able to be insured.
I talked to StateFarm in AK and they said they could give me up to $70K (maybe $75K?) as an extension to my homeowners policy. This is the maximum they can extend to me.
I have a $65K additional dwelling policy on my homeowners to cover my shop at my house, and this would cover actual damages to the cabin while building which was a surprise to me.
A friend with a nearby cabin of similar build to mine got his insured through Countrywide up to $250K. I will probably end up going that route once completed. He had a few loose ends to tie up like deck rails, etc before he could get the green light. I am a ways out from that currently.
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:36pm
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I got a policy through American modern, I am in ny
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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 09:11pm
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Mine's through Shelter, in Indiana. Covered up to mid-$60k replacement value. Affordable rate, but I also don't have a lot to replace, relatively speaking.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2021 09:41pm
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Im in WI, we are bundled with our ins. co. for auto and home. When we got our 9+ ac. place c/w a 16x24 rough built, off-grid, dry cabin on Aug.1 2020 I called them for liability and 'info' on the rest. The liability is an add-on to our homeowners and pretty cheap, iirc about $150/ann. Dont leave home without it 
The cabin? Well..... "do you have a wood stove?", she asks. No, why? "Our company wont insure with a wood stove". So much for my cord and a half of 20yr split, dry, aged oak we moved in and the upright vintage stove I rebuilt 30+ years ago.
Im undecided just how we will heat it or if it might just be a 3-season cabin, says I. How about we take the risk on the structure ourselves? "No problem" she says.
So, we have liability and contents covered for theft or vandalism on the cheap and 'self-insured' on the cabin structure at this point, that subject to change. And fwiw, the wood stove is not being used, we went with LP wall furnaces, a 30K btu infrared and an 18K btu 'blue flame'. They warm the dead-cold place up as needed waayyy fast.
Our local volunteer F.D. is only about 3 miles away. Guess I should call our ins. co. again.
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