There is one question we think every person building a new home should ask their builder.

And surprisingly, very few do.

“Can you obtain Home Warranty Insurance for my home?”

Not:

What stone benchtop do you include?

How quickly can you start?

Can you sharpen the price?

Those questions can come later.

If you are trusting a builder with one of the largest financial commitments of your life, understanding the protection sitting behind your building project should matter.

At Christou Homes, we arrange Home Warranty Insurance through HIA Insurance Services for our applicable residential building projects.

But what does that actually mean for you?

First, Understand What You Are Getting

Home Warranty Insurance exists to protect the homeowner.

In NSW, it is formally referred to by government as Home Building Compensation cover, although most people in our industry still know it as Home Warranty Insurance.

For applicable residential building projects, the insurance is taken out specifically for the individual home.

Read that again.

Specifically for your home.

It is not simply an insurance policy Christou Homes keeps in a drawer somewhere.

Your project receives its own Certificate of Insurance.

Your property.

Your building work.

Your certificate.

So What Does It Actually Protect You From?

Home Warranty Insurance is designed as a last-resort safety net.

If certain serious circumstances mean a builder can no longer complete your home or meet particular warranty obligations, the insurance may provide protection to the homeowner.

Those circumstances can include:

• The builder becoming insolvent
• The builder dying
• The builder disappearing
• Certain circumstances where the builder’s licence has been suspended

Depending on the situation and policy terms, the cover may apply to eligible incomplete work or eligible defective work.

Nobody engages a builder expecting any of those things to happen.

That is exactly the point of insurance.

You put the protection in place before you need it.

Here Is the Part Most Homeowners Do Not Know

A builder cannot simply wake up tomorrow, pay a premium and automatically obtain Home Warranty Insurance for whichever project they want.

There is an eligibility process behind it.

Before project-specific certificates can be obtained, a builder must have the appropriate eligibility to access the insurance scheme.

That process can require information about the building business, including areas such as:

• Building experience
• Financial information
• Financial performance
• Current building activity
• Future workload
• Building contracts
• Business capacity
• Planned growth

HIA Insurance Services works with builders through these eligibility requirements and assists with obtaining certificates for qualifying projects.

Why should you care?

Because there is more behind that Certificate of Insurance than simply filling out a form.

Does That Mean an Eligible Builder Could Never Have Financial Problems?

No.

And we would never tell a client that it does.

Home Warranty Insurance is not a guarantee that nothing could ever happen to a building company.

In fact, the reason the insurance exists is to provide a safety net for homeowners if particular serious circumstances do occur.

But there is a major difference between saying:

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

and being able to say:

“Here is the Home Warranty Insurance Certificate issued specifically for your project.”

We would rather give our clients something tangible.

Why We Arrange It Through HIA Insurance Services

Christou Homes is a member of the Housing Industry Association and we use HIA Insurance Services for our Home Warranty Insurance requirements.

HIA Insurance Services specialises in the building industry and assists builders with both eligibility and the project-specific certificates required for residential construction.

For every applicable Christou Homes project, we go through the required process to arrange the insurance for that particular home.

Then our client receives their Certificate of Insurance.

Simple.

Transparent.

Documented.

Before You Choose a Builder, Ask to See It

If you are currently comparing builders, add these questions to your list:

Will my project have Home Warranty Insurance?

Can your business currently obtain the required cover for a project like mine?

When will I receive my Certificate of Insurance?

Will the certificate identify my property and building project?

A builder should be able to explain the answers.

At Christou Homes, we are comfortable having that conversation.

In fact, we think more homeowners should be having it.

Hopefully You Never Need It

The ideal outcome is that your Home Warranty Insurance Certificate gets filed away and you never need to think about it again.

Your home gets built.

You receive your keys.

And the insurance simply sits in the background.

That is exactly what everyone wants.

But when you are making such a significant investment, “hopefully I won’t need it” is very different from “I don’t need to have it.”

Protection matters most before there is a problem.

What That Certificate Means When You Build With Christou Homes

When we provide the Home Warranty Insurance Certificate for your project, we want you to understand what you are looking at.

It means the required insurance has been arranged specifically for your build.

It means there is a last-resort protection available to you in the circumstances covered by the policy.

It means Christou Homes has the required eligibility to arrange the cover for the project.

And it gives you something incredibly valuable when you are about to make one of the biggest investments of your life:

Another layer of certainty.

Home Warranty Insurance may not be the most exciting part of building a beautiful custom home.

But it could be one of the most important pieces of paperwork you receive.

And we think every homeowner should understand why.