Buildings cover insures the structure. Contents cover insures everything you would take with you when you move. The line between them is mostly common sense, but the edge cases (fitted kitchens, integrated appliances, fitted carpets) trip up policyholders and insurers alike. Here is how each section works and where the boundary actually sits.
What buildings insurance covers
Buildings cover pays for damage to the permanent structure of your home: walls, roof, floors, ceilings, fitted kitchens and bathrooms, plumbing, wiring, central heating, boundary walls, gates, garden paths, outbuildings, conservatories. Anything that would be left behind if you sold the house and moved out.
The standard perils include fire, lightning, explosion, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, falling trees, impact damage, and accidental damage where the cover is in force.
What contents insurance covers
Contents cover pays for damage to your possessions: furniture, electronics, soft furnishings, clothing, kitchen utensils, bicycles, jewellery, paperwork, books, food in the freezer. Anything that goes with you when you move, including items in outbuildings and items temporarily off-premises within policy limits.
Contents claims overlap with buildings on most major losses; water damage claims and theft claims typically engage both sections.
The grey zone: fitted kitchens, carpets, white goods
Fitted kitchens are buildings (they came with the house, they stay with the house). Free-standing kitchen appliances are contents. Built-in appliances are usually buildings. Fitted carpets are buildings on most policies; rugs and loose carpets are contents.
This matters because the two sections may have different excesses, different limits, and sometimes different perils. A claim for a damaged fitted kitchen and the contents of its fridge engages both sections. We make sure both are claimed where applicable.
Sub-limits to watch on contents
Contents cover usually has sub-limits per item or per category:
- Single-item limits: typically 1,500 to 2,500 euro unless specified separately
- Jewellery and valuables: a separate aggregate limit
- Money in the home: typically capped at 250 to 1,000 euro
- Bicycles: per-bike caps, often with insurance only when locked or stored properly
- Personal items away from home: a separate “all risks” extension
Items above the sub-limit need to be specified individually on the schedule with their own value declared. A 3,000 euro engagement ring on a contents policy with a 2,000 euro single-item limit is uninsured for the difference unless specified.
Landlord and commercial differences
Landlord policies still distinguish buildings and contents but contents on a let property is the landlord’s contents, not the tenant’s. White goods, carpets, curtains, and any furniture that came with the let property fall under landlord contents. Tenant-owned items are not insured by the landlord’s policy.
Commercial policies replace “contents” with stock, plant and machinery, fixtures and fittings, each with its own section.
When to call a loss assessor
For a major claim that touches both sections (fire, flood, storm, large-scale water damage), the split between buildings and contents is one of the first things the loss adjuster sets. A wrong split disadvantages the policyholder. We make sure the split is correct from the start.
Two policies, one home
Buildings and contents can be bought separately or as a combined home policy. Combined is usually cheaper and avoids gaps. Either way, check both sums insured annually and confirm the perils on each section. Most underinsurance shows up at claim time, and at that point it is too late.
Written by the team at N.J. Carroll & Associates, insurance loss assessors and quantity surveyors, established 1988.
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