Know what it takes
to rebuild.
Learn what goes into rebuilding your home, understand the different insurance terms, and prepare the right questions for your next conversation.
Use this educational guideline to explore rebuilding assumptions and prepare questions for an insurance professional. Actual costs may differ substantially. The result does not determine your insurance coverage or what a claim will pay.
Understand rebuilding costs and coverage ↗Free to useNo email to calculateVisible assumptions
A planning scenario, with its assumptions in view.
Explore features, allowances, and uncertainty.
Bring your questions to an agent or estimator.
A rebuilding estimate.
With the reasoning included.
A single number leaves a lot unexplained. Start with your home, refine its features, and see the assumptions behind the result.
Tell us about the home
Start with its size, construction, and state. No street address or contact details required.
Make the details yours
Adjust the roof, foundation, garage, and finish level. Open the assumptions to change the rates.
Explore and save your scenario
Review a breakdown and sensitivity range. Enter your name, property address, phone and email when you are ready to export your work.
Your home’s sale price is not its rebuilding cost.
One reflects the property market and land. The other concerns the labor, materials, and work involved in rebuilding the structure.
The right starting question is: what exactly needs to be rebuilt?
See how the calculator works ↗One home.
Different cost and coverage questions.
Reconstruction cost is an estimate of rebuilding work, not a type of insurance coverage. Use these distinctions to guide your questions.
Reconstruction cost
What would the defined rebuilding work cost, based on the property details and included expenses?
Understand rebuilding estimates ↗Replacement-cost coverage
How does the policy handle eligible repair or replacement with like-kind and quality materials, subject to its conditions and limits?
Read about replacement cost ↗Actual cash value
How might depreciation affect the way a covered loss is valued?
Understand depreciation ↗Ordinance or law coverage
What policy provisions may apply to additional costs of meeting current building requirements?
Explore code-related costs ↗Understand the home
behind the number.
01 / THE STARTING POINTWhat does it cost to rebuild?
Understand the scope of a reconstruction estimate—and why a sale price is a different number.
Read the guide ↗
02 / INSURANCE BASICSReplacement cost, explained
Connect the cost of rebuilding with the language in your insurance policy.
Read the guide ↗
03 / BEHIND THE NUMBERSThe details that change the cost
Square footage, finishes, site access, and the work you cannot see from the street.
Read the guide ↗Different buildings.
A different approach.
Apartments, offices, retail spaces, and warehouses need a scope of their own. Start with the right property details and valuation questions.
Explore commercial resources ↗Start with a building fact sheet
Capture occupancy, construction, gross area, major systems, and tenant improvements before requesting a professional estimate.
Open the printable checklist ↗Helpful for planning.
Honest about uncertainty.
The calculator uses editable illustrative rates carried over from the original tool. Those rates have not been verified as current market prices. Its range shows how a scenario changes with selected assumptions, not the probability of a final bill.
Read the full methodology ↗Will this tell me how much insurance to buy?
No. Use it to organize your questions. Your agent or insurer should review property details, their valuation, policy terms, and applicable coverage options.
Is the calculator free?
Yes. You can calculate and view a residential scenario without contact information. To use the built-in print/save-PDF, download or share options, enter your name, property address, phone number and email. No purchase is required.
Can I use a contractor’s rate?
Yes. Enter a comparable direct-building rate in the assumptions. Check what the rate includes first, so you do not add the same costs twice.
What if my home is difficult to insure?
A complicated property does not end the conversation. A review can help you understand the details insurers need and the options worth exploring. Availability depends on the property and market.
Put your questions into a plan.
Explore the assumptions behind a residential rebuild scenario, then discuss the details with a qualified professional.