The Association of British Insurers' (ABI) Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) calculator

The ABI’s BCIS calculator is a useful tool designed to estimate the buildings sum insured of a standard UK home. However, it’s not always suitable if your home is old, unusual, large or of a high specification. The calculator is never a substitute for a ‘boots on ground’ survey or even a good desktop survey.

The online calculator won’t work for:

• Any building built or partly built of stone
• Houses with more than three storeys
• Houses bigger than 320m2
• Listed or historic buildings which have to be built to their original design
• Buildings built pre-1720
• “Houses which are not of modern materials” (these are excluded)

If your home fits into any of the above categories we would recommend a desktop survey from rebuildcostassessment.com or suggest that you ask your insurer to fund a survey.

If you need more advice on setting your building sum insured, then call us on 020 8256 4901.