Claim that rebuilding costs have fallen by up to 10% in past year. Save money by adjusting your buildings insurance.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCS) has today published its annual guide to rebuilding costs in Ireland. In summary costs have generally fallen over the past year and at the extreme the cost of rebuilding a 3-bed semi-detached house in Limerick has fallen by 10.2% from €137 psf to €123 psf (apologies for using the old “psf” per square foot rather than the per square metre which is also shown in the annual guide). No area or building type has increased in cost over the past year and a simple average of the changes between 2010 and 2011 reveals an average drop of 4%.

Here is the rebuilding cost table from the SCS for 2011 just published today.

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Here is the rebuilding cost table from the SCS for 2010.

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Here is a comparison.

The drop in rebuilding costs is perhaps to be expected in an economy that is generally in a depression with construction particularly hard hit. However the guide issued by the SCS seems to be at odds with official figures collated by the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government (DoEHLG) which produces a monthly index on building costs which shows that prices have increased by 1.59% in the past year. Both the rebuilding costs produced by the SCS and the building costs produced by the DoEHLG exclude land. I have asked the SCS for a comment on this apparent aberration.

You may be interested in reading a recent entry on here which examines building costs in Ireland and compares Northern Ireland with the Republic. The figures published today by the SCS confirm that building costs here are still almost twice the level of Northern Ireland.

Saving the best till last – for those of you with buildings insurance, you will probably find that your premium is based on the size of your home and the rebuilding cost. Since the rebuilding cost may have reduced you may be able to secure a reduction in your premium from your insurance company. This blog doesn’t give financial advice but it would seem that a sensible next step might be to contact your insurance company and enquire about a reduction based on SCS’s rebuilding cost estimates.