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What should you ask about a home rebuild cost?
In Cheshire, a rebuild cost is the figure your buildings insurer uses for cover, and this page does not calculate it or print a sum. It explains what Citizens Advice says to ask the insurer before building work, and which permissions apply if a house is actually rebuilt.
Last reviewed:A rebuild cost is the insurer's figure
Searchers sometimes look for a rebuild cost calculator. A rebuild cost is the figure the buildings insurer will accept for the policy. It is not a sum worked out from a floor area, a postcode band or a year of construction, and no sum insured is printed. In Cheshire, as anywhere else, printing a homemade total would be an invention.
Crewe, Nantwich and Sandbach are the towns the rest of QuoteZila is written for first. The insurance question is the same in each: phone the insurer, with the address, before you assume last year's sum still fits. Builders come into the story only when something is actually being built or repaired.
Anyone in the UK can post or register.
What Citizens Advice says to do with the policy
Before work on your home, Citizens Advice says to check both your buildings insurance and the trader's insurance [S1]. Contact the buildings insurer to see that you will be covered during the work. The policy might be part of a wider home policy. You might have to pay more for the insurance during the work and after it [S1].
The insurer will probably want to know which trader you are using and what insurance that trader has. They might suggest a joint policy with the trader [S1]. If you have no buildings insurance, Citizens Advice says it is worth getting some before the work starts [S1].
If the home is leasehold, the building is normally insured by the freeholder or the management company. Contact them for the policy [S1]. That is a different phone call from the one a freeholder makes about their own house.
Ask the trader what insurance they hold, and ask to see it, including that it does not run out before the work finishes. Citizens Advice lists public liability, employers' liability where there are employees, professional indemnity where there is design, and contractors' all-risk cover for work damaged before it is finished [S1]. Your home insurance, on that page, covers the work once it is completed [S1]. Employers' liability is described as a legal requirement where a trader has employees and does not hold it [S1].
None of those sentences is a sum insured. They are the conversation.
If "rebuild" means the house comes down
Sometimes the word is literal. The house is to be taken down and a new one built. Citizens Advice says you usually need planning permission from the council when you are building something new [S1]. Check with the council where you are unsure, including where extra restrictions might apply [S1]. Failing to get permission can mean being told to undo the work, and it can cause problems when you sell [S1].
Building regulations approval is a separate decision. The Building Regulations 2010 cover the construction of buildings. You might need both approvals [S2]. For a house that is not higher-risk, the council's building control department or a private registered building control approver can be used [S2]. Higher-risk buildings are at least 7 storeys or 18 metres high and meet the other tests on that page [S2]. A replacement two-storey house is not that height test. It is still a new building for the regulations.
GOV.UK: building regulations approval. QuoteZila is not affiliated with this organisation. GOV.UK: find your local council for building control. QuoteZila is not affiliated with this organisation. The approval rules are on GOV.UK.
There is usually a planning fee, and Citizens Advice notes that applying through the Planning Portal can add a service charge which you do not pay if you send the application to the council by post [S1]. Building control applications usually carry a fee as well, and inspection can mean another payment [S1]. No fee amounts are printed. They change, and the council's own schedule is the one that applies.
VAT is a third paper trail. Most builder's work on houses and flats is charged at the standard rate of 20% [S3]. You may not have to charge VAT on building a new house or flat if the conditions are met [S3]. A reduced rate of 5% is described for some other jobs, including converting a building into a house, which is not the same as building a new one [S3]. Ask for the VAT treatment in the tender. Do not assume a rebuild inherits the zero rate. The registration threshold for the business is taxable turnover over £90,000 in the last 12 months [S4].
How to instruct a builder without a fake total
You can tell a builder the truth: the insurer has asked for a quotation to reinstate the house, or you are exploring a replacement dwelling, and you do not yet have a sum to copy because none is printed. Citizens Advice wants written quotes from at least three traders, with a breakdown of the work and the materials, a period for which the price stays valid, and a statement of whether VAT is included [S1]. A quote is a fixed price. An estimate is a rough guess and can cost more [S1]. Be cautious if a price is a lot lower than other quotes: it might mean the trader does not have the right skills or experience, or is not being honest, and it could also mean they are not quoting for exactly the same work [S1].
| What you hand over | Why the insurer or the builder needs it | Leave this blank |
|---|---|---|
| The address and what is being insured | The policy sits on that building [S1] | A rebuild rate for the street |
| The trader's insurance | The insurer will probably ask [S1] | A verdict on whether the policy is enough |
| Drawings, if the house is being replaced | Planning and building control need them [S1] [S2] | A floor area |
| The specification | Quotes are only comparable when the work matches [S1] | A finishes allowance |
| VAT treatment | 20% or a conditional zero rate are different tenders [S3] | An assumption that new means zero |
| Stage payments | So you are not paying everything first [S1] | No share of your own above the 25% deposit ceiling Citizens Advice gives [S1] |
| Roof or lock work, if that is all that failed | A repair is not a rebuild | See the roof repair guide or the locksmith guide when the job is actually that |
| Sale price of the house | Often what people confuse with cover | Any market value |
On the deposit, Citizens Advice says not to agree more than 25% if a deposit cannot be avoided, and to get a receipt [S1]. Buying materials yourself is the alternative they offer [S1].
Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach: the address is the point
Crewe station is on the West Coast Main Line. Nantwich is on the River Weaver. Sandbach's market square has the Saxon crosses. None of those landmarks is an input to a sum insured. The address is. When you call the insurer, have the postcode and a short description of the work. When you post a job for a builder, have the same description. Do not post "rebuild cost calculator, Crewe" and expect a number back from a tradesperson who has not seen the house.
A sum insured is not a tender
An insurer's question about rebuilding the home is a question about the policy. A builder's quotation is a question about a particular design on a particular plot. They can use some of the same words and still not be the same number. One figure is not turned into the other, and a floor area is not multiplied by a rate, because no such rate is printed.
If the insurer has asked for a reinstatement figure, ask them what description they want and who they will accept it from. Some will want a surveyor. Some will accept a builder's quotation for a defined scope. Citizens Advice tells you to contact the buildings insurer before work, and that the insurer will probably want to know the trader and the trader's insurance [S1]. That is the conversation. It does not return a sum.
If you are pricing a replacement house rather than a repair, the tender still needs drawings, a specification and a statement of who supplies the services. A sentence that says "rebuild as existing" is not a specification. Two builders can read it as two different houses. Write down the number of storeys, whether the garage returns, and which rooms are in the new building, and attach that note to every quotation request. Anyone who cannot price from it should say so, rather than send a single lump with no lines.
Keep the policy documents and the quotations in different files. When you compare builders, compare them with each other. When you talk to the insurer, talk about the cover. Mixing the two on one spreadsheet is how a market value, a sum insured and a tender get treated as if they were one fact. They are not.
Jobs you might post
These are examples, not taken from real job posts.
- Quotation to reinstate a fire-damaged kitchen and the structure around it in Crewe, for an insurer, itemised, no market valuation.
- Tender to build a replacement house in Nantwich once planning drawings exist, VAT treatment stated, external works separated.
- Roof structure repair after a storm in Sandbach, described as a repair, with a note that the insurer has been told.
- Site meeting only, so a builder can tell you what information they need before they will quote a reinstatement.
QuoteZila is free for customers and local businesses [QZ1].
A job can be sent to up to five matched local businesses [QZ2].
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Questions about rebuild costs
Does QuoteZila check the businesses?
No. We don't check insurance, qualifications or registrations, so please check these yourself before you hire. You can report a quote or a business from your job page.
Where does a rebuild cost figure come from?
From the buildings insurer, for the cover on the policy. No calculator is offered, and no sum is printed for rebuilding a house in Cheshire or anywhere else. Citizens Advice tells you to contact your buildings insurer about cover, and says you might pay more for that cover during and after building work. Ask the insurer how they want the figure on the policy set.
Is a rebuild cost the same as the price the house would sell for?
No. A sale price and a rebuild cost are different figures, and neither number is printed. A sale price includes the land and the market. A buildings policy is about the building. Citizens Advice says that if you do not have buildings insurance it is worth arranging some before work starts, and that leasehold buildings are often insured by the freeholder or the management company. Ask which policy actually covers the walls.
What if the house really has to be built again?
Citizens Advice says you usually need planning permission to build something new. GOV.UK says the Building Regulations 2010 cover the construction of buildings, and that approval is different from planning permission. You might need both. A project that replaces a house is construction. Take drawings to the council and to building control rather than treating an insurance form as permission to start.
Could VAT be zero on a new house?
GOV.UK says you may not have to charge VAT when building a new house or flat, if the conditions are met, while most other builder's work on houses is charged at the standard rate of 20%. A demolition followed by a new house is not automatically that zero-rate case. Ask the builder to state the VAT treatment, and ask an accountant if the answer is unclear. The registration threshold is still £90,000 of taxable turnover.
What should I ask the insurer before a builder starts?
Citizens Advice says to check you will be covered during the work, that the insurer will probably want to know which trader you are using and what insurance they have, and that they might suggest a joint policy with the trader. Ask those questions while the job is still a quotation. A claim for damage on an open site is a poor moment to discover the policy expected a different contractor.
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Related pages
- House Extension Cost in Cheshire: What to Ask. In Cheshire, a house extension quote depends on size, foundations and the new room's use. Ask how the work sits against the planning limits for that house.
- House Survey Cost: What Changes a Surveyor's Quote. What changes the cost of a house survey: the level of report, the size, age and type of home, extra specialist checks and VAT, and how to compare quotes.
Sources
- QZ1: QuoteZila product fact. QuoteZila pricing line.
- QZ2: QuoteZila product fact. QuoteZila matching cap.
- S1: Before you get work done on your home, Citizens Advice. Accessed 2026-10-26. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/before-you-get-building-work-done/
- S2: Building regulations approval, GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-26. https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-approval
- S3: VAT for builders, GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-26. https://www.gov.uk/vat-builders
- S4: Register for VAT, GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-26. https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat