Most property owners refer to this as an insurance valuation, but what you're actually getting is a Reinstatement Cost Assessment (RCA), and understanding the difference matters. An RCA is a detailed, independently assessed estimate of what it would cost to fully rebuild your property from the ground up, at today's construction costs. Not its market value. Insurers use this figure to set your sum insured, so getting it right is the difference between being properly covered and being caught short at claim time.

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Under-insurance is far more common than most owners realise. Generic online calculators and desktop estimates routinely underestimate rebuild costs, leaving a shortfall that only becomes apparent after a fire, flood, or other major loss when it's too late to fix.

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It's also worth knowing who's actually best placed to prepare this figure. Valuers are trained to assess market value which is what a property would sell for. Quantity Surveyors are trained to assess construction costs, including what it would actually take, in materials, labour, and trades to rebuild it. That's a different skill set, and it's the one an RCA genuinely calls for. A Quantity Surveyor's rebuild costing is built from real construction cost data, not sales comparables, which is why it holds up when it matters most: at claim time.

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Our RCAs are prepared by Certified Quantity Surveyors, drawing on current construction costs, council and planning considerations, and site-specific factors like access, demolition, and professional fees. Each report includes a three-year cost forecast, so your sum insured stays accurate at renewal without needing a fresh assessment every year.