Home Insurance Coverage Calculator

Coverage is built on rebuild cost

Home insurance protects against the cost of putting your house back after a covered loss, so the most important number on the policy is the cost to rebuild it. Insure for too little and you’re exposed after a major loss; insure for too much and you’re carrying coverage you can never actually use. The calculator above estimates that rebuild value from your home’s size, your local building costs, and a few features — giving you a sound figure to build the rest of your policy on.

A typical homeowners policy bundles several coverages, most of them sized from the dwelling figure:

• Dwelling (Coverage A) — the rebuild cost of the house itself. This is what the calculator estimates.
• Other structures (Coverage B) — fences, sheds, detached garages; usually about 10% of the dwelling amount.
• Personal property (Coverage C) — your belongings; commonly 50–70% of the dwelling amount.
• Loss of use (Coverage D) — living costs if you’re displaced; often around 20% of the dwelling amount.
• Liability and medical payments (Coverages E & F) — set independently, often $100,000–$500,000.

A worked example

Say you own a 2,000-square-foot home in an area where quality rebuild cost runs about $200 per square foot. The base rebuild estimate is 2,000 × $200 = $400,000. Add a finished 800-square-foot basement at roughly half that rate (800 × $200 × 0.5 = $80,000) and the dwelling figure rises to $480,000. With custom finishes throughout, a +15% upgrade factor brings it to about $552,000. From there you’d set contents near $290,000 (about 60%) and loss of use near $96,000 (20%) — all flowing from that one rebuild number.

What changes your rebuild cost over time

Rebuild cost isn’t fixed. The price of construction materials and labor moves year to year, and any renovation that adds square footage or upgrades finishes raises the figure. That’s why it’s worth re-running this calculator at renewal and after any project: an estimate that was accurate a few years ago can quietly leave you underinsured today. When you buy or renew, look for replacement cost on your belongings and extended replacement cost on the dwelling, which adds a cushion above your limit if a widespread disaster pushes local rebuilding costs up.

How to use your estimate

Take the dwelling figure above into any quote conversation and ask the insurer how their own replacement-cost estimate compares. If their number is far off, dig into the square footage and construction-quality assumptions — errors there are common. Knowing your coverage need first means you’ll compare insurers on equal footing and won’t end up with more or less protection than your home actually requires. Remember this is a coverage estimate for general guidance, not a price or a quote; confirm the right amount with a licensed agent.