Your backyard gazebo may not be the featured piece on any of the high-priced designer living magazines. It may be simplistic with very few embellishments or architectural elements that would typically make a gazebo shine. But your gazebo is valuable to you and it may still require that you have additional coverage beyond what your homeowners insurance allows for this type of structure. It is known in insurance language as an ‘other structure’ and would fall under Coverage B on your homeowners insurance policy.
Coverage B allows that detached structures, apart from the dwelling on the premises, or ‘other structures’ are covered at 10% of the face value of most standard home insurance policies. So, if the value of the home is $300,000, there would be coverage allotted for the gazebo (as well as all of the other detached structures that may have been damaged) in the amount of $30,000 in the instance of any type of disaster or destruction. This $30,000 would be shared among all of the outside structures for their repair or replacement after a destructive storm.
Is My Gazebo Protected?
The wonderful thing about homeowners insurance is that you can purchase additional insurance if you feel your gazebo is worth more than the 10% value that is standard for the home insurance plan. The average cost of a gazebo is approximately in the $7,000 range. Though when you are sharing the 10% value with all of the outside buildings that may have been damaged, that cuts down on how much you’ll have, should the gazebo need to be replaced.
Instances Where Your Gazebo Claim Could Be Denied
- If your gazebo is not actually situated on the same parcel of land as the dwelling. That is a possibility if the land had been subdivided previously.
- You haven’t taken the time to maintain the gazebo so it was already in disrepair prior to any type of storm damage that may have caused it to crumble.
- Your gazebo may be used in some way for business purposes whether you perform weddings as a business out of the gazebo or any other type of commercial use. The insurance carrier does this because they don’t want to take on added risk for any type of liability or property loss.
It’s critical that you maintain the integrity of the gazebo as well as any other structures that you have on your property if you want the insurance carrier to reimburse any claims that you may produce after experiencing a loss. An adjuster who does their inspection can determine if the gazebo has been properly taken care of or if it has been neglected and the damages are due to deterioration or ‘wear and tear’ as opposed to the actual storm event.
Prior to adding the gazebo to your property, talk with your agent about your plans and see what type of coverage is available, what your options are, and get things lined out before you ever bring it home. This way there will be no surprises after the fact.
