Getting the right level of cover for your house insurance can seem daunting, but fear not.

Nobody wants to pay too much or indeed too little for their house insurance. But how do you get the balance right? Following a few simple steps can stop you from making a costly mistake.

The valuation

The first step is to take stock of your home and possessions. In most house insurance policies these two areas are separate; building and contents. After all you could live in a mansion but have a very minimalist style and therefore, meagre possessions; conversely you could live in a small one bedroom flat which is packed to the rafters with expensive electrical equipment.

Buildings insurance

This covers the cost of rebuilding your home in the event of a fire, flood, or other crucial damage. To ensure you get the right level of cover it is important that your home is accurately valued before you decide how much to spend. Another important thing to note is that any changes to your home, such as conversions, extensions, new buildings etc, should be mentioned to your insurance company. Failure to mention changes to the state of your home could cause issues should you need to make a claim.

Contents insurance

Once you have valued your building the next step in getting the right house insurance cover is to accurately gauge the cost of replacing your beloved possessions. Many home insurers will offer you a cheap deal on contents insurance, it may be tempting to just to accept this. However, this may not be the smartest thing to do; before taking out any policy you should look into how much it would cost you to replace your items if they were destroyed. It is important to reiterate that you are not assessing how much your items would be worth if you were to sell them but how much it would be to replace them.

Match it up

Now that you have your valuation all that’s left is to find a house insurance policy that matches. So shop around, find a trusted insurer who has a policy that meets your needs for the right price and away you go.