Endorsements worth knowing about

Water backup

Damage from water backing up through drains or sewers, or from a sump pump failing, is generally excluded from the base policy entirely.

It is a common and expensive loss, particularly where there is a finished basement, and the endorsement is usually inexpensive. It is the first one to ask about for most households.

Service line cover

The buried water, sewer, power and data lines running from the street to the house are usually the homeowner's responsibility to repair and are usually not covered by the dwelling section.

Excavation is what makes these expensive rather than the pipe itself. The endorsement typically covers the digging as well as the repair.

Ordinance or law

If a building is damaged and current codes require it to be rebuilt to a higher standard than it was originally built to, the additional cost is generally not covered by the base policy — it pays to replace what was there, not to upgrade it.

On an older property that difference can be substantial, and it applies to partial losses as well as total ones. This is one of the more valuable endorsements on any house that predates current codes.

Scheduled personal property

Jewellery, watches, art, collectibles, instruments and similar items are capped by category on the base policy, frequently well below what they are worth.

Scheduling lists an item individually with its own limit, generally with no deductible, and usually broadens the perils covered — an unscheduled ring may be covered for theft but not for loss, where a scheduled one commonly is.

The others worth asking about

These are less universal but each closes a real gap for the households they apply to.

• Extended or guaranteed replacement cost — pays above the dwelling limit where rebuilding costs more than expected, which matters when construction costs move quickly
• Equipment breakdown — mechanical or electrical failure of home systems and appliances, which the base policy generally excludes
• Home business — modest cover for business property and liability at the home, where a standard policy gives almost none
• Identity theft — the cost of recovering from it rather than the loss itself
• Green or upgraded rebuilding, where you would want to replace with better than was there

How to choose between them

Endorsements are cheap individually and add up collectively, so the test is exposure rather than enthusiasm.

Ask what the house actually has: a basement, an old roof, buried service lines, valuable items, a business run from a spare room, systems old enough to fail. Each one points at a specific endorsement and the rest can be ignored.

Then check what is already included. Some policies build several of these into the base form and charge for it in the premium, which is a real difference between two quotes that otherwise look the same.