Insurance for House Flippers

No. Your contractor's general liability policy protects your contractor, not you. If someone is injured on your jobsite and files suit, you can be named as the property owner regardless of who was holding the hammer. Carry your own general liability, collect a certificate of insurance from every contractor before they start, and ask to be listed as an additional insured on their policy. Also confirm they carry workers compensation. If an uninsured contractor's employee gets hurt on your property, that exposure can land on you.

No. A homeowners policy follows the named insured, and the seller's insurable interest ends the moment title transfers. There is no coverage on your property from that policy, even if it is still technically in force.

A standard homeowners policy would not work here anyway. Most contain a vacancy exclusion that suspends coverage once a property sits empty past a set number of days, and a flip is vacant from day one. You need a vacant dwelling or builders risk policy bound effective on your closing date, with the binder in hand before you sit down at the table.

Neither, exactly. Insure to completed value, which is the value of the existing structure plus your full rehab budget. Purchase price is the wrong basis because it includes land, and land does not burn down.

Underinsuring is the expensive mistake here. Many policies carry a coinsurance clause, which means if you insure below the required percentage of value, the carrier can reduce even a small partial claim proportionally. If your scope grows mid-project, call your agent and increase coverage rather than assuming the original limit still holds.

Builders risk is written for a fixed term, and projects run long more often than not. Most carriers will extend, but the request has to come in before the policy expires. Some charge a fee, and some will re-underwrite.

Letting it lapse is the outcome to avoid. Reinstating after a gap is harder and more expensive, you are uninsured for every day of that gap, and your lender almost certainly requires continuous coverage as a loan condition. Set a reminder well ahead of the expiration date and treat it as a milestone on your project schedule.