How much home and contents cover you need: the rebuild cost with demolition and fees, contents room by room, and what underinsurance would cut from a claim.
Updated October 2026Built and checked by MaverickHow it's calculatedReport an error
Building cover
$510,000
$450,000 rebuild plus demolition and fees
Contents cover
$82,000
your belongings at today's prices
Building check
Not entered
enter your sum insured to check it
Contents check
Not entered
enter your sum insured to check it
The rebuild at your rate per square metre, plus the demolition, clean-up and fees Moneysmart says are easy to leave out. If your policy pays these on top of the sum insured, set them to 0.
What your belongings would cost to buy new. Most policies pay replacement value, and cap single items and categories such as electrical goods and jewellery.
Home insurance should cover what it costs to rebuild your home, not what it would sell for, and contents insurance what it costs to replace your belongings new. Moneysmart says underinsurance is very common in Australia and most people don't know they're underinsured. This calculator adds up the cover you need from your own figures: the floor area times a rebuild rate from a builder or an insurer's calculator, plus demolition, clean-up and professional fees, which are easy to miss, and your contents room by room at today's prices. Enter your current sums insured to see the gap, and what a coinsurance clause would cut from a claim if you're underinsured. It doesn't estimate premiums, which depend on the insurer, the address and the cover.
A home that costs $600,000 to rebuild (240 m² at $2,500, demolition and fees paid on top by the policy) is insured for $400,000, under a coinsurance clause that applies below 80%.
It's 67% insured, $200,000 short. Under the clause every claim is paid at 67%: a $15,000 garage repair pays $10,000, and a total loss pays about $266,700 of the $400,000 sum insured. Moneysmart rounds the same example to $268,000.
180 m² at $2,500 a square metre, with $30,000 for demolition and clean-up and $30,000 in fees. The owner insured for $450,000, the rebuild alone.
The cover needed is $510,000, so the home is $60,000 (12%) short. At 88% insured it's above an 80% coinsurance threshold, so claims are paid in full, but a total loss leaves $60,000 to find.
A renter enters 0 for the floor area and the default room figures: $15,000 living, $12,000 kitchen, $20,000 bedrooms, $12,000 clothing, $10,000 electronics, $8,000 outdoor and $5,000 valuables.
That's $82,000 of contents to cover at replacement prices. The landlord insures the building, but not the tenant's belongings or legal liability.