24/7 Claims
With Budget Direct, you can conveniently make a claim online or over the phone at any time of the day or night, 365 days a year.
Budget Direct paid out over $1.5 billion on car + home insurance claims in the last 12 months.
What's protected by Home Building Insurance?
With our Home Building Insurance, we cover the expenses to restore or rebuild your house, garden shed, fences, and other outdoor features of your property after damage or destruction (as outlined in the PDS).
Keep in mind, the contents inside your house are not covered by Home Building Insurance. To make sure your possessions are also protected, you'll need to look into Combined Home and Contents Insurance.
Benefits Included in Home Building Insurance
Need a place to stay? If you can’t live in your home due to an insured event, we’ll cover the costs for temporary accommodation for up to a year. It could be a hotel for a few days, or a long-term rental - we’ll make sure there’s a roof over your head while your home is fixed up.
When you take out Home Building Insurance with us, you'll be covered for up to $20 million in legal liability cover. This protects you financially if someone is accidentally injured or if their property is damaged on your premises. You’ll have legal liability cover at the insured address.
If you need repairs done to your home after an event covered by insurance, we’ll ensure the quality of all authorised repairs. This includes materials and labour. With the help of our trusted partners, we’ll make sure that all approved repairs will be performed properly as you rebuild your home.
When it comes to Mortgage Discharge, you are covered for the cost of legal and admin fees to discharge your mortgage - up to $750 - if we’re paying a total loss claim due to an event covered by your insurance.
Let us take care of the mess. We’ll cover the cost of debris removal and extra rebuilding costs up to 10% of your sum insured.
We will automatically increase the sum insured amount to keep up with increasing inflation costs for building materials and labour.
If you suffer from paraplegia or quadriplegia, due to an accident at your insured address, we can cover required changes up to $5,000 to your home.
If the unfortunate happens in an insured event, we will cover up to $7,000 of funeral expenses if a family or someone in your household suffers from a fatal insured injury in your home.
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. For full details, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
Get a Quote Online and Save 15%^
If you get a quote and buy a new Home Building Insurance policy online, we'll give you a 15%^ discount on your first year's premium.
Compare Home Building Insurance Savings
Find out more about what cover we offer in your state
In comparison to their previous insurers’ premiums, customers across Australia who switched to Budget Direct Building Only Insurance told us they saved an average of
$###†
You can use our Comparitron™ tool to compare savings as reported by other Budget Direct customers.
Price Comparison Figures
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What Are Insured Events for Home Building Insurance?
Budget Direct Home Building Insurance covers your house and outbuildings against loss or damage caused by the following insured events:
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Storm (including cyclone) and rainwater (does not cover any loss or damage caused by flood). If this doesn't meet your needs, you can add optional flood cover§.
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Fires (including bushfires and grassfires)
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Lightning
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Theft (or attempted theft)
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Escape of liquid (e.g. burst pipe)
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Impact at home (e.g. fallen tree)
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Breakage of glass, ceramic and sanitary fixtures
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Malicious damage, vandalism, riot or civil commotion
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Explosion
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Earthquake or tsunami
What Are Not Insured Events for Home Building Insurance?
Budget Direct Home Building Insurance does not cover you for loss or damage for every circumstance. There are exclusions such as:
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Action of the sea (eg. high tide, tidal wave)
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Asbestos
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Breaking the law
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Communicable diseases
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Defects, structural faults, or design faults
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Hacking or cyberattacks
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for full details on what’s covered by Budget Direct Home Building Insurance.
Upgrade Your Cover
Need more cover? For an additional premium, you can customise your Home Building Insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional covers when you quote or to add optional cover to an existing policy, simply contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
If you take out optional Flood Cover, this can cover you against loss or damage caused by a flood.§
We define a ‘flood’ as the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the normal confines of a lake, river, creek or other natural watercourse (whether or not any of them have been altered or modified) or a reservoir, canal, or dam.
Learn more about Flood Cover
§ The addition of Flood Cover to a policy is subject to our underwriting criteria.
Accidental damage is loss or damage caused by a sudden, unintended and unexpected event that is not the result of a deliberate act – useful if you want to be covered for some damage that’s not automatically included as part of your Home Building Insurance. For example, spilling red wine on a carpet by mistake, or knocking a hole in a plasterboard wall while moving a couch.
Learn more about Accidental Damage
Motor Burnout Cover covers you for loss or damage to electric motors that are less than ten years old if the motor burns out due to an electric current or power surge. Electric motors are commonly found in home appliances like fixed air conditioning units and swimming pool pumps.
Learn more about Motor Burnout
If the cost to replace, repair or rebuild your home exceeds the amount of your nominated sum insured, Sum Insured Safeguard means we’ll increase it by up to 25% (e.g. from $400,000 to $500,000) to help cover the necessary repairs.
How much cover do I need?
When you get Home Building Insurance, you need to figure out how much it would cost to replace your home and structure if they were damaged or destroyed in an insured event, such as a fire. This amount is called the 'sum insured'.
This is the most we'll pay after an insured event, so make sure the 'sum insured' you choose is enough to replace everything at today's prices. We have some calculators to help you estimate how much insurance you need.
If your property and/or contents suffer loss or damage, or are destroyed by an insured event and you need to make a claim, we’re here to help.
Budget Direct customers can make a claim, view and edit their Home Building Insurance policies, and buy more insurance online.
The information on this page is a summary only. For more details about Budget Direct Home Building Insurance, including the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, please read the, Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Do you need more cover?
If your home itself is covered with Home Building Insurance then you might also want to consider covering your contents. With Budget Direct's Combined Home and Contents Insurance you can get 30%^ off your first year's premium when you purchase a new policy online.
30%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new combined policy purchased online
Owner-occupiers aren't the only ones who may benefit from insuring their property. You can also protect your investment property with Budget Direct Landlord Insurance.
15%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online
Do you rent the home you live in? If you’re a tenant, you can protect your valuable possessions with Budget Direct Renters Insurance.
Home Building Insurance FAQs
Yes – your Budget Direct-insured home and/or contents are covered for damage or loss due to violent winds, lightning, rain, hail and snow.
This cover includes the escape of rainwater from any water pipe, drain or gutter; and surface run-off of rainwater from surrounding areas that occurs within 24 hours of the storm or heavy rain.
To insure your home against floods, you need to take out optional Flood Cover.
An uninsured period may apply, please refer to the PDS for terms and conditions
Yes, granny flats are covered under Home Building Insurance. This assumes that your granny flat is insured together with your main residence, and that your sum insured takes into account both buildings
Yes – Budget Direct home insurance covers loss or damage to your garage or carport due to an insured event.
These events include impact at the home, for example, due to a tree falling on your garage during a storm.
We guarantee the quality of the work and the materials used for all authorised repairs. Our builders hold the required licences to provide services in the states or territories in which they operate.
