The Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS) has again floated a solution to address “significant” levels of underinsurance among property owners.

Insurance providers should consider requiring customers to have a professional building replacement and assessment report completed before they take up a home insurance policy, AIQS says.

While insurers do provide free online tools for estimating home rebuilding costs, consumers often are not getting accurate calculations as they do not understand all the expenses involved such as demolition and consultant fees.

AIQS says the way home insurance products are sold at present places the burden of estimating rebuilding costs on the consumer.

Mandating homeowners to engage a certified quantity surveyor will provide them with a better assessment on the cost to replace or rebuild their dwellings should a fire, flood or other disaster destroy or damage their properties.

“Most people don’t understand that they may well be significantly out of pocket if a disaster event occurs,” AIQS CEO Grant Warner told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“And we have quantity surveyors right around the country and this is the sort of work they do. They’ve got the requisite qualifications and experience to undertake this sort of work.”

Mr Warner says the peak body first developed the proposal after the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires catastrophe and approached the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) in August 2020 about it but did not get a reply.

He intends to reach out to the ICA again and also to governments at all levels about the AIQS proposal.

“If insurance companies won’t take this on board, then it becomes incumbent on government to regulate what must be covered in a home building insurance policy and who is best positioned to provide this advice,” Mr Warner said.

insuranceNEWS.com.au has asked ICA to comment on the AIQS proposal.