# Forum More Stuff Debate & Technical Discussion  insurance rebuild + extension questions

## Snec

Hi, 
We are having our house repaired after a house fire and are considering making some changes as part of the rebuild. 
Does anybody have experience with dealing with this sort of thing? We're worried about how the insurer and builder will handle their obligations. The builder is an insurance specialist and seems very guarded, like he's working for the insurer not us.  
Some tips on how we should tackle this would be great.  
Thanks.

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## johnc

> Hi, 
> We are having our house repaired after a house fire and are considering making some changes as part of the rebuild. 
> Does anybody have experience with dealing with this sort of thing? We're worried about how the insurer and builder will handle their obligations. The builder is an insurance specialist and seems very guarded, like he's working for the insurer not us.  
> Some tips on how we should tackle this would be great.  
> Thanks.

  Speak to the claims assessor, be honest (straight forward) about your intentions, and tell them what you would like to do in regard to changes. Depending on the assessor rather than the company you will get a response on how he/she would like to deal with it. I have gone through this process on some criminal damage in particular and I would strongly suggest you need to know exactly what you want and not vary it once you come to an arrangement with the insurer. They'll possibly make it difficult for you and may try to wiggle out of some of the costs but hold your ground, be reasonable, be pursuasive and above all be prepared to concede if you have a conflict on a change/repair. 
What you should initially aim for is to get the process you need to go through to do what you would like to do.

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## Snec

> Speak to the claims assessor, be honest (straight forward) about your intentions, and tell them what you would like to do in regard to changes. Depending on the assessor rather than the company you will get a response on how he/she would like to deal with it. I have gone through this process on some criminal damage in particular and I would strongly suggest you need to know exactly what you want and not vary it once you come to an arrangement with the insurer. They'll possibly make it difficult for you and may try to wiggle out of some of the costs but hold your ground, be reasonable, be pursuasive and above all be prepared to concede if you have a conflict on a change/repair. 
> What you should initially aim for is to get the process you need to go through to do what you would like to do.

  Thank you. 
This is very foreign ground to us.

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