Updated: August 7, 2025
Advertising & Editorial Disclosure
Dwelling coverage only protects your home’s structure, including walls, roof, floors, built-in appliances and attached features like garages or porches. It doesn’t cover your belongings, such as furniture, electronics or clothes.
Common covered perils include fire, wind, water from burst pipes and vandalism, while floods, earthquakes and wear and tear are excluded.
Lenders typically require dwelling coverage if you have a mortgage, but it's a smart financial safeguard even without one.
Dwelling coverage, also known as “coverage A,” helps pay to repair or rebuild your home’s physical structure, like the roof, walls or foundation, if it’s damaged by a covered peril. It’s included in homeowners, condo and some landlord insurance policies.
Electronics | Computer, tablet, phone, camera |
Clothing | Clothes, shoes |
Appliances | Refrigerator, microwave, portable air conditioner |
Furniture | Sofa, bed, dining table, chairs |
Hobby & Sports Gear | Guitar, bike, treadmill, camping equipment |
Valuables & Collectibles | Artwork, ribbon medals, trophies, figurines |
During a windstorm, a large tree crashes into your roof, tearing through the shingles and cracking the ceiling in your living room. Since wind damage is a covered peril in your policy, your dwelling coverage helps pay for the repairs, including removing the tree, fixing the roof and replacing the damaged structure inside. You just pay your deductible, and your insurer handles the rest.
Dwelling coverage in condo insurance helps pay to repair or replace the parts of your unit you’re responsible for, like interior walls, flooring and built-in fixtures, if a covered peril damages them. Often called building property coverage, this protection is limited to what's inside your unit, while the condo association’s master policy covers the exterior and shared spaces.
Depending on your HOA’s master policy type (bare walls, single entity or all-in), your personal condo policy may need to cover everything from drywall to countertops.
Interior Walls | Drywall, paint, wallpaper |
Flooring | Hardwood, tile, carpet |
Ceilings | Plaster, recessed lighting |
Built-in Fixtures | Cabinets, countertops, vanities |
Appliances (if Built-In) | Stove, dishwasher, built-in microwave |
Interior Doors & Trim | Bedroom doors, baseboards, crown molding |
While dwelling insurance covers many structural risks, there are clear limits on what it won’t pay for. Damage from maintenance issues, certain natural disasters or intentional actions is usually excluded. Knowing what’s not covered helps you avoid surprise costs after a claim.
What's Not Covered:
Standard policies exclude structural damage from floods, earthquakes, mudslides and other ground movements. You’ll need separate coverage for these events through specialized policies.
Gradual damage like aging roofs, rusted pipes or cracks from foundation settling isn’t covered.
Damage caused by termites, rodents, birds or household pets is not covered. Insurers see this as a maintenance issue, not an insurable event.
If your home is damaged due to shoddy workmanship, bad materials or code violations, it’s likely excluded. Insurance won’t cover losses tied to preventable or substandard work.
Deliberate damage caused by the homeowner or damage due to war, terrorism or nuclear hazards is excluded. These events fall outside the scope of standard property coverage.
What Is Covered:
Covers damage from fires, smoke and lightning strikes that can destroy or weaken your roof, walls or built-in systems. This includes rebuilding burned sections and repairing smoke or electrical damage.
Protects against roof and wall damage from windstorms, hail or falling objects like tree branches. This coverage is common after severe storms or hurricanes.
Covers intentional destruction, like broken windows or graffiti, as well as sudden accidental structural damage. Some policies may limit this coverage if the property is left vacant too long.
Includes damage from burst pipes, sudden appliance leaks or broken HVAC systems. Gradual leaks or flooding from outside are not included.
Covers structural collapse or damage caused by excessive snow or ice buildup on the roof. It applies only when the damage is abrupt and unavoidable, not from poor maintenance.
If you have a mortgage, your lender will almost always require dwelling coverage to protect their investment in the property. Even if you own your home or condo outright, having this coverage is strongly recommended; without it, you’d have to pay out of pocket to repair or rebuild after a disaster. It’s a key part of financial protection for any property owner.
Yes, if you own a rental property, you need dwelling coverage through a landlord insurance policy (also called dwelling or DP-3 insurance). It covers the structure of the home you rent out, including the roof, walls, floors and built-in systems, against covered perils like fire or storms. Without it, you’d be responsible for all repair or rebuild costs if the property is damaged.
You need enough dwelling coverage to rebuild the insured structure completely if it’s destroyed by a covered peril. This amount should reflect current construction and labor costs in your area, not the market value of the property.
To properly protect your home, your dwelling coverage should match the full cost to rebuild it, not its market value. Estimating this amount takes several steps based on your home’s structure, materials and local labor rates.
Get an estimate for how much it would cost to rebuild your home from the ground up using similar materials and finishes. This figure should reflect current construction prices in your area.
Include the cost of any custom elements, such as upgraded cabinets, specialty flooring or built-in systems. These increase your rebuild cost and should be reflected in your coverage limit.
Online calculators or licensed insurance agents can help you determine a more precise replacement cost. They consider your home’s size, materials, location and construction details.
If you’ve added square footage or high-end features over time, your standard coverage may no longer be enough. Consider extended replacement cost or ordinance and law coverage to cover rebuilding upgrades or code-required improvements. These add-ons can provide peace of mind if local construction costs rise or building codes change after a loss.
For condos, the amount of dwelling coverage you need depends on what your HOA’s master policy covers. Your goal is to cover anything inside your unit that the master policy doesn’t.
Find out whether your HOA policy is “bare walls,” “single entity” or “all-in.” This determines how much interior structure you’re responsible for insuring.
Based on your master policy, calculate the cost to replace things like flooring, cabinets, counters and interior walls. If the master policy doesn’t cover these, your condo dwelling coverage should.
A licensed agent can help you interpret your HOA policy and recommend the right amount of coverage for your situation. This prevents underinsurance in case of a major loss.
Many specific factors affect the cost of rebuilding your home, including the materials found in your home, such as:
Ask about current building codes that could increase the cost to rebuild your home from its original construction. If you have an older or custom home with special features that could be difficult to replace or replicate, this will increase the amount of dwelling coverage you need.
A recent analysis from the Insurance Information Institute indicated property replacement costs increased a cumulative 30.4% between 2018 and 2022, substantially higher than the rate of inflation. Evaluating how much dwelling coverage you need is crucial to ensure adequate protection. An insurance agent (or insurer) should be your first choice as they have tools to calculate replacement costs. — Mark Friedlander, Director, Corporate Communications, Insurance Information Institute
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Rates updated:
Aug 22, 2025
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Dwelling coverage financially safeguards your home's structure and attached features like garages, decks and porches from damage caused by covered perils. The amount of coverage you need should reflect what it would cost to fully rebuild your home today, not its market price. To stay properly protected, review your coverage regularly and consider add-ons if construction costs rise.
If you’re still sorting through the details of dwelling coverage, these common questions can help clarify what it does (and doesn’t) protect in a standard homeowners insurance policy.
No. Homeowners insurance is the full policy, while dwelling coverage is just one part of it. Dwelling coverage specifically protects the structure of your home but not your belongings or liability.
Your insurer can estimate your replacement cost using a rebuild calculator that factors in materials, labor, square footage and home features. It’s not based on your home’s market value.
Dwelling coverage includes the main home and anything physically attached, such as a garage, porch, deck, built-in appliances and major systems like HVAC or plumbing.
No, most policies exclude floods and earthquakes. You’ll need separate insurance (like flood insurance through the NFIP or earthquake coverage through your insurer) to protect against those risks.
Yes, you can increase your limit at any time. You may also add extended replacement cost or inflation protection to help cover rising construction costs.
MoneyGeek evaluates dwelling coverage using real-world data, pricing insights and independent analysis. We rely on homeowners insurance rate filings from state Departments of Insurance, along with premium data from Quadrant Information Services, to ensure our information is accurate and up to date.
How we reviewed dwelling insurance providers
To compare insurers, we analyzed premiums, policy features and available dwelling coverage limits. Our assessment included both standard policies and expanded options that offer extended or guaranteed replacement cost.
Home profile used for comparisons
All quotes were modeled using a consistent homeowner profile:
Coverage levels evaluated
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes reflect these default limits:
We also reviewed how insurers perform for higher-value homes using:
This process allows us to compare providers across a range of needs, from average homeowners to those seeking expanded structural protection.
About Mark Fitzpatrick
Mark Fitzpatrick, a Licensed Property and Casualty Insurance Producer, is MoneyGeek's resident Personal Finance Expert. With over five years of experience analyzing the insurance market, he conducts original research and creates tailored content for all types of buyers. His insights have been featured in publications like CNBC, NBC News and Mashable.
Fitzpatrick holds a master’s degree in economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College. He's also a five-time Jeopardy champion!
Passionate about economics and insurance, he aims to promote transparency in financial topics and empower others to make confident money decisions.
