Buildings Cover vs Buildings Combined: Is there a difference?

Whether you're buying your first home, investing in a rental property, or running a business from commercial premises, you'll encounter the terms “buildings cover” and “buildings combined.”

With South Africa’s growing trend toward sectional title living, security estates, and mixed-use developments, understanding exactly what this insurance covers and what it doesn’t has never been more important.

What’s the Difference?

Here’s the truth that might surprise you: there isn’t much of a difference in what’s being insured. Both terms refer to insurance that protects the physical structure of your property and anything permanently attached to it.

However, the context matters:

• “Buildings cover” is commonly used in personal or homeowner’s insurance, protecting your private residence.

• “Buildings combined” is typically used in commercial, business, or sectional title policies, and often includes additional sections such as public liability, rent loss, glass, and machinery breakdown.

In essence, both types protect the same core asset, the bricks, mortar, and permanent fixtures that make up your property.

What Exactly Does Buildings Insurance Cover?

Buildings insurance focuses on the permanent, immovable parts of your property. This usually includes:

The Main Structure

• Walls, roof, and floors

• Foundation and load-bearing elements

• Windows and doors (including frames)

Fixed Features and Fittings

• Built-in kitchens and cupboards

• Plumbing fixtures (sinks, toilets, baths, showers)

• Fitted bathrooms and sanitary ware

• Built-in wardrobes

• Solar panels and fixed heating systems

External Structures

• Boundary walls and fences

• Garages and carports

• Gates (manual and automated)

• Swimming pools and fixed pool equipment (pumps, filters)

• Wendy houses and garden sheds (if specified)

• Driveways and paving

• Tennis courts or entertainment areas

Typical Insured Events

• Fire and lightning

• Storm, wind, and hail damage

• Water damage from burst pipes or geysers

• Malicious damage or vandalism

• Impact from falling trees, vehicles, or aerial devices

• Explosion

In buildings combined policies, you may also have cover for:

• Theft of fixtures and fittings (if there’s evidence of forcible and violent entry or exit)

• Public supply connections (up to the boundary of your property)

• Accidental damage to sanitary ware

What Buildings Insurance Does Not Cover

Buildings insurance does not cover the contents of your property, the movable items inside your home or business.

That means your:

• Furniture and appliances

• Clothing and personal belongings

• Electronics (TVs, computers, sound systems)

• Artwork and decorative pieces

• Business equipment and stock

• Loose carpets and curtains

You’ll need a separate contents insurance policy for these. It’s a common and a costly mistake to assume buildings cover protects everything inside your property.

Real-Life Scenarios: When Buildings Insurance Steps In

Scenario 1: The Johannesburg Hailstorm

A hailstorm shatters your roof tiles and skylights. Water damages your built-in cupboards and bedroom ceiling.

Covered: Roof, skylight, cupboards, ceiling. Not covered: Laptop and Persian carpet (contents insurance claim).

Scenario 2: The Burst Geyser

Your geyser bursts, flooding rooms below.

Covered: Ceiling, walls, built-in cupboards, laminated flooring (if the geyser is listed)

Not covered: Furniture and electronics.

(Note: Some insurers, especially in sectional title or commercial policies require geysers to be specifically listed for bursting cover. Always check your policy wording.)

Scenario 3: The Break-In

Burglars force entry through your back door, damaging the frame and security gate. They steal your built-in oven and bathroom taps.

Covered: Door, gate, stolen fixtures (if theft of fixtures is included). Not covered: TV and jewellery (contents claim).

Scenario 4: The Sectional Title Surprise

A fire damages several units in your townhouse complex. The body corporate’s insurance covers the structure and common areas. Covered: Original building structure. Not covered: Your upgraded kitchen, bathroom renovation, or high-end tiling, unless you’ve notified the trustees or insurer to add improvements and betterments to your unit’s cover.

(Unit owners must request these upgrades be added to the body corporate policy as specified betterments, with the associated premium paid accordingly.)

The South African Property Owner’s Checklist

1. Get Your Sum Insured Right

Your sum insured must reflect the current rebuilding cost, not the purchase or market value.Include:

• Professional fees (architects, quantity surveyors, engineers)

• Demolition and debris removal

• VAT (15%)

Under-insurance is widespread in South Africa. If you insure for R2 million but rebuilding costs R3 million, you’ll face a significant shortfall when you claim.

2. Specify Your Geyser

Some insurers require geysers to be listed in your schedule for bursting cover. Given our hard water, temperature extremes, and aging infrastructure, geyser claims are among the most common in South Africa. Double-check this detail.

3. Consider Loss of Rent

If you rent out your property or have a flatlet, add loss of rent cover. It protects your rental income if your property becomes uninhabitable after an insured event, a lifeline if the rent covers your bond repayments.

4. Boost Your Legal Liability

Most buildings policies include R1 million in Property Owner’s Liability. In 2025, that might not be enough.

Consider scenarios where:

• A visitor is injured on your property

• Your boundary wall collapses onto a neighbour’s car

• A tree falls and injures someone

Increasing this limit to R5 million or more is often affordable.For sectional title schemes, the minimum liability cover required by law is R10 million, though many insurers offer up to R50 million.

5. Understand Theft Requirements

For theft of fixtures or fittings to be covered, there must be proof of forcible and violent entry or exit such as:

• Broken windows or locks

• Damaged security gates

If thieves gain access with a key or through an unlocked door, claims may be rejected.

Sectional Title and Complex Living: Who Covers What

As more South Africans live in complexes and estates, understanding where body corporate cover ends and yours begins is critical.

Typically, the Body Corporate Covers:

• The main building structure

• Common property (gardens, clubhouses, pools)

• Original fixtures as built

You Need to Cover:

• Upgrades and improvements

• Enhanced fixtures (modernised kitchen, upgraded bathroom)

• Any additional features unique to your unit

Always request a copy of your body corporate’s policy and check:

• Is the total sum insured adequate for the complex?

• Are geysers included?

• What’s the excess per claim?

• Any exclusions affecting your unit?

Many bodies corporate are under-insured, exposing all owners to financial risk.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

From the Durban floods of 2022 to Cape Town’s wildfires, countless South Africans have discovered too late that:

• Their property was under-insured, sometimes by half

• Their contents weren’t covered

• Their body corporate’s policy didn’t include betterments or geysers

An hour spent reviewing your cover can save you hundreds of thousands or even millions later.

Your Action Plan

For trustees and property owners alike:

1. Pull out your policy and read it thoroughly.

2. Walk through your property and list all permanent fixtures.

3. Get a professional rebuilding valuation at least every three years.

4. Verify geysers are specified in your policy.

5. Check your legal liability limit and increase if needed.

6. Review your policy annually, rebuilding costs rise every year.

In Summary

“Buildings cover” and “buildings combined” are two terms for one essential protection: insurance for the structure of your property and everything permanently attached to it.

But your protection is only as good as:

• The sum insured you choose,

• The details you specify, and

• Your understanding of what’s included and what needs separate contents insurance.

In today’s South Africa, where extreme weather, crime, and shared living are part of everyday reality, getting your buildings insurance right isn’t just about compliance, it’s about protecting what is, for most of us, our single biggest asset.