On this page
- How does this check work?
- Why does a sum insured go out of date on its own?
- How much have building costs risen since the year your number was set?
- What actually happens if the number is short
- How do I put the figure right?
- What do published rates say a rebuild costs per square metre in south east Queensland?
- The one sum you can do yourself
- FAQ
Pick the year your sum insured was last properly set, and check how far building costs have risen since.
How does this check work?
Choose the year your building sum insured was last set by a valuation. The selector shows how much the national building-cost index has risen since then. It is a reason to review an old figure, not a measurement of your building's shortfall.
Why does a sum insured go out of date on its own?
A sum insured only changes when someone changes it. A rebuild cost is a live price made of labour, materials, plant, and margin, and all four have kept climbing. The figure on your policy schedule shows what that price was the last time someone priced it.
Most of the short figures we see come from not knowing what a rebuild costs now. A sum insured that goes up a little at each renewal looks like it is keeping pace. Indexation does not fix a short starting figure.
How much have building costs risen since the year your number was set?
Non-residential building costs across Australia have risen roughly 42% since 2018, roughly 34% since 2021 and roughly 16% since 2023, on the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures in the table below.
The full story of why Australian construction costs moved the way they did is on construction cost increases in Australia.
The year of the last valuation. A figure adjusted at renewal does not count. If the building has never had one, pick "It has never been valued".
| Year the sum insured was last set | Australia, rise to September 2026 |
|---|---|
| 2015 or earlier | at least 50% |
| 2016 | 48% |
| 2017 | 45% |
| 2018 | 42% |
| 2019 | 39% |
| 2020 | 39% |
| 2021 | 34% |
| 2022 | 23% |
| 2023 | 16% |
| 2024 | 9% |
| 2025 | 5% |
Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data: Producer Price Indexes, Australia, output of non-residential building construction, Australia, September quarter 2026. Each figure runs from that year's September quarter to the September quarter 2026, rounded to the nearest whole percent. So a number set late in a year is measured from the September before it. The top row is a floor: a sum insured set before 2015 has moved further than 50%.
Queensland ran higher on the same ABS series over the year to September 2026, at 5.2% against 4.8% across Australia. The table uses the Australian figure.
What actually happens if the number is short
It depends on the loss. On a partial loss, the business packs we place compare a figure with 80 per cent of the building's full value: on some your sum insured itself, on some a limit set 20 per cent above it. Below that, the insurer can cut the payout in proportion. If the whole building is lost, most of those policies pay up to 20 per cent above the amount you insured it for. Anything the rebuild costs beyond that, you pay out of your own pocket.
The partial-loss version is the one with a formula, and it surprises people because the damage does not have to be anywhere near total for it to bite. The mechanics of the clause and published cases are in the co-insurance clause explained.
The same figure sets what the building part of your commercial property insurance can pay after a fire or storm.
How do I put the figure right?
The fix is a current rebuild figure, with prices at more than one sum insured so you choose how fast to close the gap. You can raise your building figure at renewal or during the year.
If you do not know what your building would cost to rebuild now, that is the place to start. We commission a desktop building replacement estimate for you, free. It's a desktop building replacement estimate, so it's worked out from aerial and street imagery rather than a site visit.
What you get back depends on what the estimate shows and what you want from it. We commission it for our purposes as your broker, to inform the advice we give you. Where your figure already looks right, we may just tell you so. Where it looks short, we can price your cover at your current figure and at a higher one, so you see what each choice costs. If you would like to check the inputs yourself, ask for the calculation.
We can also arrange an on-site valuation instead of a desktop building replacement estimate, but that's a service you pay for.
If your cover is with another broker or an insurer direct, you do not have to wait for renewal. You can appoint us by letter to look after a suitable policy during its term, without cancelling it.
A correct figure can cost more premium. Where the full figure is a stretch this year, we talk the trade-off through with you. Carrying a higher excess can help pay for the higher figure. If a tenant funds the premium through the outgoings, some owners time the increase to the next rent review.
We can go through a change during the year with you. The insurer sets any extra premium on its own terms, and some policies carry a minimum premium for a change. You decide whether to go ahead. Adding to the building? Most of the policies we place give some automatic cover for the new work above the sum insured. The limit is in the policy.
What do published rates say a rebuild costs per square metre in south east Queensland?
Published south east Queensland rates run from about $880 per square metre for a basic metal-clad warehouse to about $4,100 for a regional shopping complex, on the July 2025 Napier & Blakeley construction cost card. They are costs to build new, so they leave out what a rebuild after a loss adds.
The category names below are the card's own, size caps included, and they change the rate. A shell only rate has no fit-out in it. A warehouse over 3,000 square metres with sprinklers is priced on another line of the same card.
Building, in the source's own wordsSouth east Queensland, indicative, per square metre
- Up to 10m high warehouse - basic standard, metal clad walls, no sprinklers (up to 3,000 sqm)$880 to $1,180
- Up to 10m high warehouse - medium standard, precast walls, no sprinklers (up to 3,000 sqm)$1,150 to $1,350
- Suburban specialty shops - shell only$1,500 to $2,160
- Up to 2 storey offices - medium grade facilities and finishes with air conditioning, no lift and no sprinklers$1,920 to $3,240
- Suburban supermarkets with air conditioning, excluding fitout$2,300 to $2,820
- Suburban enclosed mall area - medium standard with air conditioning$2,450 to $3,800
- 1 or 2 storey brick motel - medium standard, dining facilities, air conditioning, excluding fitout$2,850 to $3,560
- Regional shopping complex - high standard including major stores, specialty shops and enclosed malls$3,200 to $4,100
Source: Napier & Blakeley, Construction Costs, South East Queensland, July 2025. Rates are per square metre of gross building area and exclude GST.
Napier & Blakeley's own caution, in their words: "It must be stressed that the information on this datacard represents a guide to a range of indicative construction costs for gross building areas, based within South East Queensland. This guide is for use in initial broad feasibilities only and we recommend that you contact your nearest Napier & Blakeley office to ensure accurate project specific costings."
A rebuild costs more than a new build. A rebuild after a loss adds clearing the site, the professional fees to redesign and certify, council approval and current code, and the price movement while the job runs.
On one worked valuation, professional fees came to around 12.5% of the base building figure on their own, and debris removal to around 5.7%, before any allowance for escalation or GST. That example is a strata building in New South Wales, and the two percentages are worked from its published lines. Those percentages describe that building. They are not an allowance to add to every property's sum insured.
Plenty of buildings are not on the card. High-bay warehouses, larger-span industrial buildings, offices above two storeys, childcare centres and medical suites have no published range we can show you.
The one sum you can do yourself
Multiply your floor area by the low end of the matching range as a rough check. If your sum insured is below that figure, it is worth investigating. A result above it does not establish that you have enough cover: the rates describe broad categories and leave out costs involved in rebuilding after a loss.
Do it in your head, or on the back of the renewal notice.
A rate per square metre is an average of buildings that are not yours. Your slope, your access, your ceiling height, your fit-out, your heritage listing, and your council's current code all move the real figure, and none of them are in a table. The building sum insured guide sets out what belongs in a rebuild figure, item by item.
A figure from a web form is a guess, however exact it looks. In one published complaint decision on a home building policy, an insurer's own online rebuild calculator was held to be an estimate rather than advice. When the sum insured it produced fell short, the shortfall was the policyholder's. The full determination is set out on the desktop building replacement estimate page, under why a calculator is not enough.
Renting the premises you trade from? The building is usually the landlord's to insure, so start with insurance for business owners who rent.
FAQ
Can I just use the low end of the range as my sum insured?
No. At Consolidated Insurance Brokers we show the range so you can see whether your number is far off. It averages buildings that share a category and nothing else, and it leaves out costs a rebuild cannot avoid. It does not establish the amount your building needs. What goes on the policy has to be measured.
Is the percentage on this page the amount my sum insured is short by?
No. It is the rise in a national construction-cost index, not your percentage shortfall. Your own position depends on whether the starting figure was right, any later increases and changes to the building. Our underinsurance guide explains why annual indexation may not be enough.