The true cost of water insurance claims

If you’ve ever had a water leak at home, you know just how stressful it can be. The impact is amplified even further in a commercial property, causing massive disruption to operations that can have long-lasting negative effects on your business. The costs are huge too, with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) stating that insurers pay out in the region of £2.5m per day for escape of water claims, almost a billion pounds a year.

That’s why most insurers strongly recommend a commercial property has its own regularly maintained Leak Detection alarm system in place and it can affect the cost of your insurance premiums.

One of the reasons why the impact is so huge is that offices usually have more water features than residential properties. These include large heating systems and plant rooms, air conditioning, multiple washroom facilities, shared kitchen and recreation spaces.

The building’s architecture can also affect the loss from any water leak damage. The location of facilities, toilets for example, is often the same from floor to floor and the stacking design can mean that multiple floors are affected by any escapes of water.

Nearly one in five claims made on buildings and contents insurance is for damage caused by leaks and there’s a noticeable spike in winter months due to burst pipes. Incidents are also caused by unnoticed leaks created from a slow build-up of both water and damage, often occurring within voids.

Paul Davis, Senior Estimator & Project Manager said, “There’s no doubt that companies that have an effective water Leak Detection system in situ are better placed to avoid large-scale loss from a water leak as they’ll be alerted straight away to any traces of a water leak.

Leak monitoring solutions are also very popular in residential properties, particularly apartments in large cities like London, as they may be left unoccupied for long periods. They will also have similar concerns to commercial office blocks as many individually owned homes will be within the same building, leaving property managers at risk of damage claims.

Our services extend to the installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance of systems that can be installed at the time of renovation work taking place eg. a new heating system, or retrospectively as a stand-alone improvement to the building environment. We also have wireless solutions that provide reliable leak tracing alerts. This is particularly beneficial in buildings where a traditional installation isn’t viable, such as heritage buildings, or properties that have undergone renovation and a leak detection system requirement has been identified, at a late stage.”

Water leak alarms are an effective leak monitoring solution as they’re used with Leak Detection sensing tape or probes to trigger an alarm when even the smallest amount of liquid is detected. This means you can get to the source of any water leak quickly, avoiding the detrimental affects of major water damage. It will also alert you to the location of the alarm, making the fixing of water leaks a much simpler process. Take a look at the products and manufacturers we use to ensure the quality of your long-lasting solution.