Your home is more than four walls—it’s the place where life’s best moments are shared, celebrated, and protected. When you move in with someone, buy your first home, your family grows, or you decide to renovate, every change is a new chapter. And each chapter of life means your home insurance needs to change along with you.

Home insurance isn’t something you can set and forget. It works best when it’s tailored to how you live now, not how you lived five years ago. Here’s how to keep your home insurance updated as you go through major moments of life.

New home? New insurance

Buying your dream home (congratulations, by the way) is the perfect moment to review your coverage and ensure your most valuable asset is properly protected.

Renovations on your existing home

The same goes for major renovations (like finishing your basement and upgrading your kitchen), additions (like an extra bedroom or backyard deck or patio), or new outbuildings like a carriage home over a garage. Anything that increases the value or square footage of your home means you need to update your policy to match.

Even simple home improvements can affect your policy. Replacing your roof with more durable materials or installing a state-of-the-art home security system can sometimes even lower your premiums.

Expanded your family? Expand your policy protection to embrace them

Maybe you’ve moved in with your loving spouse and had a baby together, or got a fur baby, or your adult child moved back home. These are all great times to update your insurance. Even teaming up with a roommate is a reason to make sure you’re covered. In fact, we recommend roommates each get their own renters insurance instead of sharing a policy. It ensures everyone’s stuff is properly covered (even your roomie’s ancient couch), helps you avoid accidental disputes and messiness and keeps any claims super simple. Another common gap is when your family grows, your additional living expenses limit may need to be adjusted to ensure you’re not left out of pocket for temporary accommodations, transportation, storage or a kennel for your pet, if you need to move out due to a claim.

Brought home expensive stuff ? Introduce them to your policy

Your policy should reflect the true value (and replacement value) of your home and everything in it. If you’ve added new valuable stuff like an e-bike, engagement ring or a high end home theatre system, they might not be fully covered under your existing insurance policy limits. For example, let’s say you collect vintage guitars or your inherited family heirlooms, these may require specific insurance coverage so that they’re properly protected in case of fire, flood, storm damage or theft.

Check for coverage gaps and outdated details

Let’s face it, it’s easy to do nothing and just assume your home insurance is good enough. However, a quick review of your policy can reveal blind spots. Read through your policy documents and ask yourself: is this coverage still right for my lifestyle and current value of my contents? Have I removed or added anything (or anyone) big? Have I changed the way I use my home? Does my home or its contents look different now? We recommend doing a detailed review every time your policy is up for renewal and quick reviews more often, especially after a significant change.

One common gap is when people start a home-based business or they store their business inventory on-site. Those are good reasons to get Small Business Insurance, which BCAA can help you out with too! 

We make it easy to stay covered

At BCAA, we’re here to help you protect you and your home through every exciting new stage of life. Thanks to our local knowledge and over 50 years' experience as a BC home insurer, we understand the unique needs of homeowners in our province and will help you build a policy to match. Updating your home insurance with us is easy, and we’ll walk you through exactly what to look for – just reach out to one of our trusted advisors. If you’re not currently with BCAA (yet), switching is simple too.

Life changes – and so should your home insurance

Protect your stuff, home and everyone in it by keeping your home insurance coverage up to date. BCAA Members save up to 20% on BCAA Home Insurance, plus save an extra 5% in your first year when you buy online. Learn more and get a fast, free quote at bcaa.com/home.