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Home Insurance Coverage Calculator

U.S. only tools

Most homeowners policies are carried to cover the mortgage - but the bank gets paid off and the house still has to be rebuilt at today’s construction prices. Insuring for the loan balance can leave a policy covering barely half the house. This page estimates the replacement cost from the finished square footage, splits your dwelling limit into the other-structures, personal-property and loss-of-use coverages it implies, and checks it against the 80% coinsurance floor most policies carry.

Home Insurance Coverage Calculator - Danfio

https://danfio.com/tools/home-insurance-coverage-calculator/ - printed from this page

Currency: USD ($) - display only, nothing was converted

The square footage you insure. The page multiplies it by the rebuild cost per square foot to estimate replacement cost.

$

What rebuilding a square foot costs today in your area. Your insurer or a local builder gives a better figure than any national average.

$

The main number on your declarations page - usually close to, but not identical with, the estimated replacement cost.

The limit your policy sets for detached structures, typically 10% of the dwelling limit.

The limit for your belongings, typically 50-70% of the dwelling limit.

The limit for living elsewhere while the home is rebuilt, typically about 30% of the dwelling limit.

The share of replacement cost your policy requires you to insure - usually 80%. Insuring less than this triggers the coinsurance penalty on a partial loss.

How far an actual-cash-value policy writes down used structures. The older the home, the larger the write-down.

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

Currency symbol

Symbol only - nothing is converted and no exchange rate is used. Figures quoted in the explanation text stay as the sources publish them.

Estimated replacement cost to rebuild

$360,000.00

$200.00 per square foot x 1,800 sq ft. Your dwelling limit covers 100% of it.

How the policy splits its dwelling limit

Dwelling limit (Coverage A)
$360,000 100% of replacement cost
Other structures (Coverage B)
$36,000 10% of the dwelling limit
Personal property (Coverage C)
$216,000 60% of the dwelling limit
Loss of use (Coverage D)
$108,000 30% of the dwelling limit
Your dwelling limit of $360,000 is at or above the 80% coinsurance floor of $288,000, so a partial loss is paid in full up to the limit.

Replacement cost vs actual cash value on a loss

What happensLossReplacement policy paysACV policy paysYou pay (replacement)You pay (ACV)
Minor fire$36,000.00$36,000.00$30,600.00$0.00$5,400.00
Kitchen and roof fire$126,000.00$126,000.00$107,100.00$0.00$18,900.00
Half the home destroyed$180,000.00$180,000.00$153,000.00$0.00$27,000.00
Total loss - nothing structural left$360,000.00$360,000.00$306,000.00$0.00$54,000.00

An actual-cash-value policy starts from the same loss but writes it down by the assumed 15% depreciation, so it almost always pays less than the repair bill. That gap is a large part of why the right replacement-cost limit matters.

This is a coverage check, not an appraisal: real reconstruction costs depend on local labor, materials and the home's age and finish, and the depreciation an insurer applies to an ACV claim is its own schedule. A replacement-cost figure from your agent or a local builder beats any national average.

It then prints the same four losses under two wordings. A replacement-cost policy pays to rebuild; an actual-cash-value policy starts from the same number and subtracts depreciation. It is that difference, in dollars you can read off the table, that decides which policy you actually hold when the claim lands.

About this home insurance coverage calculator

A mortgage balance is not what it costs to put the house back on its lot, and confusing the two is where underinsurance begins. The coverage calculator estimates replacement cost from the square footage you enter, prints the coverage split your dwelling limit implies, checks the 80% coinsurance rule, and shows replacement-cost and actual-cash-value settlements on the same four losses.

The method is printed in full on the page, and every figure is recomputable from the printed inputs. Danfio sells no data and moves no leads for any insurer; there is no brokerage and no funnel to a quote form.

Reconstruction cost is an estimate, not an appraisal: local labor, materials and the home’s age decide reality, and only your agent or a local builder can quote the real figures. Not investment or insurance advice; quotes come from a licensed provider.

How this home insurance coverage calculator works

Replacement cost from square footage

The page multiplies finished square feet by a rebuild cost per square foot that you supply, because a parked cost-per-square-foot figure is a planning number, not a promise. A house that cost $160 a square foot to build in 2015 can cost $220 to rebuild in the same zip code today. The square footage field stops at 100,000 and both factors are held at zero or above, so a typo cannot turn the estimate into nonsense.

That product is the number everything else on the page is measured against: the coinsurance floor is a percentage of it, and the four loss scenarios are shares of it. Which is why the per-square-foot figure deserves more care than anything else you type. National or metro averages slide away from a particular house; an agent or a local builder who knows the block is worth more than any published average here.

How a policy splits its dwelling limit

A standard homeowners contract states other-structures, personal-property and loss-of-use limits as percentages of the dwelling limit, and the page takes those percentages as inputs - 10%, 60% and 30% by default - then prints the dollar limits they imply. Because all three are percentages of Coverage A, raising the dwelling limit raises all three at once, which is why a limit change is never a one-line change on a real policy.

Each percentage is held between 0 and 100 on its own, and the page does not verify that the three add up to something sensible. Set 60, 60 and 30 and it will happily print three limits summing to 150% of Coverage A without a warning, because that is the policy you described. Sub-limits also live inside these buckets - jewelry, electronics and business property each carry their own ceiling - and those are not modelled here.

The 80% coinsurance rule

The coinsurance percentage is an input too, 80% by default, so a policy written to a different requirement can be checked as written. Multiply replacement cost by that percentage and you get the amount the policy expects you to carry. If your dwelling limit reaches it, partial losses pay normally. If it does not, the ratio of your limit to the required amount becomes a penalty multiplier on partial claims - the loss times that ratio, capped at the policy limit.

The shape of that penalty is worth seeing in numbers. At 60% of the floor the multiplier is 0.75, so a $40,000 partial loss on a $250,000 limit pays $30,000 and leaves you $10,000 short on a claim well under the limit. A total loss is different: the page pays the loss capped at the dwelling limit, with no coinsurance multiplier. So underinsuring hurts twice - it shrinks partial settlements and it caps the worst day at the limit itself.

Replacement cost vs actual cash value

An actual-cash-value policy starts from the same loss and writes it down by depreciation, which the page takes as an input - 15% by default, and older homes carry more. Four scenarios are priced at 10%, 35%, 50% and 100% of replacement cost: a minor fire, a kitchen and roof fire, half the home gone, and a total loss.

The total-loss column shows the whole argument. On a $360,000 replacement cost covered to the limit, a replacement-cost policy pays the $360,000 and the ACV policy pays $306,000, leaving $54,000 with the homeowner. The depreciation is applied after any coinsurance reduction, so an underinsured ACV policy is cut twice. Neither figure is a settlement offer: an insurer writes down its own schedule, and this page uses yours.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

A policy that rebuilds the whole house

Finished square feet of the home: 1,800 sq ft · Rebuild cost per square foot: $200.00 · Your dwelling limit (Coverage A): $360,000.00 · Other structures (Coverage B): 10 % · Personal property (Coverage C): 60 % · Loss of use (Coverage D): 30 % · Coinsurance requirement: 80 % · Assumed depreciation at claim time: 15 %

Estimated replacement cost to rebuild

$360,000.00

$200.00 per square foot x 1,800 sq ft. Your dwelling limit covers 100% of it.

Dwelling limit (Coverage A): $360,000 · Other structures (Coverage B): $36,000 · Personal property (Coverage C): $216,000 · Loss of use (Coverage D): $108,000

1,800 sq ft at $200 rebuilds for $360,000 and the dwelling limit sits on top of it: 100% covered, coinsurance met, and a total loss is fully rebuilt. Under an ACV wording the same total loss pays $306,000 after the 15% write-down - $54,000 out of pocket, which is the difference between the two contracts in one row.

Insured for the mortgage balance

Finished square feet of the home: 2,200 sq ft · Rebuild cost per square foot: $220.00 · Your dwelling limit (Coverage A): $250,000.00 · Other structures (Coverage B): 10 % · Personal property (Coverage C): 60 % · Loss of use (Coverage D): 30 % · Coinsurance requirement: 80 % · Assumed depreciation at claim time: 15 %

Estimated replacement cost to rebuild

$484,000.00

$220.00 per square foot x 2,200 sq ft. Your dwelling limit covers 51.7% of it.

Dwelling limit (Coverage A): $250,000 · Other structures (Coverage B): $25,000 · Personal property (Coverage C): $150,000 · Loss of use (Coverage D): $75,000

Replacement cost is $484,000 but the limit is a $250,000 mortgage-sized figure: 51.7% of replacement cost, well below the 80% floor of $387,200. The warning note carries the message of this page - a kitchen-and-roof fire pays only a share of the loss, and a total loss is capped at $250,000.

A higher-value home with headroom

Finished square feet of the home: 3,000 sq ft · Rebuild cost per square foot: $250.00 · Your dwelling limit (Coverage A): $800,000.00 · Other structures (Coverage B): 10 % · Personal property (Coverage C): 70 % · Loss of use (Coverage D): 30 % · Coinsurance requirement: 80 % · Assumed depreciation at claim time: 25 %

Estimated replacement cost to rebuild

$750,000.00

$250.00 per square foot x 3,000 sq ft. Your dwelling limit covers 106.7% of it.

Dwelling limit (Coverage A): $800,000 · Other structures (Coverage B): $80,000 · Personal property (Coverage C): $560,000 · Loss of use (Coverage D): $240,000

3,000 sq ft at $250 rebuilds for $750,000, so the $800,000 limit covers 106.7% - above the 80% floor with useful headroom against build-cost inflation. Notice how much larger the ACV write-down gets on an older, more depreciated structure.

Replacement cost in a cheaper market

Finished square feet of the home: 1,600 sq ft · Rebuild cost per square foot: $180.00 · Your dwelling limit (Coverage A): $288,000.00 · Other structures (Coverage B): 10 % · Personal property (Coverage C): 55 % · Loss of use (Coverage D): 25 % · Coinsurance requirement: 80 % · Assumed depreciation at claim time: 15 %

Estimated replacement cost to rebuild

$288,000.00

$180.00 per square foot x 1,600 sq ft. Your dwelling limit covers 100% of it.

Dwelling limit (Coverage A): $288,000 · Other structures (Coverage B): $28,800 · Personal property (Coverage C): $158,400 · Loss of use (Coverage D): $72,000

The dwelling limit matches the $288,000 replacement cost exactly, so coinsurance is met. The loss table still shows the ACV wording leaving $43,200 on the table at a total loss - the coverage check never stops mattering just because the numbers line up.

Frequently asked questions

What does 80% coinsurance mean in plain words?

The policy expects you to insure the home for at least 80% of what it would cost to rebuild. Carry a lower limit and a partial loss is paid only in the ratio your limit bears to the required amount, on top of the cap at your limit - so even a modest fire can leave thousands with you. The page computes the floor and marks whether you clear it.

Should the dwelling limit equal the purchase price?

No - the dwelling limit should track replacement cost, not the price you paid. The purchase price includes the land, the lot stays put whether or not the house burns, and the rebuild price moves with construction costs. Insuring to the mortgage can land well under the 80% floor, which is exactly the mistake this page is built to surface.

What is actual cash value (ACV)?

Actual cash value starts from the replacement cost of what was destroyed and subtracts depreciation - how far the roof, floors and finishes were from new when they were lost. An ACV policy therefore pays less than the repair bill for an older home, and the loss table prints that difference per scenario.

Are the percentage splits on this page standard?

The typical shape is 10% for other structures (Coverage B), 50-70% for personal property (Coverage C) and about 30% for loss of use (Coverage D), but the percentages are your contract’s, not the page’s. Enter the numbers from your declarations page and the table prints the dollars each implies.

Is a local average rebuild cost good enough?

No. Per-square-foot rebuild cost varies with the age, finish, layout and local labor, so a national or metro average slides away from your house. The page treats your per-square-foot figure as an input, and the honest guidance is to let your agent or a local builder produce it.

Is this an appraisal?

No. The replacement cost here is square footage times a rebuild figure you choose, for the purpose of checking a coverage limit. An appraisal is a separate, paid exercise. Use this page to decide whether to talk to your agent - not to argue with an adjuster.

Assumptions and sources

  • Replacement cost is estimated as finished square footage times a rebuild cost per square foot you supply. It is a planning figure for coverage sizing, not an appraisal, and a local builder or agent beats any national average.
  • The 80% coinsurance convention is standard on homeowners policies; many contracts also carry replacement-cost or extended replacement cost guarantees that raise the effective floor, which this page does not model (Texas Department of Insurance, "Home insurance shopping guide", verified against the official source and kept on record).
  • The replacement-cost versus actual-cash-value comparison follows the Texas Department of Insurance explainer (verified against the official source and kept on record).
  • The Coverage B/C/D percentage splits vary by contract and by state; the page prints the split your inputs imply so the assumptions stay on the table.

Last reviewed 2026-10-06. Not investment or insurance advice; quotes come from a licensed provider. Read the full disclaimer.

Where a figure on this page comes from an official agency — HUD, IRS, FICO or a state body — the site keeps a dated snapshot of the source page in its sources library, and a scheduled job re-checks that snapshot, so the number can be traced back to the document it came from.

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