Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595
Builder’s Risk Insurance in Houston, TX
Builder’s risk is property coverage for a building or a renovation while the work is in progress. It has a start line and a finish line: it protects the covered project while the project is becoming a building. The important word is project — this is not an ordinary annual-property conversation.
- 41years in Houston
- 20+markets compared
- Same dayDPS filing
- #5595TDI license
The organizing document
Start with the construction contract
The first insurance question is not “which carrier?” It is who did the contract make responsible? A construction contract can assign who buys the policy and identify the owner, contractor, lender, subcontractors or other interests it expects the insurance to protect. Financing documents can add separate lender requirements. The same documents may call for particular limits, deductibles, causes of loss, loss-payee terms, or a completion milestone.
Have the insurance-requirement section available for the licensed-agent conversation. It helps answer:
- Who is responsible for arranging the policy?
- Which project interests need to be addressed?
- What values and property does the agreement expect the policy to include?
- Is there a wind, named-storm, flood, testing, occupancy, or delay requirement?
- When is project coverage expected to hand off to permanent property insurance?
Careful wording matters on the second of those. Identify the owner, contractor, lender and other project interests the contract requires the policy to protect — named insured, mortgagee and loss-payee treatment depends on the form, and this is not the liability-policy habit of naming everyone as an additional insured.
A certificate can show that a policy exists. It cannot, by itself, prove that the policy matches every term in the construction contract, and we read those requirements as an insurance agency rather than as counsel.
Before the first delivery
Put the review ahead of the first material on site
The practical time to arrange builder’s risk is before covered materials arrive or covered site work begins — not after vertical construction is visible. Carrier forms do not all use the same attachment language, and a project already underway may need different underwriting or a different form.
That does not mean every started project is automatically ineligible. It means the current status must be disclosed accurately:
- The expected material-delivery or work-start date.
- The actual date work began, if it has.
- The current percentage complete.
- The expected completion date.
- Any lapse in prior project coverage.
Coverage cannot be assumed or backdated simply because the project was supposed to be insured earlier. Call with the real dates and we will help determine what belongs in the submission.
Checks, not promises
What the project policy can be asked to address
- The work, materials and equipment Covered property
- Texas classifies builder’s risk around physical damage to covered machinery, equipment, building materials and supplies used while a project is being built, renovated, repaired, installed or tested. The policy — not the product name — defines the covered property and the causes of loss.
- Transit and temporary storage Property away from the site
- Project materials do not always travel straight from a supplier onto the building. Some forms can extend to covered property in transit or at a temporary storage location. Locations, limits, security requirements and the time allowed stay policy-specific, so this is confirmed rather than assumed.
- Soft costs and delay Requested, and valued
- Physical reconstruction is not the only expense after a covered loss. A delay can repeat architectural or engineering fees, permits, interest, taxes and insurance expense; a commercial project might also face delayed rent or a delayed opening. Programs can address some of these when the coverage and the values are requested. They are not automatic.
- Testing and partial occupancy Dates that move the risk
- Hot testing, putting equipment into service, letting a tenant into part of the building, or using the project before final completion can change the risk. Some forms require permission first, and some treat occupancy or intended use as a termination event. Those dates belong in the review before they happen, not after.
Every line above is a question to raise, not something you already have. These forms are not standardized the way a personal policy is, so each item depends on the form, the endorsements, and what was requested at submission.
Source: TDI — adopted inland marine rules, 28 TAC §§5.5001–5.5008. Verified .
Two different arithmetic problems
Ground-up construction and renovation need different answers
For a ground-up project, the limit is developed around the value the applicable form and contract require when the project is complete — not merely the amount spent as of today. Labor, materials, overhead, owner-furnished property, profit and soft costs can each receive different treatment, and a material change order is a reason to revisit the value.
For a renovation, separate two numbers:
- The value of the new work.
- The value of the original structure.
Coverage on the renovation work does not automatically insure the existing building. Current Texas program instructions treat a submission covering both an original structure and its improvements as a different application from a new project — which is exactly the distinction to make explicitly in your own.
Also disclose whether the building will stay open, whether part of it will be occupied, and whether the work changes the structure. Those details can affect the form and the transition between project and permanent property coverage.
Source: TDI — 2026 TWIA instructions and guidelines. Verified .
The Houston question
Wind and flood belong in the project review early
“Builder’s risk” does not tell you whether wind, named storm, flood or storm surge is covered. The answer depends on the form, the endorsements, the location, and any separate policy arranged for the project.
Timing matters more than usual along the Texas coast. TWIA publishes builder’s-risk forms for eligible wind and hail projects, but the program carries location, declination, certification, application and form requirements. A Harris County address alone does not establish eligibility: the designated catastrophe area in this county is limited to specified locations east of Highway 146. For WPI applications beginning 1 April 2026, TDI uses the 2024 IRC or IBC.
TWIA’s own 2026 instructions separate a project bound before construction from one already underway, one with a lapse, and one seeking coverage on both an existing structure and its improvements. The takeaway is the same as the timing section’s: raise the wind question before the first delivery, not near the first named storm.
Flood is a separate check again. Do not infer flood coverage from words such as “special form,” and do not assume a policy answering for wind says anything about rising water.
Sources: TDI — adopted building codes and designated catastrophe area; TDI — what is windstorm insurance; TDI — 2026 TWIA instructions and guidelines; TWIA — minimum policy eligibility criteria. Verified .
The finish line
Know what event ends the coverage
Builder’s risk is temporary by design. Under Texas’s inland-marine classification, coverage written for an owner must end when the work is completed and accepted; coverage written for a seller or a contractor ends when that party’s interest ends.
An individual policy can contain additional, earlier triggers. Depending on the form, coverage can be affected by:
- Occupancy, or putting the building to its intended use.
- Acceptance, payment, or transfer of ownership.
- Permanent property insurance applying.
- Abandonment of the project.
- Policy expiration or cancellation.
- Another form-specific completion provision.
There is no safe universal “60 days” or “90 days” answer, which is why none is printed here. Read the termination conditions in the actual form, and have commercial property insurance ready before the earliest applicable handoff.
Source: TDI — adopted inland marine rules, 28 TAC §§5.5001–5.5008. Verified .
Two different questions
What builder’s risk does not replace
Builder’s risk answers a project-property question: damage to the thing being built. Contractors general liability insurance answers a different one: allegations that the work caused bodily injury or damage to someone else’s property. Damage to the project, and liability for the work, are two policies — a project frequently needs both, and neither absorbs the other.
A project may also need separate answers for workers, business vehicles, contractor-owned tools and mobile equipment, performance or payment bonds, flood, and the completed building. One project can need several policies without any of them turning into the same coverage.
Have these ready
What to have ready for the first conversation
You do not need to complete an underwriting application before contacting us. Start with:
- The project address or ZIP.
- Your role: owner, developer, general contractor, or other.
- New build, renovation, repair, addition, or installation.
- A short description of the project and its intended use.
- Expected material-delivery or start date, and expected completion date.
- Current percentage complete, if work has begun.
- Estimated completed value, or hard construction cost.
- Whether an existing structure is involved.
- Whether the building will be occupied during the work.
- The owner, general contractor, and lender involved.
If a lender or an owner has told you which certificate they expect, mention it on the call — the requirement usually shapes the submission.
Do not send contracts, financing documents, detailed schedules, plans, engineering reports, loss runs or other sensitive records through an ordinary website message. If we need documents, call (281) 484-8320 and staff will provide an approved transfer method.
No obligation
Review the project before the calendar becomes the problem
Tell us where the project is, what your role is, when materials arrive, when the work should finish, what the completed project will be worth, and whether an existing structure is involved. We will help determine what information belongs in a builder’s-risk submission. The phone is fastest: (281) 484-8320, or use the form below.
Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034. Policies written statewide — you do not have to be local.
Project questions we get every week
Who should buy builder’s risk insurance?
The construction contract usually assigns that responsibility. An owner or contractor commonly buys the policy, while the project and lender interests still need to be addressed according to the contract and the actual form.
When should I start the insurance review?
Before covered materials arrive or covered work begins. A project already underway may require different underwriting or a different form, so disclose its actual status rather than assuming coverage can be backdated.
Does builder’s risk cover the existing building during renovation?
Not automatically. Value the original structure separately from the renovation work, and confirm how the selected form treats it.
Are soft costs, lost rent, or delay in opening included?
Only when the policy provides the relevant coverage and the exposure has been properly valued. Treat soft costs and delay as separate submission questions rather than as assumed benefits.
Does builder’s risk include wind, named storm, or flood?
It depends on the form, the endorsements and the project location. Coastal wind and flood may need separate treatment. TWIA is a wind and hail option for eligible locations and submissions only; it is not an automatic answer for every Houston project.
When does builder’s risk coverage end?
The actual form controls. Completion and acceptance, or an insured party’s interest ending, are the core Texas classification points. Occupancy, intended use, transfer, permanent insurance, abandonment, expiration and cancellation can also matter under particular forms.