Ordinance or law coverage, defined

A standard property form pays to restore what was there; it does not pay to add the fire sprinklers, wider stairs, upgraded wiring or higher foundation that today's code demands. The provision has three parts: the cost to demolish the undamaged remainder when officials require it, the value of that undamaged portion, and the increased cost of construction to meet code. Older homes and commercial buildings are the ones exposed, since the gap between how they were built and what code now requires is widest. On home policies it is often a small share of the dwelling limit by default and can be raised. Flood policies handle code upgrades under a separate provision of their own.