Upgrades to Your Unit
Upgrades beyond builder-grade finishes need extra coverage, since the master policy typically only covers the original standard unit.
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When you've redone the kitchen or floors
If you put in new cabinets, hardwood floors, built-in shelving, or upgraded bathroom fixtures since the unit was built, the master policy does not cover any of it. Most master policies insure the unit the way it looked when the building was constructed, often called the builder-grade standard. Anything added after that, custom countertops, a finished basement, better light fixtures, falls to your own HO-6 policy under the coverage usually called dwelling or improvements and additions. The amount you carry here should reflect what it would cost to replace those upgrades at today's prices, not what you paid for them originally. If you bought the unit with upgrades already in place from a previous owner, the same rule applies. Check your HO-6 declarations page for this coverage amount, and update it after any renovation.
Unlisted upgrades come out of your pocket
If a kitchen remodel or new flooring isn't reflected in your coverage amount, you'd cover the difference yourself after a loss. Comparing quotes now is a good time to set that number right.
What counts as an upgrade and how to value it
An upgrade is anything that changed the unit from what it looked like when the building was first sold. New cabinets, a redone bathroom, hardwood over the original carpet, crown molding, a built-in wine fridge. Even things that seem structural, like moving a wall or adding a half bath, count as improvements and additions under your HO-6, not something the master policy picks up. If you're not sure what counted as standard when the building went up, the condo association or property manager can usually tell you, and some master policies describe it directly in their documents.
Valuing the work is less about what you paid and more about what it would cost to put it back. A kitchen remodel done five years ago for a certain price could easily cost more to redo today, since labor and materials both move. Walk through the unit room by room and price out what each upgrade would cost at current rates, not your old receipts. Keep records anyway. Photos, contractor invoices, permits if the work needed them. After a fire or a burst pipe, those records support the number you're claiming, and an insurer rebuilding your kitchen from scratch needs to know what was actually there.
Coverage amounts aren't one-size-fits-all here, and a lot of unit owners carry too little because they set the figure once at purchase and never touched it again. A $15,000 kitchen renovation and a $60,000 one need very different coverage limits. The gap between what you carry and what it would actually cost to rebuild is money you pay yourself. If you've done more than one round of work over the years, add it up rather than guessing at a round number.
Some upgrades change what the rest of your policy should look like too. A finished basement adds square footage that needs covering. A home office with new built-ins might affect personal property limits. Upgrades don't just need their own coverage line. They can shift what the right numbers are everywhere else on the policy, which is another reason to look at the whole declarations page after a renovation instead of just adding a figure for the new countertops.
Does it matter who did the work or whether it was permitted
Insurers generally don't ask whether you hired a licensed contractor or did the work yourself, but how a claim gets handled can depend on it. If you installed cabinets or laid flooring without pulling a required permit, some policies limit or deny coverage for that specific upgrade when it's tied to code violations found during a claim. A kitchen fire that spreads because unpermitted electrical work was involved is a different claim than one that doesn't touch that work at all. Check your policy's language on ordinance or law coverage, since this is where permit issues usually surface, and keep any permits you did pull with your other renovation records.
DIY work raises a related question insurers do care about. Did the work meet basic building standards. A floor installed by a flooring company and one installed by a unit owner on a weekend are treated the same on paper, as improvements and additions, but if poor workmanship causes a loss, that can change things. A shower pan that was never properly sealed and causes water damage over time may fall under exclusions for faulty workmanship rather than being treated as a covered loss. This isn't unique to condos, but it comes up often in unit renovations since so much of the work is cosmetic or semi-structural and done in phases.
Selling the unit later is where undocumented upgrades cause a different kind of problem. A buyer's insurer will ask about the unit's condition and any renovations. If you're the seller, disclosing what you upgraded helps the new owner set their own HO-6 coverage correctly from day one. If you're the buyer, ask the seller directly what was redone and when, since the master policy's builder-grade baseline doesn't change with ownership. Only the improvements layered on top of it do. A previous owner's granite countertops and hardwood floors become your responsibility to insure the moment you close, whether or not you knew the work had been done.
None of this means every upgrade needs a permit or a licensed contractor to be covered. Plenty of improvements, like refinished cabinets or updated lighting, carry no permit requirement at all. The point is narrower. When work is the kind that normally requires a permit, like electrical, plumbing, or structural changes, skipping that step can affect a claim tied to that work later, even if the upgrade itself is properly valued and listed on your declarations page.
Before you renew
Pull your HO-6 declarations page and check the improvements and additions amount against what your upgrades would cost to replace today. If you've renovated since that number was set, this is the moment to fix it.
