What should I find in my inbox this week but a press release entitled ‘How safe is your house insurance?’! The writers must have thought all their Christmases had come at once as the flooding in the South-West will have guaranteed that every journalist with the slightest involvement in housing, restoration and refurbishment, will have opened it up and read it!

I had already been discussing the issue of insurance with some friends who have a house in St Austell (which was one of the towns most seriously damaged) who happened to be spending the week in Surrey. We couldn’t quite work out whether it would be less stressful for them to remain up here or whether they might be relieved to return home and find that things weren’t quite as bad as expected...

Some years ago I spent a few days with some flood restoration professionals and insurance assessors, when Lewes was badly flooded. It was a real eye-opener as what you see of the clean-up on television really only scratches the surface – and there is the real nightmare of finding that your neighbour’s insurers handle things in a completely different way from yours and that while they seem to be looked after very well, you realise you’ve drawn the short straw when it comes to choosing your provider.

And although all this extra business which is soon to come is great news for those in our industry who will get to manufacture, supply and install all these new kitchens and downstairs bathrooms – as well as the Government, as VAT will have risen by the time most householders will be in a position to have new products installed – my heart goes out to those whose homes have been ruined.

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