Is residential building insurance with elemental coverage sensible?

Hello. I was at an insurance broker today who advised us not to take out additional natural hazard coverage. His argument was that if water enters the house from outside, hardly any damage would occur. From his point of view, at most to the stones, and these would dry again. For your information, we are building on a plot with a minimal slope (1hm over 22m length), not a flood area or near a stream, without a basement, but we are below the backflow level of the sewer with the floor-level shower on the ground floor, so we will get an external backwater protection. From my point of view, water could only enter the house through heavy rain or a defective backflow flap. What do you think about the broker’s statement and the necessity of the natural hazard add-on? Looking forward to your opinions.

Roughly estimated, drying the screed, replacing the tiles damaged by the drying process, renewing the laminate, and a few painting jobs after a tap water damage in the basement would have cost us around €3,000. No building services engineering or similar were affected, so heating, etc. did not have to be repaired or renewed.

Now imagine the whole thing doesn’t happen because of tap water damage, but because water is pressing through a window, and think about whether you would then have the money left for the repairs...

It's not about flooding from outside. Even a backwater valve can fail sometimes. Hail and storms (from wind force 8) are not always included in building insurance; smaller earthquakes can also occur regionally, ground subsidence can happen too, not just in the Ruhr area. Unlikely, but if it happens, the potential damage is quite severe.

OK, volcanic eruptions and meteorites are indeed extreme, but: often internal unrest is also covered under natural hazard insurance. I don't find that so far-fetched for the future, not only in the Schanzenviertel or Kreuzberg...

I would personally always include it, provided your ZÜRS is okay. It is grossly negligent to make such a recommendation. Either he cannot cover it or it is much too expensive with his "favorite partner." Ask about the contribution, it costs a clicker and a button for new construction. I had two extreme heavy rainfalls in my supervised area —> Kleinblittersdorf... those who had something like that were grateful, the rest had massive damage.