Insuring away capex to reduce cashflow fluctuations

[Liam McGoldrick]

Hello all,

I am currently in the process of acquiring a rental property, and hope to have one within the next 6 months. With this, I have been thinking a lot about costs, especially capex. Costs that come up unexpectedly really make cashflow estimates messy, and I wonder if it is possible to convert them to more regular costs via insurance. I know this is already something that is required and common, but I wonder what the limitations are to this. In essence, how far could this be taken to the extreme?

When I think of capex, I think of the roof, appliances, plumbing, electrical, water heater, HVAC and other big ticket items that could have issues and rack up a big bill. Is there any reason I could not simply insure everything that could possibly lead to capex? I imagine this would be costly, but is there reason to believe it would be more costly than the capex itself? 

I know there will still be unknowns that cause fluctuations in income, but taking out the largest spikes seems to me a really appealing idea. 

Any thoughts?