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Personalised insurance for architects and surveyors

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

To redeem and for full Terms & Conditions, click here.

New customer only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply.

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Stolen laptop? Damaged mobile? We'll replace your essential tech within 24hrs of claim approval, with Business Tech Essentials.

Cover & claim limits apply. Mon – Fri 8am – 6pm, except Bank holidays

  • You're covered if you work in your office, on site or at home.
  • No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.

    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.

  • We won't be beaten on price. We'll beat your new business insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

    Excludes van. New customer only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Customise your Architects and Surveyors’ Insurance

As an architect or surveyor, you’re relied upon for your advice, precision and judgement. A fault in your measurements or design could result in major financial difficulties for your client and even put people’s safety at risk. If a client or member of the public decides to take you to court, you face potentially high legal costs, even if you’re not at fault.

At Direct Line for Business, we understand the pressures of working in your industry and we know your insurance policy needs to meet your very specific needs. We also understand that every business is different; that’s why we offer Architects and Surveyors’ insurance that you can customise.

You can use our online tool to select the type of cover you want. For example, you could choose to only take out professional indemnity cover or bundle it with other options such as contents insurance or business interruption.

You can pay monthly with 0% APR in your first year and there’s only one renewal date to remember. It couldn’t be simpler. See our list of available cover options below.

Keeping your business running smoothly

Potential legal costs aside, there are also other risks involved in running a business. You might need to provide insurance cover for your employees or expensive specialist equipment like high-spec PCs and surveying equipment.

Appearances matter when you’re hosting clients; you may also want to arrange cover for your office with all its valuable art and furniture.

Meanwhile, if your premises is affected by an insured event such as fire or flood, and trading has to cease, we can cover the costs of getting your business back up and running. Your working life is complex enough so we want to make choosing your insurance as quick and simple as possible.

Get a quote
or call us on 0345 878 5622
Get a quote call us on 0345 878 5622

Your cover options

There are different types of business insurance and you need to select the kind that works for you. Include any of the following cover options in your Architects and Surveyors’ Insurance to create a policy that precisely fits your firm’s needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

  • Professional indemnity

    Professional indemnity insurance is a commercial necessity among architects and surveyors. Some public sector organisations, local authorities and even larger commercial companies insist that you have cover in place before they’ll work with you.

    If you make a mistake and a client accuses you of negligence and makes a claim against your business, professional indemnity insurance will cover your legal expenses and any compensation costs you have to pay.

    Our professional indemnity insurance meets the requirements of the major architecture professional bodies, including:

    • The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
    • The Architects Registration Board (ARB)

    We can only offer selected professions professional indemnity cover. We can cover:

    • Architects
    • Architectural Surveying
    • Garden Design
    • Interior Design
    • Planning Consultancy
    • Quantity Surveying

    We do not currently offer professional indemnity cover for:

    • Landscape architects
    • Building surveyors
    • Chartered surveyors
    • Land surveyors
    • Property evaluators

    However, we can offer other types of insurance to these professions, such as public liability and business contents and equipment cover, which you can read more about below.

    So, if you’d like to insure other aspects of your business with us, you can get a quote online or call us on 0345 878 5622.

  • Public liability

    Public liability insurance covers you if you accidentally injure a client or member of the public or damage someone’s property. If anyone makes a claim against you, public liability will cover your legal costs and any compensation payouts.

    We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million. We won’t be able to cover you if you undertake or oversee manual work on site.

  • Employers' liability

    Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. Read more about employers' liability to learn about exemptions to this rule.

    At Direct Line for Business, we offer £10 million cover as standard. This covers your legal costs if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you and takes legal action against you.

  • Buildings cover

    If there is damage following an insured event such as flood or fire in the property where you work, buildings insurance will cover the cost of the repairs or reinstatement, this includes debris removal and design fees.

    Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the buildings) is included as standard. This covers the costs of repairing or replacing a broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the breakdown is not due to wear and tear.

  • Contents and equipment cover

    If you rent or own an office, you may want to cover your office contents, equipment and documents. You can also cover your expensive electrical items in case of damage, breakdown (excluding wear and tear) or theft.

    We also offer a cover option that allows you to insure these items on the go, which is helpful if you go on site visits or work at different places. If your work laptop fell on the ground and the screen cracked, we’d cover the cost of replacing it.

    And now with Business Tech Essentials, if your essential tech is stolen or damaged, we'll replace it within 24 hours from claim approval.

    When you cover your electrical items and tech you get Business Tech Essentials. Which means if your essential tech - like laptops, mobiles or tablets - are stolen or damaged we'll replace them within 24 hours of claim approval.

    Cover & claim limits apply. Mon – Fri 8am – 6pm, except Bank holidays.

  • Home emergency

    Peace of mind, if you experience a sudden and unexpected issue, which can cause damage to your home, makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, home emergency's 24-hour claims line means help is never far away. You'll have a certified contractor, such as plumbers, electricians, glaziers, locksmiths, or drainage engineers at your home within 4 hours of your claim being registered, to make the property secure or prevent further damage. In addition, you have access to gas engineers, pest control services and roofers, but these are not subject to the 4 hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.

    Up to £1,500 inc. VAT per claim for call-out charges, labour costs and materials for insured emergencies, such as issues with plumbing, heating or pest infestations.

    You're also covered for overnight accommodation, up to £300 inc. VAT, if you can't stay in your home due to the insured incident. This isn't available if your home is a B&B, guest-house or hotel.

    There's no excess to pay and no limit on how often you can claim.

    You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy, so long as you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance or business contents insurance on your policy. It is available on new and renewal policies, it can't be added during the policy term.

    Home emergency isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises.

    For more information click here.

  • Business interruption

    Depending on the set-up and size of your business, you might work from home, in an office, at your client’s premises or from a shared working space. If your working premises became unusable due to an insured event such as a fire or flood, business interruption will cover the costs of setting up in a temporary space. It will also cover your loss of turnover if you’ve insured your premises.

    If your main client has damage to their building that means they can’t trade, we’d cover you for loss of income while they set up elsewhere, up to a limit of £50,000.

    Our business interruption cover can insure you if you or one of your key employees becomes seriously disabled and is unable to continue work. We will cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

  • Theft of takings

    This cover will reimburse you if any money or cheques are stolen from your place of work.

  • Cyber cover

    If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online or just want peace of mind, Cyber cover should be considered. Because cyber criminals can be clever. Catching you off-guard and tricking you in to doing something you shouldn't, like opening an attachment in a fake email, or finding a way through your cyber-security. If this happens and they get their hands on your data or access to your bank account, the impact on your business could be devastating.

    But, with our Cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll be on it, helping you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:

    Recover financially

    • Covering loss of business income
    • Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration
    • Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs following a data breach

    Recover your reputation

    • You get access to public relations and crisis management experts to minimise damage to your brand and business.

    Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

    • Technical experts will help fix your IT issues and provide advice on how to prevent future cyber incidents.

    Read more on Cyber cover here.

    Available on new and renewal policies only. For Retail and Office & Professional customers only.

  • Legal expenses

    Pays the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients.

  • Personal accident

    Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity.

    We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.

    If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.

    You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.

  • Terrorism cover

    If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

    This includes:

    • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
    • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

    If you choose business interruption cover, you can extend this to include cover for reduced turnover and the costs of setting up elsewhere, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you not being able to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within 1 mile of your business.

    Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

    Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

    Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

    You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by adding it online or by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

How can we help?

Get a quote, talk to us via live chat or call us on
0345 878 5622.

Visit our contact us page to view our opening hours.

Frequently asked questions

  • QHow much does it cost to insure a small business?

    There's no one answer to this question as every business has different needs and circumstances. That's why we let you design your own Architects and Surveyors' Insurance policy, so you're in control of how much you pay. Generally, the things that will affect the price of business insurance quotes include: the size of your business, number of employees, and your history of insurance claims.

  • QHow do I find out if professional indemnity insurance covers my trade?

    Get a quote with us, and when you enter your trade you will be offered professional indemnity cover if it is available to you.

    We do not currently offer professional indemnity cover for:

    • landscape architects
    • building surveyors
    • chartered surveyors
    • land surveyors
    • property evaluators

    You can still pick from all the other cover options we offer to insure the other aspects of your business.

    We are constantly developing our policies and things do change. We hope to be able to offer you professional indemnity in the future.

Policy documents

If you have an existing quote or policy with us, you can view and download your policy documents from the My Account page.

We tailor all our policies, so your documents only show what you’ve chosen to cover.

Below is a summary of a generic policy, from 25 October 2020 onwards, which shows the main covers and exclusions in our policies.