Personalised insurance for architects and surveyors

Use our online tool to build a policy that fits your business, so you only pay for what you need.

Get a quote Retrieve a quote

or call us on 0345 878 5622

Call us on 0345 878 5622

Get 10% off business insurance if you’re already a Direct Line customer.
Discount applies to your new business insurance policy. Subject to minimum premiums.
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.
New customers only, 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 customers only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. 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.
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:

Recover financially
- Covering loss of business income if your systems are attacked
- Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration
- Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs.
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.

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.

Office policy summary (PDF)

Personalised insurance for architects and surveyors

or call us on 0345 878 5622

Customise your Architects and Surveyors’ Insurance

Keeping your business running smoothly

Your cover options

Professional indemnity

Public liability

Employers' liability

Buildings cover

Contents and equipment cover

Business interruption

Theft of takings

Cyber cover

Recover financially

Recover your reputation

Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

Legal expenses

How can we help?

Frequently asked questions

Policy documents