Architects Insurance

If you are running an architects business or are about to start one then you need to ensure you have adequate cover in the form of professional indemnity architects insurance against potential mistakes.

Your insurance should be compliant with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the RIAS state that architects should not undertake professional work without adequate and appropriate professional indemnity insurance cover.

Whatever the nature of your architecture business from designing and drawing to project management you may be required to have minimum levels of professional idemnity insurance - here's an overview of the types required.

Types of Insurance - Compulsory and Optional

As with all professions an architect has direct contact with people and companies even if you are operating alone and don't have staff to control as you are offering professional advice you have a duty of care over the advice provided.

Sometimes that may be incorrect for one reason or another and your client may incur a financial loss and may seek compensation for you. That's where certain insurance policies help mitigate the complete cost of any award made against you by the courts and the legal expenses to cover the costs of any claim.

There are two main types of insurance for architects businesses and they are pubic liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance.

What is Architects Professional Indemnity Insurance ?

Professional indemnity insurance or PI insurance covers you against professional business mistakes made through providing professional advice where the third party incurs a financial loss of some nature because they used the advice they paid for which later turned out not to be true or better advice was available. It depends on the turnover of your business as to the amount of cover you require but generally most businesses have cover of around £1-£2million annually and this will have a premium of £150-£200 per year.

It covers the cost to settle any claims, the legal costs, and usually includes items such as slander, liable and breach of copyright. This is the insurance that most architect professionals have as standard.

Click here to get a professional indemnity quote

What is Architects Public Liability Insurance ?

Public liability insurance (or PL) covers you if you deal face to face with the public and cover your business if it causes injury or death to a member of the public or damage to their property and covers the compensation payments and legal fees associated with any claims.

If you are an architect who works from home then it's unlikely you'll need this cover but if you go to your clients' offices, place of work or their own home business then it's worth thinking about. Of course most architects run their own practice and deal with the public daily so it's something almost as a must have insurance.

It's not a legal requirement but most businesses get cover of £2million as the cost of claims is increasing rapidly.

Click here to get a public liability quote

Office Insurance

These days the cost of equipment in your architects office is very high so having office insurance is critical to cover against theft and damage from external factors.

Some policies also allow you to insure against loss of earnings due to business interruption such as flooding or storm damage. Additionally, by choosing office insurance some insurers also included professional indemnity and professional indemnity cover as well.

Click here to get an office insurance quote

So those are the main architects insurance products you should consider as life as a architect. Compare quotes online to get the best deal but check the small print for any exclusions or excesses you may have to pay.

Share This Page

If you found this site useful why not email a friend or add it to your bookmarks or website. Use the shareit button (just hover your mouse over it to show all the options...) or use our linking code

If you have an article you'd like featured on this site then please send it to us by using the details on our contact page.