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Engineers · PI cost data · 1 November 2026
In Apex’s recent placements a civil or structural engineering consultancy with £50,000 of fees typically paid £1,760–£3,270 a year for £1m of professional indemnity cover (n=9, indicative), and across 30 placements premiums ran at 1.37%–3.88% of fees — the highest rate of the 7 professions we publish in full.
Part of: What professional indemnity insurance costs
In short
Engineers’ professional indemnity insurance is priced on fee income, the discipline and the design responsibility carried, the limit of indemnity, contractual terms, claims history and excess. In Apex Insurance Brokers’ recent placements (30 civil and structural engineering policies after outlier removal, data extracted 1 November 2026) a consultancy with £50,000 of fees typically paid £1,760–£3,270 a year for £1m of cover (n=9, indicative), one with £500,000 of fees paid £5,070–£11,430 (n=6, indicative), and across all sizes premiums ran at 1.37%–3.88% of fees. The engineer cells rest on 6 to 11 placements, and cells of nine or fewer are marked indicative. These are middle-half ranges, not quotes. Apex is an independent broker, owned by its directors, that places engineers’ PI across more than 30 insurer markets and usually returns three or four competing quotes.
This page covers civil and structural engineering consultancies. Other disciplines (mechanical, electrical, building services, process) are rated on a different basis and are not included in these figures. The engineer cells rest on 6 to 11 placements, and cells of nine or fewer are marked indicative. That is enough to show the shape of the market, not enough to price your firm. Ranges are the middle half at a £1m limit, shown at representative fee points.
| Annual fees | Premium as % of fees middle half, £1m basis | Typical annual premium, £1m limit | n | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25k–£100k | 3.53%–6.55% | £1,760–£3,270 at £50k fees | 9 (indicative) | Indicative (n=9). About two and a half times the architect figure at the same fees. |
| £100k–£250k | 1.20%–2.45% | £1,200–£2,450 at £100k £1,900–£3,880 at £158k (band midpoint) | 11 | n=11. |
| £250k–£1m | 1.01%–2.29% | £2,540–£5,720 at £250k £5,070–£11,430 at £500k | 6 (indicative) | Indicative (n=6). Between this band and the one below, the rate falls less than for architects or accountants. |
Across all sizes civil and structural engineers paid 1.37%–3.88% of fees (n=30), against 0.83%–2.14% for architects and 0.35%–0.57% for accountants: at £50,000 of fees the engineer range of £1,760–£3,270 compares with £730–£1,250 for an architect (n=9, indicative and 184).
Typical annual premium by fee income and limit. There is no regulator-set minimum for consulting engineers comparable to the ARB or RICS figures; the limit that governs is the one in your appointment, framework or collateral warranty, which is why the £1m and £2m columns matter most. We scale between limits with fixed factors (0.75 for £250,000, 0.85 for £500,000, 1.20 for £2m, 1.45 for £5m). They are set in our rate guide, not measured from our placement data.
| Annual fees | £250,000 | £500,000 | £1m | £2m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 n=9 · indicative | £1,320–£2,460 | £1,500–£2,780 | £1,760–£3,270 | £2,120–£3,930 |
| £100,000 n=11 | £900–£1,840 | £1,020–£2,080 | £1,200–£2,450 | £1,440–£2,940 |
| £500,000 n=6 · indicative | £3,800–£8,570 | £4,310–£9,720 | £5,070–£11,430 | £6,080–£13,720 |
Example: a sole-practitioner structural engineer with £50,000 of fees typically paid £1,760–£3,270 at £1m and £2,120–£3,930 at £2m (n=9). A consultancy billing £100,000 paid £1,200–£2,450 at £1m and £1,440–£2,940 at £2m (n=11). A practice billing £500,000 paid £5,070–£11,430 at £1m and £6,080–£13,720 at £2m (n=6). Cells of nine placements or fewer are indicative.
Two practices with the same fee income and the same headline discipline can receive very different terms, because the underwriter is pricing the work behind the fees rather than the job title.
A clear proposal that explains your disciplines, project mix and risk controls lets an underwriter price the firm on its merits rather than defensively.
Direct insurers list engineering contractors and consultants among their occupations, and for a sole trader doing site supervision, inspection or low-risk civil work with fees under about £25,000 and no structural design responsibility, an online quote can be the right answer, and we would say so.
A broker earns its place as soon as structural design responsibility, temporary works or geotechnical work is involved; when an appointment or collateral warranty requires £1m, £2m or £5m each and every claim; when a design-and-build contractor is the client; when there is a claim or circumstance in the history; or when fire-safety terms need reviewing against a project list. Our engineers’ broker page explains how the placement is run.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for civil and structural engineering consultancies across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.
How we compiled these figures. The ranges come from Apex Insurance Brokers’ own recent professional indemnity placements, around 1,150 policies after outlier removal (data extracted 1 November 2026). For each profession and fee band we show the middle half of premium as a percentage of annual fees — a quarter of clients paid less than the bottom of the range and a quarter paid more than the top — converted to a £1m limit, multiplied by a representative fee figure, subject to a £300 minimum premium and rounded to the nearest £10. Cells with fewer than five placements are not shown; nine or fewer are marked indicative. Insurance Premium Tax is charged at 12% on UK general insurance premiums. Our extract does not record whether each premium was captured before or after IPT, so the figures may be quoted before or after IPT — treat them as indicative to within that margin. These figures are not a quote. The full method, the headline statistics and the limitations are in the Apex PI Premium Index 2026.
In Apex’s recent placements a civil or structural engineering consultancy with £50,000 of fees typically paid £1,760–£3,270 a year for £1m of cover and £2,120–£3,930 for £2m (n=9). The cell is indicative: 9 placements is enough to show the level, not to price an individual firm.
Across all sizes civil and structural engineers paid 1.37%–3.88% of fees (n=30, a small sample) against 0.83%–2.14% for architects and 0.35%–0.57% for accountants. Structural failures are expensive to rectify, surface years later and draw in contractors and warranty beneficiaries, so insurers price the design responsibility rather than the fee.
Not one set by a regulator in the way ARB does for architects or RICS for surveyors. The limit that governs is the one in your appointment, framework agreement or collateral warranty, which usually specifies a figure each and every claim and sometimes a run-off period. How much PI do you need explains how to read those clauses.
About 20%, because our rate guide uses a fixed scaling factor of 1.20 for £2m; the factor is set, not measured from our data. A consultancy billing £100,000 typically paid £1,200–£2,450 at £1m and £1,440–£2,940 at £2m (n=11). Doubling the limit does not double the premium, because most claims settle inside the first £1m; a £5m limit, which some frameworks require, carries a factor of 1.45.
Yes. Under a contractor-led or novated appointment the engineer owes duties to the contractor, may inherit fitness-for-purpose language that PI does not cover, and can be drawn into construction claims. Insurers ask what share of fees comes from such work and rate it separately.
For engineers our rate guide applies its default claims uplift of 1.30, because it could not compute one from the engineering placements. In practice a structural claim narrows the market and the presentation needs to explain what changed. See PI after a claim or notification.
Because the fee bands rest on 6 to 11 placements. We publish a range only where at least five placements remain after outlier trimming, and mark cells of nine placements or fewer as indicative. The Index will carry the figures unmarked as the samples grow.
Tell us your fee income, the split by discipline and project type, your contractual roles and warranties, staff numbers, claims history and the limit your appointments require. Use the get a quote form, the engineers’ proposal form, or call 0117 325 0027.
Send us your fee income, disciplines and appointments and your named broker will return competing quotes. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Engineers’ proposal formApex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Premium figures shown are historic typical ranges from Apex’s own placements, not quotes.
