Insurance for a new architecture practice
What an architecture practice is actually exposed to
Design and specification. Buildability, coordination between consultants, and the performance of what you specified. A detail that cannot be built as drawn, or a product that does not do what the design assumed, produces a remedial cost orders of magnitude above the fee.
Statutory compliance. Building Regulations, means of escape, accessibility, thermal performance and the fire strategy interface. External wall build-ups and the materials specified in them attract closer scrutiny from insurers than any other part of an architect’s work, on new build and refurbishment alike.
Planning and cost advice. What is achievable on a site, or an early estimate the client treats as a budget. A client who buys land on your planning advice and cannot build, or who spends a year reaching a scheme that turns out to be unaffordable, has a loss that is easy to quantify.
Contract administration. Certifying under a standard building contract puts you between two parties who both have money at stake. Interim certificates, extensions of time, practical completion and the final account can all be challenged, and the challenge can come from the contractor as readily as the employer.
Inspection, and site visits. The familiar gap between what “periodic inspection” obliged you to do and what the client believed they were buying, answered by the appointment and your site records. Injury or damage on site is public liability, not professional indemnity.
The cover a new practice needs
Professional indemnity is the core, and it needs a business description covering everything you do — design, contract administration, planning advice, principal designer duties if you take them on, and any certification or expert work.
Public liability for site visits and for anyone visiting your own premises. A practice doing residential work is in other people’s homes constantly, and the difference between the two covers matters when a contract names one and you hold the other.
Employers’ liability once anyone works under your direction, which includes Part 1 and Part 2 students, apprentices and casual help rather than only permanent staff. The requirement comes from the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, and the exemption for a sole owner is narrow.
What ARB expects
“Architect” is a protected title under the Architects Act 1997, and only people on the ARB Register may use it in business or practice. That makes ARB the reference point for a new practice, ahead of any client requirement.
The Architects Code puts it plainly: you are expected to have adequate and appropriate insurance cover for you, your practice and your employees. ARB’s supporting guidance goes further, saying it would expect a minimum level of indemnity of £250,000 acquired on an each and every claim basis, and that principals and directors should maintain at least six years of run-off cover — five if you practise in Scotland — at the level of the final year of practice. Guidance is revised, so check the current version on ARB’s site before relying on the detail. Failing to follow it may be taken into account in an investigation into conduct or competence.
Treat that minimum as a floor, not a target: it sits well below what a construction contract commonly asks for and below what a defect claim on a modest building costs to defend and remedy. Choosing a limit is a separate exercise from satisfying the regulator, and if you intend to register as a RIBA Chartered Practice, check RIBA’s own criteria rather than assuming they mirror ARB’s.
Statutory duties apply on top: designer duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, and increasingly principal designer appointments under the dutyholder regime in the Building Regulations in England. Both belong on the proposal form — see the Building Safety Act and professional indemnity and the principal designer role.
What clients and contracts require
Commercial appointments name the cover, set minimum limits, and require professional indemnity to be maintained for a period after completion — six or twelve years is the usual language. That obligation is a cost of the job and should be priced as one.
Watch the standard of care: wording that commits the design to achieve a stated outcome, or imports fitness for purpose, moves the obligation outside what the policy was built for. See standard of care versus strict liability. A liability cap and a net contribution clause are the amendments most worth asking for, because without them joint and several liability can put a whole team’s failure on the practice that happens to be insured. Every collateral warranty you sign widens the class of people who can claim against one limit of indemnity.
What an underwriter wants to see from a practice with no trading history
The people. ARB registration, RIBA membership, years since qualification, previous practices and what you worked on there. A practice founded by an experienced project architect from a known office presents very differently from one founded straight out of Part 3.
The work mix. Residential, commercial, education, healthcare, conservation; new build against refurbishment; the proportion of each by fee. Refurbishment where the existing construction is not fully known is treated as harder than new build on a clear site.
Anything touching external wall systems or higher-risk buildings. This is the first thing an underwriter looks for on an architectural risk, on new work and on remediation. Answer it directly: an evasive answer here does more damage than a difficult one.
Whether you administer building contracts, under which forms, and the largest construction value you expect to be involved in. Certification is a distinct exposure from design and is priced separately, and the construction value rather than your fee drives your realistic worst case.
Your appointment terms, and your claims history. Whether you use a standard professional services contract or the client’s own; and anything from previous employment that could attach to you personally, including ARB or RIBA matters. Add an estimate of fee income for the first twelve months and the general new-business list covers the rest.
Getting cover in place before the first appointment
Professional indemnity is claims-made. The policy that responds is the one in force when a claim is made against you or when you notify a circumstance, not the one in force when you drew the detail, so buying cover after a problem appears does not reach back over it.
Set inception on or before your first appointment. The policy will normally carry a retroactive date of inception, which is correct for a new practice; work done at a previous practice stays with that practice’s policy and its run-off. Building defect claims have a long tail, and the Building Safety Act 2022 lengthened the periods within which certain claims about dwellings can be brought — another reason continuity matters from the start. Learn what a notifiable circumstance looks like before you need to: a client querying a certificate, or a request to revisit a completed detail, can be the first signal worth notifying. More on cover before you trade.
Frequently asked questions
Does an architect have to have professional indemnity insurance?
The Architects Code expects registered architects to have adequate and appropriate insurance cover for themselves, their practice and their employees, and ARB publishes guidance on what that means. Failing to follow it can be taken into account in an investigation into your conduct or competence, so it is a condition of practising rather than an optional extra.
Is there a minimum level of professional indemnity cover for architects?
ARB’s guidance says it would expect a minimum level of indemnity of £250,000 on an each and every claim basis. That is a regulatory floor, not a view on what your practice actually needs, and most construction appointments ask for more. Check the current version of the guidance, because it is revised.
Do I need run-off cover if I close the practice?
ARB’s guidance is that principals and directors should maintain at least six years of run-off cover, or five if you practise in Scotland, at the level of the final year of practice. A claims-made policy that is not renewed stops responding, including to claims about work it originally covered.
Does professional indemnity cover contract administration and certification?
It should, provided contract administration appears in the business description on your schedule. It is a genuinely separate exposure from design, so do not let a form describe the practice as “architectural design services” if you also certify. Say what you do.
I am an architectural designer, not ARB-registered. Do these rules apply?
ARB’s Code and guidance apply to registered architects, and only registered architects may use the title. Everything else on this page still applies to you, because the exposure comes from the work rather than the title, and clients and contracts will require cover either way.
Should I sue a client for unpaid fees?
Speak to your insurer first. Fee recovery proceedings frequently produce a negligence counterclaim, and many professional indemnity wordings require you to notify insurers, or obtain their agreement, before starting them. Check what your own policy says before issuing anything.
Related reading: Insurance for a new business · Architects’ PI insurance guide · Scope of duty in architect PI claims · Cover before you start trading
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This page is general information, not advice on a specific policy.