Professional Indemnity Insurance for New Architects — Your First Policy (2026)

Reviewed by Apex Insurance Brokers · Last reviewed 2026-08-05

1. Do you actually need PI as a new architect?

Almost certainly, yes — and for two separate reasons that reinforce each other.

The regulatory duty. If you call yourself an "architect" in the UK, you must be registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). The ARB's Architects Code — the standards of conduct and practice every registered architect signs up to — expects you to hold adequate and appropriate professional indemnity cover for the work you do, so that if a client suffers a loss because of your professional error there is a means of putting it right. In practice this means a registered architect in practice is expected to arrange PII appropriate to their exposure. If you're also a Chartered Member of the RIBA, professional indemnity cover is likewise a fixture of practising responsibly. So before you take on your first paid commission, cover is part of being able to practise at all.

The client-contract reality. Even setting regulation aside, the commercial world will ask for it. The moment you tender for work, sign an appointment, or get added to a project team, the question "what PI limit do you carry?" appears. Standard forms of appointment routinely require the architect to hold and maintain PII to a stated level. Many public-sector clients, developers, main contractors and mortgage lenders simply won't engage a consultant who can't evidence it. For a new practice, having a policy in place is often the difference between winning the appointment and being quietly dropped from the shortlist.

Put simply: PI protects your client if something goes wrong, protects you from a claim that could otherwise be personally ruinous, and unlocks the work in the first place.

2. When cover must start — and why day one matters

The honest answer for a first-time buyer is: before you do any chargeable professional work at all. Not when you invoice, not when the building goes up — from the first moment you give a client advice they rely on, sketch an option, or put your name to a design.

Why so early? Because professional indemnity responds to the work you did, not just the money you took. A conversation where you advise a client on a boundary line, a feasibility sketch, an early design decision — any of these can later become the root of a complaint if the project runs into trouble. If that early work wasn't covered by a live policy, you can be exposed even if the dispute only surfaces years later.

There's a second, more technical reason day one matters, and it's tied to how these policies work (see section 5). Because PI is claims-made, the date your cover starts sets the beginning of a continuous chain you'll want to keep unbroken for as long as you practise — and, ideally, beyond. Start it late and you leave a gap that can never be filled retrospectively on sensible terms. Start it on day one and you begin that chain cleanly.

For a new architect the practical rule is straightforward: get the policy live before the first client engagement, and treat the renewal date each year as sacred.

3. How much cover does a new firm need?

The "limit of indemnity" is the most your insurer will pay out, and choosing it is the decision first-timers agonise over most. There's no single correct number, but there is a sensible way to think about it.

What actually drives the figure:

• The value and complexity of your projects. A domestic extension carries a different exposure to a multi-unit residential scheme or a commercial fit-out. Your limit should be able to absorb the cost of putting right the worst realistic problem on your largest job — remedial works, delay, and the client's losses, not just your fee.
• What your clients contractually demand. This is often the deciding factor for a new firm. Appointments frequently specify a minimum PI limit — £1m, £2m or £5m are common tiers — and you must carry at least what your contracts require. If a single client mandates £2m, that becomes your floor.
• The nature of the work. Design-and-build exposure, fire safety and cladding considerations, and any structural design element all push the appropriate limit upward.
• Whether cover is on an "each claim" or "aggregate" basis. "Each and every claim" gives you the full limit for each separate matter; "in the aggregate" is a total for the whole policy year. For a busy practice the difference is meaningful — ask your broker to explain which you're being offered.

As a new architect it's tempting to buy the smallest limit to keep costs down. Resist buying below what your work realistically exposes you to. A common starting point is £1m or £2m each and every claim for smaller domestic-led practices, moving up where projects, clients or contracts require it. You can review and increase the limit as the practice grows — the important thing is not to be under-insured on day one. Tell us about your typical projects and we'll help you land on a limit that fits.

4. What a first policy costs to think about — how underwriters view a new firm

We won't quote a price here, because an honest premium depends entirely on your particular practice. What's more useful for a first-timer is understanding what an underwriter looks at when there's no claims history to go on — because with a new firm, that judgement is what shapes your terms.

Here's what carries weight:

• Your estimated fee income. For a start-up this is a forecast, not a track record. A realistic turnover estimate for your first year is one of the main inputs — under-stating it to save money can leave you mis-declared, so be honest and reasonable.
• Your qualifications and experience. ARB registration, RIBA chartered status and the years you spent at previous practices all count in your favour. Underwriters like to see that the person behind a new firm is genuinely experienced, even if the business itself is new.
• The type of work you'll take on. Domestic and small commercial work is viewed differently from higher-risk categories such as structural design, large residential, or anything touching fire safety and cladding. Describing your activity mix accurately helps an underwriter price it correctly.
• The limit and excess you choose. A higher limit costs more; accepting a higher excess (the first slice of any claim you pay yourself) can reduce the premium.
• Your risk management. Using clear written appointments, keeping good records, and not straying outside your competence all signal a well-run practice.

The reassuring part: a brand-new firm has no past claims to explain away and a clean slate to present. Underwriters price start-ups all the time and don't expect a history you couldn't possibly have. Being straightforward and complete in your answers is what gets you the best terms.

5. "Claims-made" explained simply — and why continuity is everything

This is the single most important concept for a first-time buyer to grasp, so we'll keep it plain.

Most insurance you've bought — car, home, travel — pays out based on when the event happened. Professional indemnity is different. It works on a claims-made basis, which means the policy that responds is the one in force when the claim is made against you, not the one in force when you did the work.

An example. You design a project in 2026. A problem emerges and a client makes a claim in 2029. It's your 2029 policy that has to respond — even though the work was three years earlier. For that to work, two things must be true: you must have had cover continuously from 2026 through to 2029, and your policy's "retroactive date" must reach back to cover the earlier work.

Two consequences flow from this, and both matter enormously to a new architect:

• Never let cover lapse. A gap in your PI — even a short one between renewals — can leave past work stranded with no policy to answer for it. Continuity from your very first year is what protects everything you've ever done.
• When you eventually stop practising, you'll still need "run-off" cover. Because claims can arrive years after the work, architects retiring or closing a practice typically keep cover running for a period afterwards. That's a future concern, but it's worth knowing now, because it's the reason continuity is designed into these policies from the start.

Start your chain cleanly on day one, keep it unbroken every year, and the claims-made model works in your favour rather than against you.

6. How to buy your first policy — what you'll need

Buying your first PI policy is less onerous than most people fear, precisely because you're new and have little history to gather. Here's what a broker will typically ask a start-up architect for:

• Basic practice details — your trading name, structure (sole practitioner, partnership or limited company), and when you're starting.
• Your estimated fee income for the first year — a reasonable forecast is fine.
• The type of work you'll do — the mix of domestic, commercial, new-build, refurbishment, and whether you'll be involved in any higher-risk areas.
• Your qualifications and background — ARB registration, RIBA status, and your relevant experience.
• The limit of indemnity you want — guided by your contracts and the value of your projects (see section 3).
• Any prior work or known issues — for a genuine start-up this is usually a simple "none," which is exactly the answer underwriters expect from a new firm.

Notice what's not on that list: years of claims records, mountains of past project data, complicated declarations about a long trading history. An established practice has to assemble all of that at every renewal. As a first-time buyer you're spared most of it. That's genuinely one of the few administrative advantages of being new.

Whatever you do, answer everything fully and accurately. Professional indemnity relies on you disclosing information fairly — getting an answer wrong to save money can give the insurer grounds to reduce or decline a future claim. If you're unsure how to describe something, that's exactly what your broker is for.

7. Common first-timer mistakes to avoid

• Waiting until you win the work. By the time a client asks for evidence of cover, you may already have done uninsured feasibility work — and you'll be scrambling. Arrange cover before the first engagement.
• Buying purely on price. The cheapest policy with the wrong limit, a restrictive exclusion, or an aggregate limit where you needed each-and-every isn't a saving — it's a gap you'll discover at the worst possible moment.
• Under-stating turnover or mis-describing the work. It feels like a way to trim the premium. In reality it undermines the policy you're relying on. Be accurate.
• Letting cover lapse between renewals. Because PI is claims-made, even a brief gap can leave all your past work exposed. Renew on time, every time, and keep the chain unbroken.
• Ignoring what your contracts require. Signing an appointment that demands a £2m limit while carrying £1m puts you in breach. Read the PI clause in every appointment and make sure your policy meets it.
• Working outside your competence without saying so. If your practice starts taking on structural design, fire-safety-critical work or larger schemes, tell your broker. Cover needs to keep pace with what you actually do.

Avoid these six and you'll be ahead of most new practices from the outset.

8. About Apex — and why we can quote this fast

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is an FCA-authorised insurance broker based in Bristol (FRN 724952). We arrange professional indemnity for architects and other construction and design professionals, and we spend a lot of our time helping people buy their first policy — sole practitioners going out on their own, and small teams setting up a new studio.

Because we understand how ARB registration, the Architects Code, RIBA membership and standard forms of appointment shape what you actually need, we can translate a client's PI clause into the right limit and terms without a lot of back-and-forth. And because a new firm has a clean, simple story to tell underwriters, we can usually turn a first quote around quickly — you tell us about the practice you're building, and we do the legwork of matching it to cover. Every submission Apex makes carries a named broker, and our page on appointing a PI broker for architects sets out what that means in practice.

If you're about to take on your first commission, or a client has just asked what PI limit you carry and you don't yet have an answer, that's the moment to talk to us. Start your quote online and we'll take it from there.

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This guide is general information, not advice on a specific policy.