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Surveyors · PI cost data · 6 September 2026
In Apex’s recent placements a chartered surveyor billing around £50,000 typically paid £650–£1,430 a year for £1m of professional indemnity cover (n=32), and at around £150,000 of fees the typical range was £1,170–£2,670 (n=20).
Part of: What professional indemnity insurance costs
In short
Surveyors’ professional indemnity insurance is priced on fee income, the share of valuation work, the limit of indemnity, claims history and excess. In Apex Insurance Brokers’ recent placements (71 chartered surveyor policies after outlier removal, data extracted 6 September 2026) a practice billing about £50,000 typically paid £650–£1,430 a year for £1m of cover (n=32), a practice billing about £150,000 paid £1,170–£2,670 (n=20), and across all sizes premiums ran at 0.92%–2.42% of fees. RICS requires £250,000, £500,000 or £1m of cover depending on turnover, with six years’ run-off. These are middle-half ranges, not quotes. Apex is an independent broker, owned by its directors, that places surveyors’ PI across more than 30 insurer markets and usually returns three or four competing quotes.
Chartered surveyors are the third-largest profession in our data. The two middle bands are solid; the smallest and largest bands each rest on nine placements and are marked indicative. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under £25k | 3.81%–11.91% | from £300 | 9 (indicative) | Indicative (n=9) and very widely spread; the £300 minimum premium dominates and the top of the range is not representative, so we publish the rate only. |
| £25k–£100k | 1.30%–2.87% | £650–£1,430 at £50k | 32 | The anchor cell for surveyors. |
| £100k–£250k | 0.78%–1.78% | £780–£1,780 at £100k £1,240–£2,810 at £158k (band midpoint) | 20 | At £150,000 of fees the same rates give £1,170–£2,670. |
| £250k–£1m | 0.44%–0.65% | £1,110–£1,630 at £250k £2,220–£3,250 at £500k | 9 (indicative) | Indicative (n=9); low for a valuation-heavy practice, so the mix of work in this small cell probably includes little secured-lending valuation. |
Across all sizes surveyors paid 0.92%–2.42% of fees (n=71), close to architects (0.82%–2.33%) and well above accountants (0.34%–0.56%).
Typical annual premium by fee income and limit. RICS sets £250,000 for turnover up to £100,000, £500,000 for £100,000–£200,000 and £1m above £200,000, so each row is shown at its RICS minimum and above. Scaling factors: 0.75 for £250,000, 0.85 for £500,000, 1.20 for £2m.
| Annual fees | £250,000 | £500,000 | £1m | £2m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 n=32 | £490–£1,080 | £550–£1,220 | £650–£1,430 | £780–£1,720 |
| £100,000 n=20 | £590–£1,330 | £660–£1,510 | £780–£1,780 | £940–£2,130 |
| £500,000 n=9 · indicative | £1,660–£2,440 | £1,880–£2,760 | £2,220–£3,250 | £2,660–£3,900 |
Example: a sole-practitioner building surveyor with £50,000 of fees buying the RICS minimum of £250,000 typically paid £490–£1,080, and £650–£1,430 for £1m (n=32). A practice billing just over £100,000 moves into the £500,000 RICS band and typically paid £660–£1,510 for that limit (n=20). A practice billing £500,000 typically paid £2,220–£3,250 at £1m and £2,660–£3,900 at £2m (n=9, indicative).
Direct insurers list surveyors among their standard occupations and price small building-surveying practices keenly. RICS itself publishes a list of experienced brokers rather than a single scheme. For a sole practitioner doing building surveys, party-wall work or project management with fees under about £50,000, no valuation for lenders and no claims, an online quote can be the right answer, and we would say so.
A broker earns its place as soon as valuation is involved — secured lending, lender panels, expert-witness valuation — because that is where insurers narrow their appetite and wordings diverge; when fees pass £200,000 and the RICS minimum reaches £1m; when there is a claim or a lender complaint in the history; or when a practice is closing and needs six years of run-off placed. Our surveyors’ 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 chartered surveyors and surveying practices 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 940 policies after outlier removal (data extracted 6 September 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 ten headline statistics and the limitations are in the Apex PI Premium Index 2026.
In Apex’s recent placements a chartered surveyor with about £50,000 of fees typically paid £650–£1,430 a year for £1m of cover (n=32), or £490–£1,080 at the RICS minimum of £250,000. The smallest practices, billing under £25,000, paid 3.81%–11.91% of fees (n=9, indicative and very widely spread), a band in which the £300 minimum premium dominates.
RICS requirements version 11 (from 1 July 2025) set the minimum by turnover: £250,000 for turnover up to £100,000; £500,000 for £100,000 to £200,000; £1m above £200,000, each and every claim. The excess is capped at the greater of 2.5% of the sum insured or £10,000, and run-off is required for six years. The minimum limit calculator applies the scale to your turnover.
Because valuation claims come from lenders after a market fall, arrive years after the report, and are measured against the loan rather than the fee. Insurers therefore ask for the share of fees from valuation, the lender panels you sit on and the property types you value, and rate that share separately from building surveying or project management.
The scaling factor for £250,000 in our data is 0.75, so £1m costs about a third more than £250,000. A surveyor with £50,000 of fees typically paid £490–£1,080 at £250,000 and £650–£1,430 at £1m (n=32). Quadrupling the limit adds a third to the premium, because most claims settle well inside the first £250,000.
Our rate guide applies a claims uplift of 1.10 for chartered surveyors, computed from the placements, and a lender claim can narrow the market considerably. A circumstance notified and closed without payment usually has a smaller effect. See PI after a claim or notification.
The £250k–£1m cell rests on nine placements and is marked indicative. At £500,000 of fees it gives £2,220–£3,250 for £1m (n=9), barely above the figure for a £150,000 practice. That is consistent with a cell containing little secured-lending valuation; a valuation-heavy practice of that size should expect more.
Premiums bought wholly for the purposes of the practice are normally an allowable business expense for tax, whether you trade as a sole practitioner, partnership or company, and the Insurance Premium Tax charged on the premium is treated the same way. Confirm the treatment with your accountant.
Tell us your turnover, the split of fees by activity and by residential and commercial work, your lender panels, staff numbers, claims history and the RICS limit that applies. Use the get a quote form, the surveyors’ proposal form, or call 0117 325 0027.
Send us your turnover and the split of valuation and other work and your named broker will return competing quotes on RICS-compliant terms. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Surveyors’ 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.
