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Surveyor insurance

Join over 1,700 surveyors like you with public liability cover from £3.19 per month*

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Rated 4.7/5

Based on 39,755 reviews

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Claims paid in 24 hours

For 80% of settled claims

What's on this page

  • Why is insurance important?
  • What does it cover?
  • How much does it cost?
  • How do I choose insurance?
  • How do claims work?
  • FAQs
  • Helpful articles

Why do you need surveyor insurance?

From first enquiry to final invoice, the expertise you apply to every project gets you referred time and again. We provide professional indemnity insurance for surveyors right across the UK, on all sorts of contracts, chartered and non-chartered. That, plus employers’ liability insurance, if you need it, and public liability cover for third party injuries and property damage.

If you’re a chartered surveyor, professional indemnity insurance is usually mandatory.

  • surveyors’ PI insurance – just buy the PI or combine it with other covers
  • tools, accident and employee cover – you choose what you need
  • £50,000 to £5 million surveyors’ professional indemnity insurance

Start your quote

What does surveyors insurance cover?

When it comes to professional indemnity insurance, surveyors often look for specific aspects to build the right policy. Our cover includes protection for negligence – for example if a client claims you’ve delayed a project or let professional standards slip – breach of confidentiality, defamation and intellectual property infringement. You can also choose to add cover for other risks, like a public liability claim.

Public liability insurance

In case your surveyor business causes an injury, illness or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for surveyors?

Claims against your business for:

  • damage to someone’s property
  • injury or illness caused by your surveyor business
  • accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

For example:

  • you’re surveying a commercial property and accidentally drop your toolbox on the floor, cracking the tiling
  • while conducting a survey outside the building, your employee leaves a tripod levelling tool on the pavement, causing a jogger to fall and break their wrist

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your firm.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • an injury or illness that comes as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

  • your employee suffers a head injury on an unsafe building site, and claims you failed to provide a hard hat
  • while working in the office, your employee starts to suffer with back pain due to a poorly set-up desk and chair

Professional indemnity insurance

In case there’s a claim for breaches in your duty of care, or IP infringement.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance for surveyors?

Claims against your surveying firm for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

  • valuation advice which turns out to be incorrect
  • mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

For example:

  • you’ve failed to identify cracking on a building’s exterior, so the purchasing client has had to pay for underpinning
  • you miscalculate some measurements and the client ends up spending money to rectify your mistake

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for surveyors?

  • loss, damage or theft of your surveying tools and equipment

For example:

  • a cyclist accidentally knocks over your tool station, breaking a few instruments
  • your toolbox is stolen during an overnight break-in

Read more about tools insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like your phone or laptop are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

  • theft, flood, fire or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your business
  • operational equipment like your tablet, rather than trade tools you take out and about

For example:

  • you usually record your surveys on a tablet, but while on site you drop it from a height, causing it to crack and break
  • on the way to a site visit you accidentally leave your laptop on the train

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you face legal costs as the owner of your surveying business.

  • legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, like employee disputes
  • the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
  • HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance issues
  • includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help protect your reputation as a trusted surveyor

For example:

  • your client has disputed a section of the contract, based on the work you’ve carried out and what was stated
  • a client refuses to pay their invoice in full, disputing the signed contract

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

  • injury or death at or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
  • lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

  • you suffer a head injury while on site, forcing you to take a month off work
  • your employee bruises their foot in the gym and needs to work from home, meaning you have to cancel a few site visits

Read more about personal accident insurance

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

How much does surveyor insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £3.19 per month

Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.

Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes

Start your quote

10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.

Example surveyor quotes, real prices

maltings insurance

£9.39 /month

£73.92 /year

A self employed building surveyor working in the local community

  • 3-4 years' experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Swindon
  • Public liability

    £1,000,000

  • Employers' liability

    Not included

  • Professional indemnity

    £250,000

maltings insurance

£159.53 /month

£1418.01 /year

A small quantity surveying business with contracts over £500,000

  • 5+ years' experience
  • Limited company
  • 3 employees
  • Based in Cambridge
  • Public liability

    £5,000,000

  • Employers' liability

    £10,000,000

  • Professional indemnity

    £1,000,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 05/03/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Professional indemnity

No excess

£2500

Public liability

£200

£750

Business and office equipment

£50

£750

Tools

£60

£500

Employers liability

No excess

No excess

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

  • Pick what goes into your policy

    Only pay for what you need

  • Get prices from a range of insurers

    Choose the best fit for you

  • Buy online in minutes

    Get your documents the same day

Start your quote

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Compare policies from a range of trusted insurers

Buy online or over the phone in minutes

How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

Is public liability enough for third party property damage?

In some situations you may need more than public liability to cover certain kinds of property damage.

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does surveyor insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It's important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider builders insurance or interior design insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

Other types of insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm

Call our team

0333 043 8527

Online

Contact us on our website whenever suits you

Phone

Call our insurance experts during office hours (calls are charged at a local rate)

FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.

£39 million in claims paid out in 2022

Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022

Example claim

Having surveyors’ insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Tom saved more than £3,000

After finishing a project, Tom (not his real name) received a letter from his client, alleging that inaccuracies in his drawings have caused £3,000 of extra work. The surveyors’ professional indemnity insurance in his policy helped cover the client’s claim for negligence.

  • Insurance payout

    £3,000

    Covering the cost of professional indemnity

  • Tom's costs

    £100

    The excess amount stated in Tom's policy terms

Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

  • Compare and buy in minutes

    Documents arrive today

  • Rated 4.7/5

    Based on 39,755 reviews

  • Here to help

    Help from UK-based experts

  • 24/7 claims

    Make a claim any time

Surveyor insurance FAQ

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about surveyor insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

  • This will depend on the type of work you do, specific contracts and your membership or accreditations with certain organisations like the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

    Simply Business offers between £50,000 and £5 million in PI insurance for surveyors, so if anything changes and you need to adjust your cover, make sure you let us know before taking on a new contract.

  • In general, most chartered surveyors will require professional indemnity (PI) insurance – certain organisations and memberships will also make PI cover mandatory too, often at a specific level or amount of cover.

    This is because professional indemnity insurance claims can be extremely expensive, and many firms wouldn’t have funds ready to cover a claim, if it arrived. PI insurance is designed to protect you against claims for negligence, breach of confidentiality, intellectual property infringement and defamation, amongst other loss-causing errors.

  • Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

  • You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

    • one-off credit or debit card payment
    • BACS payment
    • Direct Debit

    If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.

  • This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

    If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

    There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

Helpful articles for surveyors

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23 Mar 2021 • 7-minute read

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