Interior designer insurance
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Based on 39,205 reviews
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For 80% of settled claims
Why do you need interior design insurance?
From that initial chat to the final visit, your ideas and vision attract a wide range of clients. It’s not just your vision, though, and interior design professional indemnity insurance can step in to help, if there’s a contractual dispute. That, plus public liability insurance for injuries and damage, and protection for your employees, if you need it.
- professional indemnity insurance for interior designers
- cover for the specifics from employees and equipment to a personal accident
- peace of mind, letting you focus on the brief (not the what-ifs)
Insurance for interior designers – what does it cover?
We’ll start with interior design liability insurance, which can cover property damage or injuries to the public (including your client). You can also include employers’ liability cover – usually a legal requirement if you’re employing anybody – plus professional indemnity insurance which can cover mistakes in your work or breaches of contract.
Looking for interior decorator insurance? Switch over to our painter and decorator cover, for specific trade protection.
Public liability insurance for interior designers
In case your design business causes an injury, illness or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.
Professional indemnity insurance for interior designers
In case there’s a claim for negligence, or mistakes in your work.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs as the owner of your design business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off duty.
Public liability insurance for interior designers
In case your design business causes an injury, illness or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property
- injury or illness caused by your business
- accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any
If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.
For example:
- while measuring up at the client’s property, your step ladder leaves scratch marks on an expensive wooden floor, which need repairing
- you’re visiting a property for research purposes and knock a vase off a side table by accident
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.
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:
- an employee injures their back while carrying a heavy shelving unit into the site you’re renovating
- your assistant trips over your work bag while measuring for a new carpet, breaking their wrist
Professional indemnity insurance for interior designers
In case there’s a claim for negligence, or mistakes in your work.
What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance interior designers?
Claims against your design business for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:
- design advice which turns out to be incorrect
- mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix
For example:
- you’ve been briefed on a large-scale project, which is due to launch on a specific date. The client doesn’t feel any of your proposals meet their brief, meaning they’ll miss the launch date and make a financial loss
- your assistant has measured the dimensions of a room incorrectly – the layout then has to be changed last minute, leading to extra costs for your client
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Business and office equipment insurance
In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets 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 laptop, rather than specialist design and interiors tools
For example:
- on the way to a client meeting, your assistant leaves their laptop and all your designs in a taxi
- you drop your tablet while creating a client mood board, cracking the screen and making it unusable for your presentation the next day
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs as the owner of your design business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- 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 an in-demand designer
For example:
- your client specifies a deadline in your contract, which you miss, causing a dispute of contract and legal costs
- a temporary summer employee sues you for unfair dismissal, and you need to defend your legal rights
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off duty.
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’re out running at the weekend and twist your ankle on a hidden pothole, forcing you take a week off work
- one of your designers is in a minor car accident, suffering bad whiplash and needing two weeks off work
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 interior design business 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 £4.92 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
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How we work out example prices We take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 July - 31 December 2020). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example interior design quotes, real prices
£19.50 /month
£173.31 /year
A self employed interior designer who works on resiidential properties in the local area
- 2-3 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Newcastle upon Tyne
Public liability
£1,000,000
Professional indemnity
£50,000
Contents & business equipment
£2,500
£136.38 /month
£1212.24 /year
A small interior design firm who help transform both residential and commercial spaces and up to 500,000 contract values
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 2 employees
- Based in Edinburgh
Public liability
£2,000,000
Professional indemnity
£500,000
Contents & business equipment
£7,500
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 16/04/2021). 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 |
| Contents | £100 | £750 |
| Portable equipment | £100 | £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
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We handle claims, so you can get on with business
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.
Can I just cover my most expensive tools?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?
Does interior design insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
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 interior design 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 project management insurance or architects insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
If you provide these services alongside building work, 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 - 05.00pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
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.
£30 million in claims paid out in 2019
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2019
Example claim
Having interior design insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Ilona saved more than £8,900
While cleaning up after a contractor, Ilona (not her real name) tripped on some loose carpet, dropping bleach onto an expensive rug and causing a permanent stain. The public liability protection in her interior designer insurance helped cover the client’s accidental damage claim.
Insurance payout
£8,941.00
Covering the cost of accidental damage
Ilona’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Ilona’s policy terms
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses
We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 600,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.
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Interior designers 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 insurance for interior designers.
Professional indemnity insurance can be a key cover for many interior designers and decorating specialists – it’s built to cover you for mistakes and breaches of contract, or your client’s financial losses, if they claim that you’re responsible. Is there a risk that your client might have to delay their opening or go over budget, for example, because of your work?
Alongside professional indemnity insurance for interior designers, you may want to add cover for things like your essential business equipment, plus accidents and injuries caused by your business, with public liability insurance. And if you employ anyone (including contractors or temps), employers’ liability cover is usually a legal requirement.
Yes. It’s important to make sure you have the right type and level of insurance for the different types of work you do. For example, if you’re an interior designer, you may also do the odd garden design on certain jobs too – you’ll need additional cover for this, but you can have it all on the one policy. When you start your quote, you’ll have the option to add another trade or profession to your policy.
If you need to add a third trade, give us a call on 0333 0146 683 and one of our insurance experts will help you set up your policy in minutes.
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.
If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 043 8527. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.
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
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