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.

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 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

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:

• Architects insurance
• Project management insurance
• Draughtsman
• Landscape architect insurance
• Garden design insurance
• Kitchen fitter insurance
• Engineers – structural

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader 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.