Architect insurance
One application, multiple quotes.
All in one place.
Essential Protection
From
$25.83
/month*
Can provide coverage if a client claims there was a mistake in the professional services you provided.
What’s included:
Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions
Coverage limits: $100K to $3M†
Get multiple quotes in less than 10 mins
Essential Protection
From
$25.83
/month*
Can provide coverage if a client claims there was a mistake in the professional services you provided.
What’s included:
Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions
Coverage limits: $100K to $3M†
Get multiple quotes in less than 10 mins
Would you rather pick and choose your coverage? Explore all options
Over 1 million customers worldwide.
Buy instantly online.
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Why Do I Need Architect Insurance?
You know that being an architect involves more than drawing up plans; in fact, even more work goes into building, running, and upholding an architecture firm. So who’s there to protect you while you’re working for your clients?
Below are some of the most common types of insurance policies that architects carry to stay protected.
What Type of Architect Insurance Do I Need?
From
$25.83
/month*
General Liability
A foundational insurance coverage to help handle costs from third-party accidents, property damage, and bodily injury.
From
$20.75
/month*
Business Owner’s Policy (BOP)
General liability, property insurance, and more all in one convenient package.
From
$33.75
/month*
Workers’ Comp
Coverage to help take care of employees who get sick or injured on the job. Most states require this coverage for small businesses with full- or part-time employees. It also can benefit business owners who don’t have employees.
From
$38.91
/month*
Business insurance —
a quick explainer
Learn more about policies for small businesses, what they cover, why you might need them, and how we can help – all in just 60 seconds.
Business insurance is often made up of different types of policies to cover different things, similar to how your health insurance can be made up of medical dental and vision coverage. Here are some of the ones small business owners need. General liability is kind of the Swiss army knife of insurance. It can do a lot, like help handle costs from third party accidents, property damage, bodily injury, and more. Nobody’s perfect, right? That’s what professional liability is for. It could come in handy in the event of honest mistakes or claims of negligence. Workers’ comp can protect your business and help take care of employees who get sick or injured on the job. Small businesses are big targets for cyber criminals. Cyber Insurance can help cover costs associated with stolen customer data, cyber attacks, breaches, and fraud. BOP or a business owners policy combines different types of coverages like general liability and commercial property insurance. Putting them together for you is where we come in. You tell us a bit about your business online or on the phone, and we customize the coverage options for what you do and what you need. It’s your business, it should be your insurance as well. That’s why we’re here.
What Kind of Insurance Do I Need for My Architecture Firm?
You wouldn’t advise all of your clients to approach each of their projects in the same way, and the same can be said of insurance policies. When it comes to building a thorough coverage plan, we recommend considering these three policies:
Professional Liability Insurance
As an architect, you likely spend a great amount of time dealing with numbers. You do your best to make sure your measurements are well-calculated and your structures are sound. But you’re only human — meaning you’re vulnerable to mistakes.
So what happens if you’re inadvertently negligent in carrying out your services?
This is where professional liability insurance (PL) comes in.
Professional liability coverage protects your firm if a client claims you were negligent while providing services for them. If you have employees and they make a mistake, then professional liability also may cover them.
So what does all of this mean when it comes to protecting your business?
Let’s look into a scenario where professional liability coverage would be useful. Say a client had you design a new add-on for the garage on the side of their house, which had a loft space upstairs for guests.
Unfortunately, the calculations you made were incorrect, meaning the structure was too unstable to host people. Luckily, no one was hurt, but now it will cost your client a lot of money to pay to redo the structure. Because he’s on a deadline and guests will be arriving in a matter of weeks, he plans to sue you for negligence and for the cost of putting his guests up in a hotel.
In this scenario, without a professional liability policy, you may have to dip into your firm’s reserves or even into your personal bank account to hire a lawyer or pay the amount of the claim. However, with the protection of a PL policy, you could be covered for the cost of legal fees, as well as paid-out claims (up to your policy’s limit).
To summarize, here’s what professional liability coverage for architects can cover:
- Negligence or alleged negligence
- Legal defense costs
- Omissions or alleged omissions
- Claims and damages
- And more
Keep in mind that PL insurance usually doesn’t cover:
- Intentional acts and omissions
- Property damage
- Medical expenses
- Bodily injury
- And more
Commercial General Liability Insurance
If you rent or own a space where you meet with clients, there’s a good chance you’ll need commercial general liability coverage (GL). General liability can cover damages to property, third-party accidents, or bodily injury to a third party (e.g., a vendor or client).
And considering that the average claim for customer damage is $30,000, it’s easy to see why general liability coverage is so important to have!
Just think — you’re excited to show one of your clients the blueprints you’ve drawn up for their new office space. You invite them to your office to go over the plans. Fortunately, they were pleased with the blueprints and gave you the go-ahead to continue with the project. But as they were leaving, they took the stairs instead of the elevator, and tripped and fell on their way down.
Without a general liability policy as part of your architect insurance, the expenses for your client’s medical costs could come out of your operating budget or your personal finances. However, if you have GL insurance, the cost of medical care and any related legal fees likely could be covered.
Here’s what general liability insurance usually can cover for architects:
- Bodily injury to another person
- Third-party property damage
- Personal and advertising injury
- Medical expenses
- And more
Here’s what general liability insurance usually doesn’t cover:
- Damage to your own property
- Professional services
- Workers compensation or injury to your employees
- Damage to your work
- Motor vehicles while in business use
- Expected or intentional injury or damage
- And more
Workers Compensation Insurance
Depending on which state you live in, you may be required to invest in a form of workers compensation insurance. Whether your employees are full-time, part-time, or temporary, this type of coverage could protect you financially if an employee is injured or becomes sick while working for you.
You may have started out as a one-person operation, but if you have any employees, there are additional risks to consider, and they come with eyebrow-raising price tags. The average work injury cost is $41,000, amounting to $170.8 billion in claims in 2018 alone.
Not many architectural firms could take on that kind of financial burden. That’s why it’s important to protect yourself with workers compensation coverage.
In general, a workers compensation policy for architects can cover:
- Medical payments
- Lost wages
- Rehabilitation expenses
- Death benefits
Why Should I Get Coverage?
You wouldn’t hand off a blueprint to a project manager without going over the numbers more than once, would you? Of course not — you want to make sure your measurements are correct and that all structures will be secure.
That’s how insurance comes in handy. It’s another step in protecting your work.
Maybe you’re just getting started with a couple of clients and don’t think coverage is necessary, because you meet with clients in their own space. Or maybe you have such a great track record that you doubt anything would ever happen to impact you financially.
Ask yourself this: Is my firm, livelihood, and career, worth the risk? You’re human, and accidents could happen, and you can’t always predict a mistake. But with business coverage, you’ll be able to prevent liabilities that impact your company. Common incidents can have a real effect on the financial well-being of a small business. See how much they can cost on average:
- Reputational Harm — $50,000
- Client Injury or Damage — $30,000
- Client Slip and Fall — $20,000
You may think that as a small business not many customers would waste their time on a claim against you. In reality, we live in a litigious society — 43% of small business owners report being threatened or involved in a civil lawsuit. Fortunately, with business insurance, your policy could potentially cover the costs of attorney fees, as well as pay for any resulting claims (up to your policy limit).
Going without coverage isn’t worth the risk. That’s why at Simply Business we make it easy to find the right coverage at the right price. Answer a few questions about your business here to compare free quotes from some of the country’s top insurers.
Once you choose a policy that works best for you, we can provide you with a certificate of insurance (COI) for proof of coverage to clients, vendors, and more.
What Does Architect Insurance Cost
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Answers to More Architect Insurance Coverage Questions
Depending on which state you live in, you may be required to carry some type of policy, like general liability coverage. If you have employees (regardless of how permanent or temporary they are), your state may require you to have some form of workers compensation insurance.
The IRS considers your premiums to be tax-deductible. If you have questions about tax deductions and expenses, we recommend speaking to a tax professional or accountant about your specific business.
The amount of coverage may depend on:
- The size of your practice
- Your practice’s location
- Your annual revenue and payroll
- And more
Don’t worry if you’re not sure about what you need — that’s what our quote form is for. We can recommend policy options for you, based on your answers.
If you have additional questions, our licensed insurance agents are available and will be happy to assist you!
If you’re ready to get your free quotes, we recommend having the following information on hand to expedite the process:
- Annual revenue estimates
- Payroll estimates
- Information on any previous claims
Your state may have a different insurance requirement than another state (particularly when it comes to the protocol on workers compensation coverage).
The questions on our quote form will help narrow down which policy options are right for your business type.
Just like when architects quote a fee for a project, the cost of coverage can depend on myriad factors. While the amount of coverage will depend on how the policies are bundled, you can expect professional liability, general liability, and workers comp policies to cover:
- Bodily injury
- Accidents and damages
- Employee injuries
- Negligence or alleged negligence
- And more
The cost for an architect business differs depending on where it’s located and what the specific needs are. Generally, you can expect the price of coverage to be determined by:
- Payroll and revenue estimates
- The location of your business
- The specific services you offer
- And more
Curious to see how much insurance may cost for your architect business? Click here and get free quotes from some of the top insurers in the country.
Why Small Businesses Choose Simply Business
Small business insurance is what we do. Whether it’s covering you for accidents and errors, meeting workers’ comp requirements, or financially protecting your business from the unexpected, we can help find the coverage you need for your business.
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*The displayed price for each product is a monthly estimate calculated from the 10th percentile of relevant policies sold by Simply Business (e.g., General Liability data is used for General Liability estimates). This estimate uses data from relevant policy sales between July–December 2025. Final price and payment terms, which may include an initial down payment, are subject to change based on your state, selected insurance provider, and specific business details.
† Limits may vary by state and nature of your business.
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