Interior Designer Insurance
Interior design has a particularly physical exposure because the work can involve specified and installed products. Furniture is bought, finishes are fixed, lighting is wired and the result sits in a building somebody lives or works in, which means the exposures look more like construction than like design.
Specification carries a regulatory dimension that catches designers out. Upholstered furniture and furnishings are subject to fire safety regulations, and contract furniture for hotels, restaurants and public buildings is held to a different standard from domestic goods. Specifying to the wrong standard in a commercial setting is a serious matter rather than an aesthetic one.
Procurement is the other distinctive exposure. Designers frequently buy on the client's behalf, handling significant sums for furniture and fittings. That makes the practice a supplier as well as an adviser, exposed to goods arriving damaged, wrong or late, and to the client's money passing through its account.
We can advise interior design practices on professional indemnity, the public liability that site work needs, and the goods in transit and client money exposures that come with buying on a client's behalf.
Common claims and risk exposures
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Specification against fire safety standards
Upholstered furniture and furnishings have to meet fire safety requirements, and the standard for contract and public settings is higher than for domestic use. Specifying domestic goods into a hotel or restaurant is a compliance failure as well as a design error.
Procurement on the client's behalf
Ordering furniture and fittings with the client's money makes the practice a supplier. Goods delivered damaged, wrong, late or discontinued become the practice's problem rather than the manufacturer's as far as the client is concerned.
Damage in an occupied building
Installation in a finished or occupied space risks damage to floors, decoration and existing furniture. Claims here are frequent, individually modest and almost never a professional indemnity matter.
Finishes that fail in use
Flooring, wall coverings and surfaces specified for a duty they cannot meet, particularly in commercial settings with heavy traffic, cleaning regimes or moisture. Replacement means closing the space as well as buying the material again.
Budget and programme
A scheme that comes in materially over budget, or a fit out that overruns and delays an opening. For a hotel or restaurant client the loss is trading revenue, which dwarfs the design fee.
The cover we arrange
We arrange professional indemnity and related insurance around the services you provide, the clients you work with and the contractual requirements you face. The appropriate cover and limits will depend on your individual activities and the terms available from insurers.
Professional indemnity
Claims arising from negligent design, specification and project advice, including budget and programme advice where given.
- Negligent design and specification
- Budget and programme advice
- Claims made basis
- Defence costs included
Public liability
Injury and damage arising from site attendance and installation, including damage to the client's existing property. The cover that answers most real incidents in this profession.
- Damage during installation
- Injury to occupants and public
- Employers' liability, legally required
- Limits commonly £2m to £5m
Goods in transit and stored
Furniture and fittings bought for a scheme, while in transit and while stored before installation. Significant value can sit in a warehouse or a van for weeks.
- Furniture in transit
- Storage before installation
- Client goods in your care
- Samples and materials
Products supplied
Where the practice supplies rather than specifies, product liability answers injury or damage caused by the goods. Buying on a client's behalf can put you in the supply chain.
- Goods supplied to clients
- Injury and damage from products
- Supply chain position
- Separate from indemnity cover
Run off
Continuing cover after the practice ceases. Finishes and furniture stay in service, and a fire safety or durability issue can surface years after handover.
- Continues after the practice ceases
- Installed work outlives the job
- Commonly six years
- Arranged before closure
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Split between residential and commercial work, with hospitality stated separately
- Whether furniture and fittings are procured on the client's behalf, and the annual value
- The largest scheme by total project value
- Whether the practice handles client money for purchases
- Whether installation is supervised, and whether contractors are engaged directly
- Whether fire safety standards for contract furnishings are specified explicitly
- Whether any structural, mechanical or electrical alterations are designed
- Claims and notified circumstances over the last six years
What affects the cost of your insurance?
The main factors insurers consider when assessing the premium.
Commercial and hospitality work
Rated above residential, because the regulatory standards are higher, the traffic is heavier and the client's loss includes trading revenue.
Procurement volume
The annual value of goods bought on clients' behalf is rated as a supply exposure in its own right, separate from the design advice.
Project values
Total fit out value rather than design fee, since the loss is measured on what was installed and what it costs to put right.
Site involvement
Supervising installation and engaging contractors directly raises the liability exposure and the rating with it, compared with specifying and handing over.
Conditions and exclusions to consider
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Fitness for purpose
Promising that a finish will perform to a stated durability, or that a scheme will meet a budget, goes beyond reasonable skill and care and is generally uninsured.
The contractor's workmanship
Professional indemnity answers the specification, not the installation. Where the goods were right and the fitting was not, the claim belongs with the contractor.
Client money held
Funds held for purchases are not covered by a liability policy. Where sums are significant, the protection is how the money is held and accounted for rather than insurance.
Wear and tear
Deterioration through ordinary use is not a claim. It becomes one where the material was specified for a setting it was never suitable for.
Common questions
We specify furniture for restaurants. What should we be careful of?
Fire safety standards for contract and public settings are more demanding than for domestic furniture, so specifying domestic goods into a hospitality space is a compliance failure rather than a style choice. Record the standard you specified to, and get written confirmation from suppliers that goods meet it.
We buy furniture for clients. Does that change our insurance?
Yes, in two ways. You become part of the supply chain, so product liability becomes relevant, and you carry value in transit and storage that a design only practice never touches. Both need declaring, because a professional indemnity policy alone does not answer either.
A fitter damaged the client's floor during installation. Which policy?
Public liability, not professional indemnity, since nothing about the design was wrong. Whether it responds depends on whether the fitter was your subcontractor or engaged directly by the client, which is worth settling in writing before work starts.
What limit do interior designers need?
Judge it on the fit out value rather than the fee. Putting right a commercial scheme means stripping out finished work and closing the space while it is done, and for a hotel or restaurant the client will add the trading loss to the bill.
How do I get a quote from True Risk Solutions?
Call 01304 262880 and speak to a broker, or email info@truerisksolutions.co.uk with what you do, what you need cover for and a phone number with the best time to call, and a broker will call you back. We need a phone number to quote, because the cover and the price depend on questions that are quicker to answer on a call than by email.
Speak to a specialist who understands your industry
Tell us about your business and the work you undertake, and we will come back to you with cover options built around it. Call 01304 262880, or email us with a phone number and the best time to call and a broker will ring you back.