As an interior designer, what insurance do you need? You’ll need general liability insurance and professional liability insurance. You might also find commercial property, workers' compensation, and other insurance policies equally useful.
Insurance can help sort things out if the wrong carpets are bought from the carpet shop, independent contractors get injured while working with you, or when business operations are put to a sudden halt. In this guide, you learn the functions and limits of each interior design insurance policy. We’ll also discuss the cost of premiums and which companies provide the best coverage.
Similar to architects, you also need professional indemnity insurance. Also called professional liability insurance, professional indemnity insurance for interior designers provides a helping hand when a client files a claim because:
You didn’t finish the interior design project on time
The output you provided doesn’t match with what the client paid for
Your interior design firm inflated costs to increase sales
You’re allegedly negligent and didn’t do the work you were hired for
Items, which the client paid for and asked you to get, weren’t delivered
You left a client’s project without completing it to prioritize another client who gives a better commission
This business insurance for interior designers is important because clients can hold you liable if there are issues with your work.
Each time a client files a claim against you for negligence, breach of contract, violation of fair dealing, inaccurate advice, or missed deadlines, professional indemnity insurance will take care of these costs:
Settlement or reimbursement for the economic loss of the client
Defense costs such as attorney fees, court filing fees, investigation fees, etc.
Court judgments
Note that professional liability insurance doesn’t help if your interior design business caused property damage or bodily injuries.
Professional liability is commonly available as a stand-alone interior designer insurance policy. But some insurance companies offer professional liability insurance as an optional coverage in general liability insurance.
General liability insurance provides protection against claims for bodily injuries or property damage. Many clients will look for this before working with you. Your interior design firm will find general liability insurance useful when:
A client, visitor, or contractor slips and falls while in the premises of your interior design firm’s office
The client’s property sustained damage while a structure or furniture is being installed
Your interior design firm’s office burns in flames and damages surrounding properties
An independent contractor sustains injuries and property damage while working with your interior design firm
Every time a claim for bodily injury or property damage is filed, general liability insurance will help your interior design business pay for these expenses:
Medical treatments or reimbursement for property damage
Settlements
Defense costs such as attorney fees, court filing fees, administrative costs, and others
Court judgments
By having general liability, your interior design firm isn’t only protected from bodily injuries or property damage. The policy comes with optional coverages that grants protection against other perils. Optional coverages in general liability insurance are:
Advertising Injury Coverage
General liability insurance comes with advertising injury coverage. This will cover settlements, defense costs, and court judgments if a claim is filed against your interior design firm for slander or libel.
In addition, the advertising injury coverage of general liability insurance also applies if your interior design firm is accused of copying another business’s design, logo, or marketing material.
Advertising injury coverage is a common optional coverage. You’ll also find this in the general liability insurance for gas engineering firms, construction firms, plumbing businesses, and roofing contractors.
Rented Premises Liability Coverage
Rented premises liability coverage will indemnify the losses of the landlord in case a commercial space your interior design business is renting for a short time sustains damage because of a fire.
Products And Completed Operations Coverage
General liability with products and completed operations coverage covers claims filed after you delivered or completed an interior design project.
You can’t work without an office. Building one requires a lot of investment. So you also need an interior design business insurance that protects this property. Commercial property insurance protects your office, whether it’s a private office at home, a condo office, or a dedicated commercial building.
So how does this insurance work? Commercial property insurance reimburses losses and will allow you to pay for repair or reconstruction in case your interior design office becomes damaged or lost due to:
Fire
Theft
Vandalism
Malicious mischief
Riot
Civil commotion
Volcanic action
Sinkhole collapse
Sprinkler leakage
Impact
Aircraft
Vehicle
Rain
Winds
Snow
Hail
Coverage also applies to your interior design office’s contents. And so, commercial property insurance will reimburse your loss if furniture, computer equipment, blueprints and other documents, digital cameras, drawing supplies, multi-tools, and other valuables get lost or damaged due to the perils we mentioned above.
Similar to other business insurance for interior designers, the policy has exclusions. Commercial property insurance won’t protect your interior design firm’s office and contents against war, earthquakes, landslides, mudslides, and floods.
Commercial property insurance for interior designers is underwritten as a replacement cost policy. This means that you get a full refund in case covered business property gets damaged or lost.
Also, depending on which company you decide to work with, commercial property insurance provides blanket coverage and can protect multiple business locations.
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Your interior design firm must purchase workers compensation insurance if it has one or more employees. Workers compensation insurance covers costs if an employee sustains an injury while providing an interior design service or doing other tasks for your business. Here are some situations where workers compensation insurance is useful:
A heavy piece of furniture tips and your firm’s employee is crushed
Your employee sustains carpal tunnel or eye strain
An employee of your interior design firm falls from a height while inspecting a client’s home
An employee of your interior design firm slips and falls
You must also know the particular costs workers compensation insurance pays for on your behalf. By having this policy, your interior design firm can cover these expenses every time an employee sustains a work-related injury or disease:
EMT Service/Employee Medical Treatment
Workers compensation insurance provides the funds you can use to pay for EMT service and medical treatment if an accident happens at work and an employee needs to be rushed to the hospital or clinic for treatment.
Hospitalization
If your employee needs to stay in the hospital, workers compensation insurance will cover the hospital bills for lodging, medical care and supplies, food, physician fees, and more.
Medication
Insurance companies allow you to claim workers compensation insurance so that an employee can have the money for buying prescription medicines.
Rehabilitation
Workers compensation insurance covers the cost of rehabilitation service and equipment so that an employee can work effectively once again or look for another job after sustaining a work-related injury.
Lost Wages
Workers compensation insurance covers the lost wages of your interior design firm’s employees. Your employee will receive a weekly allowance from the policy that’s equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage.
Death Benefits
Your interior design business can use workers compensation insurance to cover funeral expenses and grant an allowance to dependents if an employee dies due to a work related injury.
Aside from workplace injuries, workers compensation insurance also takes care of costs if an employee experiences heart attack, heat stroke, and other diseases. However, it must be clearly proven that these are work-related for coverage to apply.
Consider purchasing commercial auto insurance if your interior design firm has its own commercial vehicle or if you use your personal car for it.
This policy provides several coverages that cater to specific risks common in commercial vehicle ownership. Common coverages in commercial auto insurance are:
Auto Liability Coverage
The auto liability coverage of commercial auto insurance provides help if your interior design firm’s commercial vehicle causes an accident. This covers the following costs:
Medical treatment of the injured victims
Funeral expenses in case the victims die
Reimbursement for the losses of victims who had their property damaged
Settlements
Defense costs
Court judgments
Physical Damage Coverage
The physical damage coverage of commercial auto insurance takes care of costs if your interior design firm’s commercial vehicle sustains damage. Insurance companies offer this as a collision or comprehensive coverage.
Collision physical damage coverage takes care of costs if the commercial vehicle of your interior design firm collides with another vehicle or an object.
On the other hand, comprehensive physical damage coverage covers expenses if fire, theft, vandalism, weather, and other covered perils caused the damage.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Commercial auto insurance comes with uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and grants a shield against other drivers.
When a driver who is uninsured or doesn’t have enough auto liability insurance causes an accident, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will kick in and cover your commercial vehicle’s driver and passenger’s medical treatment.
Medical Payments/Personal Injury Protection Coverage
Medical payments/personal injury protection coverage cover the medical treatment or property damage of the passenger and driver regardless if the accident is the fault of your interior design firm’s car or not.
Employer’s liability insurance is offered as part of workers compensation insurance. This type of business insurance for interior designers will take care of costs if an employee decides to file a claim against your business after sustaining a work-related injury or disease. Employer’s liability insurance will take care of these costs:
Settlements
Defense costs
Court judgments
Does your interior design office process credit card payments, client accounts, and other sensitive information?
Know that clients can sue you if their address, social security numbers, credit cards, and other sensitive information gets leaked because of your fault. Purchase cyber liability insurance for protection. This kind of interior designers insurance is useful if a data breach happens due to:
Employee error
Cybersecurity issues
Cybercriminals
In connection, cyber liability insurance takes care of these costs each time a claim is filed:
Public relations expenses
Professional services for containing the breach
Business interruption or lost income caused by the breach
Defense costs if affected parties decide to sue
Court judgments
The average interior designer insurance cost is about $44 per month or $528 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance policy. Here’s a table providing more insights on how much is business insurance for interior designers:
| Coverage | Monthly | Annually |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Liability | $55 | $660 |
| Commercial Auto | $100 | $1,200 |
| Workers Comp' | $62 | $744 |
| Cyber Liability | $70 | $840 |
This second table shows the rates of the best companies’ $1 million general liability policy for a small-medium interior design business:
| Company | Monthly | Yearly | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEXT | $25 | $300 | Best overall; Fastest general liability insurance for interior designers |
| Coverwallet | $33 | $396 | Interior designer insurance online quotes comparison |
| Tivly | $34 | $408 | Comparing interior design insurance quotes over the phone |
| Thimble | $35 | $420 | Short-term general liability insurance for interior designers |
| Hiscox | $42 | $504 | Large and international interior design firms |
| The Hartford | $46 | $552 | Small interior design businesses |
The actual interior designer insurance cost depends on a wide range of factors. The size of your interior design business will be the largest factor that will impact the cost of your insurance.
This makes sense when you consider that a larger interior design company will have more clients. The more clients that you have, the higher the chance that you will end up making a mistake that may end up in one of your clients filing a lawsuit against you, which increases the risk of your insurance carrier.
Along with that, you’ll also need to account for the history of your interior design business. If you run a business that has a history of making mistakes and having to file claims, then insurance companies will see you as a larger risk than other potential clients and they’ll charge you more for coverage.
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
These companies underwrite the best interior design business insurance policies. Read the reviews to know their pros, cons, and rate for a $1 million general liability policy.
Best overall
Get an online proof of insurance and send as a text message, email, or social media post
Fastest general liability insurance
Great customer service and reputation
Issues an online proof of insurance instantly
Outstanding value for money
Bundle two or more interior design insurance policies and get a 10% discount
Couldn’t find any
NEXT’s interior designer insurance offers general liability, commercial property, and workers compensation policies.
Your interior design firm’s general liability insurance from this company has a $300,000-$1 million per occurrence limit with a $300,000-$2 million aggregate. NEXT’s general liability insurance is quirky because it offers professional liability coverage at an additional cost.
Moreover, NEXT’s general liability insurance for interior designers provides $5,000-$15,000 medical payments coverage and $2 million products and completed operations coverage.
Best for: Best overall; Fastest general liability insurance for interior designers
Average cost: $25 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Four insurance options to choose from
Has a free online interior design insurance quotes comparison platform
Pay premiums online
Cancel a policy anytime
Stable rates
Doesn’t offer a business owner’s policy for interior designers
There are many perks to getting insured by CoverWallet. This company allows you to get insured, pay premiums, and furnish a copy of certificate of liability insurance online. And while you’re just still deciding to get covered or not, CoverWallet offers a helping hand through its online quotes comparison platform
So what are your insurance options with CoverWallet? You have four plans to choose from - general liability only, general liability with professional liability, general liability with professional liability and workers comp; and a custom plan.
Best for: Interior designer insurance online quotes comparison
Average cost: $33 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Call and compare interior design insurance quotes over the phone
Responsive customer service
A partner of many reputable insurance companies
You need to call to get a quote
Tivly (formerly CommercialInsurance.NET) provides coverage for different kinds of businesses. However, you need to call this insurance company so that it can assign a representative who will create a tailored coverage consisting of general liability, cyber liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation, and other insurance policies.
Call Tivly now to compare interior design insurance quotes over the phone and get covered.
Best for: Comparing interior design insurance quotes over the phone
Average cost: $34 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Short-term general liability insurance for interior designers
No deductibles
Takes long to process claims sometimes
Thimble offers general liability coverage, which provides protection for the whole year or for a limited duration. If you get it as a short-term policy, Thimble’s general liability insurance can protect you for only hours, days, weeks, or months. Other insurance options Thimble has in store for interior designers are commercial property insurance, tools and equipment coverage, and business owner’s policy.
Best for: Short-term general liability insurance for interior designers
Average cost: $35 per month
Our rating: 9/10
Customizable insurance
Quick claims
Quick quotes
Commercial auto insurance and workers comp for interior designers is underwritten by partners
Hiscox originally started as a marine underwriter that was partnered with Lloyd’s of London during the early 1900s. Since then, Hiscox has shifted their focus from marine underwriting to specialty insurance in industries that other companies will not operate in. This has gone on to make them one of the best companies in the interior design insurance space.
Policies you can get from Hiscox are general liability, professional liability, cyber liability, and business owner’s policy. Workers comp and commercial auto insurance are also available. However, these policies are underwritten by partners.
Best for: Large and international interior design firms
Average cost: $42 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Wide range of policies under one umbrella
Affordable
Also provides cyber insurance
Slower claims processing
The Hartford is named after Hartford, Connecticut, where the company was originally founded by a group of traders who were looking to pool their risks so that none of them would end up going bankrupt in case anything went wrong. The Hartford is one of the oldest insurance companies in the United States.
The Hartford offers a wide range of policies for interior design businesses. You can get general liability insurance, workers compensation insurance, commercial property insurance, and professional liability insurance.
Best for: Small interior design businesses
Average cost: $46 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Use anyone except Employers. Period. They are non-transparent and shameful. After I complained long enough to warrant a call from a supervisor, the supervisor called back from a PRIVATE NUMBER (no caller ID), left a message that they are not reversing their decision (without any communication with me), and failed to leave a phone number for me to call back. She was hiding! They also fact find via email and phone calls, which is terrific for speed and communication. However, after setting a precedence of email or phone calls, they send time sensitive information via email, without any heads up... they are hoping you miss it and forfeit via expiration. Evil policies. Go elsewhere.
This place is an absolute joke of a company and should be ashamed of the way they conduct business. I was hurt on the job at the end of July and it took them just shy of 7 weeks to issue out a paycheck to me. Yes the amount was back dated but still. Not many have the luxury of not receiving a paycheck for almost 2 months. To top it all off, the original adjuster marked me down for the wrong state which caused a problem from the get go, I've had 3 different adjusters now since each one can't seem to figure out the simplicity of my claim. All my paperwork which includes, my job, house, and drs visits all are from the same state and city but yet some how I have been filed under a completely different state 1500 miles away. They do not answer your phone calls or emails no matter how many you leave. I've had to escalate my frustrations to the supervisors of each of these individuals in order to even get some kind of response. I've had more communication and information given to me about my claim from the customer service representatives then the actual adjusters.......... please tell me how that works?! A serious overhaul needs to happen here in order to serve your clients the way they deserve to be taken care of. 10/10 do not recommend this company to a single soul on earth
I have never had the displeasure of working with a more incompetent and disrespectful person in my life. I’m an injured worker and the adjuster that was assigned to my case was named Carrie Furgeson. In the past 6 weeks that I’ve been injured and out of work I have only been able to get ahold of her twice, not for lack of trying. I have left countless voicemails, countless emails, and she ignores them all. When I am finally able to get ahold of her I’m greeted with terrible customer service. She is rude, she talks over me and I’m hardly able to get a word in edgewise. She spelled my name wrong on my documents even after I spelled it for her properly countless times, this caused a whole new issue with my bank. I have bill collectors from the hospital calling me demanding payment and Carrie Furgeson won’t do a single thing to help, or to get them paid. All of my documentation is in Colorado, my job is in Colorado, my address is in Colorado, all my Dr offices and appointments have been in Colorado and Carrie still managed to hold my claim because she wasn’t sure what state she needed to file it under. It’s been 6 weeks since my Injury and my company still hasn’t received the wage paperwork to fill out so they can get me my correct wages. When she’s not ignoring me she’s answering my questions with “I don’t know” well I don’t know how she got this job, because apparently she doesn’t know anything about it. She is a disgusting morose individual inside and out and I genuinely wish her the worst in all of her future endeavors. I highly recommend you don’t use this company. Please if you are a business owner and your looking into this company please don’t use them. I’m sure they have the cheapest payment and that’s why companies use them in the first place, but you will be doing your employees a grave disservice by forcing them to venture into this absolute dumpster fire of a company. I would rate 0/5 if possible but 1 was the lowest I was allowed.
Their general liability insurance purchase process is simply the best online experience I've ever had in my life!
As long as they cover your line of business, you're literally covered! best rates, best coverage, best online experience, best professionals, can't be happier that I chose them!
Not all those who wander are lost.
Disclosure: Insuranks.com is an independent educational comparison service and an advertising-supported publisher. Some of the companies/offers that appear on the website are from our partners which we may receive compensation from. This may influence which companies/offers we write about and where and how it appears on the site. However, this does not impact our assessments. We solely highlight companies, products, and offers that can help you make smarter insurance decisions.
