Written by William Paull
Co-Founder & Account Director
On this page
- What does each state ask of an architect?
- How much professional indemnity insurance does an architect need in Victoria?
- I'm leaving my employer to set up on my own. Am I still covered, and what do I need now?
- How much professional indemnity insurance should an architect carry?
- Frequently asked questions
What does each state ask of an architect?
Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales each have a rule on an architect's cover. They differ on the figure, and on what changes if you are an employee.
| Queensland | Victoria | New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The minimum cover | No minimum sum | $1.2 million with defence costs included, or $1 million plus a further amount for costs | None set |
| If you are an employee | Your employer may have met the duty for you. Whether that lifts your own duty is for the Board to confirm. | The Order still requires you to be covered, which the practice's policy can do if it names or refers to you. | The duty does not apply while you provide services only as an employee of the person engaged to provide them, and not on your own account. |
How much professional indemnity insurance does an architect need in Victoria?
Victoria's rule carries a number. You need the insurance before you carry out work as an architect, and a ministerial order sets the amount.
The Order sets the minimum two ways, depending on how the policy pays the cost of defending a claim:
| How the policy pays defence costs | The minimum the Order sets |
|---|---|
| Inside the limit, so they come out of it | Not less than $1.2 million for any one claim and in the aggregate |
| Outside the limit, so they are paid in addition | Not less than $1 million, plus a further amount for costs, being the greater of $200,000 or 20 per cent of the limit |
In the aggregate means all claims in the policy period added together. The policy must also give at least one automatic reinstatement of the limit, which restores the limit for a later, unrelated claim once an earlier claim has used it. Every architect required to be covered has to give the Board written proof each financial year.
Take two $1 million quotes. One pays defence costs out of the $1 million, so it falls short of the $1.2 million the Order asks for. The other pays costs in addition, and it meets the Order only if it also carries at least $200,000 for those costs.
I'm leaving my employer to set up on my own. Am I still covered, and what do I need now?
The work you did as an employee and the work you do from now on sit with different policies.
For the old work, look to the practice. Professional indemnity pays from the policy running when a claim is first made against you and notified to the insurer, which can be years after the work. On several of the policies we place, the practice's policy covers former employees for work they did in that role, so a claim about a job from your employed years can go to the practice's cover running at the time.
For the new work, the duty falls on you. Each state's exception is written for an employee:
- Victoria. The duty is on you, the individual registered architect. A policy can be written in the name of the practice, provided you are covered by it, and an employee can be covered that way.
- New South Wales. The duty binds the individual practising architect, not the architect corporation or firm. It switches off only while you work as an employee of the person engaged. You also have to tell each client about the cover you hold for their work.
- Queensland. The Code has an exception for an architect whose employer has met the duty for them. It is written against the rule on giving a client a certificate of currency, which means the policy is paid and current until its expiry date. Whether it also lifts the duty to hold cover is for the Board of Architects of Queensland to confirm. Cover is not a condition of registration or renewal, so the duty is easy to miss.
Leave a practice to set up for yourself and none of those exceptions applies. A graduate who registers and starts out alone is in the same position from the first job. How the cover works when you start out or change policies is on professional indemnity insurance.
How much professional indemnity insurance should an architect carry?
Your own figure starts with your state and your contracts. In Victoria the Order sets the floor. The Queensland and New South Wales codes set no figure and measure the cover against the services you provide.
Client contracts often set the limit for you. Government and corporate tenders and head contracts commonly set a minimum, so find out what the contract asks for while you are still pricing the job.
Ask how a quote pays its defence costs before you compare prices, because some pay them out of the limit and others on top.
If the practice takes on design and construct work, check how the policy wording defines your professional business. The wording is the document that sets out the cover. How a design and construction wording differs is on professional indemnity for engineers, architects and design professionals.
Architects commonly need public liability as well. How the two covers split is in public liability and professional indemnity: do you need both?
In April 2026, the middle premium among the architects, building designers and draftspeople we insure for a $1 million limit was $1,667 a year, the whole policy with our fee.
Frequently asked questions
Do employed architects need their own professional indemnity insurance?
Usually not, while you are only an employee. In Victoria, you can be covered through your employer's policy, if it names or refers to you. In New South Wales, the duty does not apply while you work only as an employee. In Queensland, your employer may have met the duty for you, and the Board decides whether that covers your own. Consolidated Insurance Brokers checks whether a policy names you.
Do defence costs come out of an architect's professional indemnity limit?
On some policies they do; others pay them on top of the limit. We check which way a policy works before you rely on it. Victoria's ministerial order accepts either: at least $1.2 million with defence costs included, or at least $1 million plus the greater of $200,000 or 20 per cent of the limit for costs.
Can Consolidated Insurance Brokers check my professional indemnity against my state's architect rules?
Yes. We read a policy against the rule in Queensland, Victoria or New South Wales. We check whether the limit meets Victoria's Order where it applies, whether defence costs sit inside the limit or outside it, and whether the policy names you or the practice. If you hold no policy yet, we start from the rule and the work you do.