Interior decorator insurance
Professional indemnity and public liability for interior decorators and designers. Cover for the whole job: concept, drawings, specification and site advice, from concept to handover.
Public Liability from €7.55 per month
Professional Indemnity from €10.80 per month
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Why take out business insurance as an interior decorator?
Two different things can cost you on a project: the advice you give, and what happens while you're in the room.
A specification turns out wrong. A finish chosen for the wrong room, a material that fails in a damp bathroom, or a scheme that misses the agreed brief, and the client pays twice to put it right. That's Professional Indemnity.
Someone is hurt, or something is damaged, while you're on site. Homes, showrooms, offices and rooms mid-refurbishment. That's Public Liability.
Something of theirs is in your hands. Furniture, samples, artwork and fittings belonging to clients or suppliers. That's the optional third-party objects and sites cover, up to €5,000 per claim.
What is Public Liability insurance?
If a client or a member of the public holds you responsible for injuring them or damaging their property, public liability insurance covers what you owe them, up to your cover limit.
What does it cover?
Injury or property damage caused to others in the course of your design and decorating work. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim. Optional covers can be added: Employers' Liability (€13 million per claim) if you have staff, and Third-party objects and sites for damage to equipment or premises of others in your care (up to €5,000 per claim).
Cover that fits your profession
You describe your activities fully at sign-up, and your cover matches what you actually do: interior advice, specification, site visits, and the design of exhibitions, stands and shop windows.
Is it mandatory?
Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. However, many main contractors, landlords, building managers and commercial clients require proof of cover before you can start on site. Cover starts from €7.55 per month.
Who needs it?
Any interior decorator or designer who works on other people's property: in clients' homes, in showrooms, or on site during a fit-out.
What is Professional Indemnity insurance? Cover for financial loss from your professional work
Professional indemnity covers the financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your work: wrong advice, a specification that doesn't perform, a missed detail, or an error in something you delivered. It doesn't cover injury or damage to property, which is Public Liability.
What counts as a professional mistake? Specifying a floor finish that fails in the room it was chosen for, a lighting or acoustic plan that doesn't meet the agreed brief, or advice that leaves a client paying twice to put the work right.
Who is it for? Interior decorators and designers whose clients pay for drawings, specifications, schedules and advice rather than for building work.
How does the cover respond? On a claims-made basis, which means the claim has to be made and reported to us while your policy is running.
Switching to us from another insurer? Work from up to 5 years back is covered, provided your previous policy would have covered the claim.
Leaving? Claims about work done while you were insured must be reported before your policy ends, unless run-off cover is arranged.
Cover that fits your profession. You select your activities when you apply, so the policy and its exclusions match what you actually advise on and deliver. Keep in mind that promising or guaranteeing a result is excluded, and so is work that crosses into construction or project supervision. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year; cover starts from €10.80 per month.
What does our insurance cover for interior decorators?
Our cover for interior decorators is built around professional indemnity for the design work and public liability for your time on site, with optional covers you can add to match your situation.
Professional Indemnity: Covers the financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your design, specification or advice. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year.
Public Liability: Protects you if a client, a contractor or another third party suffers an injury, or their property is damaged, in the course of your work. It takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim.
Employers' Liability (optional): If you employ staff, this covers your liability as an employer, with a limit of €13 million per claim.
Third-party objects and sites (optional): Covers damage to equipment or premises belonging to others that are in your care, such as furniture, fittings or a showroom you are styling, up to €5,000 per claim.
Which cover do you need?
As an interior decorator you are usually exposed to both. One covers injury and damage, the other financial loss from your work. You can combine them in one Insify policy. Cover limits, excess and exclusions apply. See your policy documents.
Public Liability insurance
Covers claims when your work injures someone or damages their belongings. For example, a client trips over materials you left in a hallway, or a wall is marked while you are fitting a unit.
- Choose your cover: €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Staff? Add optional Employers' Liability with €13 million cover per claim
- Most relevant when your work brings you into clients' homes, showrooms and sites
Professional Indemnity insurance
Covers purely financial loss a client suffers through a professional mistake, oversight or wrong advice, with no injury or property damage involved. Think of a specification a client claims was wrong and cost them money to put right.
- Choose your cover: from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Most relevant when clients pay you for drawings, specifications and advice
What's covered
Interior advice
Designing furnishings for homes, shops and offices
Planning fit-out and finishes: partitions, materials, colours and surfaces
Planning lighting, acoustics and ventilation
Designing exhibitions, stands and shop windows
Site visits
Guaranteeing an outcome, or promising a project will be finished on a date
Contract clauses that increase your liability, such as a penalty, an indemnity or a performance commitment
Missing deadlines, whether your own or the construction programme
Construction work and project supervision, and architecture or engineering outside interior design
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Claim examples for interior decorators
An interior decorator specified a timber floor finish for a ground-floor bathroom in a Dublin refurbishment, and it lifted within months. The whole floor had to be taken up and relaid. Professional indemnity covered the client's financial loss.
While positioning a heavy mirror during a styling visit to a client's home in Cork, a decorator knocked and cracked a marble worktop. Public liability paid for the replacement and the associated legal costs.
A set of designer chairs left in a decorator's care ahead of a showroom install in Galway was damaged in transit between the supplier and the site. The optional Third-party objects and sites cover took care of the damage.
An interior decorator specified a timber floor finish for a ground-floor bathroom in a Dublin refurbishment, and it lifted within months. The whole floor had to be taken up and relaid. Professional indemnity covered the client's financial loss.
While positioning a heavy mirror during a styling visit to a client's home in Cork, a decorator knocked and cracked a marble worktop. Public liability paid for the replacement and the associated legal costs.
A set of designer chairs left in a decorator's care ahead of a showroom install in Galway was damaged in transit between the supplier and the site. The optional Third-party objects and sites cover took care of the damage.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
How to choose the right insurance as an interior decorator?
Criteria to compare:
The cover offered: Check that the policy matches the real risks of your work: mistakes in a design or specification, injury to someone on a site you are working on, and damage you might cause to the furniture, fittings or spaces you use. Make sure every service you offer is covered, from concept drawings to styling and installation.
The price: Compare premiums, but prioritise cover that fits interior work. An attractive price can hide exclusions that matter for your activity.
The excess: Find out what stays at your own expense when a claim happens, whether it is a disputed specification or damage in a client's home.
The exclusions: Watch out for exclusions specific to interior professionals: undeclared services, work that strays into construction or project supervision, and marketing that promises a guaranteed result.
The service: A dispute can surface months after handover. Choose an insurer that is easy to reach and understands design work. At Insify, our online support team knows the specifics of your work.
Mistakes to avoid: Don't settle for a generic policy that ignores the advisory side of interior work. Make sure both your liability on site and your liability for what you specify are properly covered. To secure your business today, discover our Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Answers to your questions about our insurance for interior decorators
Professional indemnity isn't required by law for an interior decorator in Ireland, and interior decoration is not one of the regulated professions where a regulator or professional body requires it. In practice it is the cover that matches the biggest exposure in the job: your clients pay you for drawings, specifications and advice, and if one of those turns out to be wrong they lose money rather than suffer an injury. Larger clients, main contractors and commercial fit-out tenders will often ask to see it before they appoint you. At Insify, professional indemnity for an interior decorator starts from €10.80 per month.
Yes, that is exactly what professional indemnity is for. It covers the purely financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your professional work: a material specified for a room it cannot cope with, a lighting or acoustic plan that doesn't meet the agreed brief, or a detail missed on a schedule. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year. The cover is written on a claims-made basis, so the claim must be made and reported to us while your policy runs. Note that promising or guaranteeing a result is excluded, so keep your proposals realistic about what a scheme will achieve.
The main exclusions follow the boundary of interior design work. Construction and project supervision are excluded, as are architectural and engineering services outside of interior design, so if you take on the building work or run the site you are outside this cover. Product design and industrial design are excluded too. On the professional indemnity side, exceeding the construction time or your own deadlines and dates is excluded, and so is exceeding cost estimates where the money would have been spent anyway had the job been planned and built properly. Warranty promises and promises of success are excluded, along with any contractual clause that increases your liability, such as a penalty or a performance commitment. The full list is in your policy documents.
Employers' Liability isn't compulsory in Ireland, unlike in the UK, but it is the cover that responds if someone who works for you is injured or made ill because of their work. If you take on an assistant, a junior designer or seasonal help for an install, you can add it to your policy with a limit of €13 million per claim. It is worth adding as soon as you have anyone working under your direction, including on a short contract, because your responsibility as an employer starts on their first day rather than when the arrangement becomes permanent.
The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself before Insify pays the rest. For example, if a claim is settled at €6,000 and your policy has a €500 excess, you would pay the €500 and Insify would cover the remaining €5,500. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500. A higher excess usually means a lower premium, so it is a trade-off between what you pay each month and what you would pay if a claim arises.
The design side is covered, the build side isn't. Construction and project supervision are excluded on this policy, as are architectural and engineering services outside of interior design. So specifying materials, planning interior fittings, lighting, ventilation and room acoustics, and advising a client on a scheme are all within cover, while running the site or taking on the construction work itself is not. If your business does both, declare exactly what you do when you get a quote so there is no doubt about where your cover stops, and speak to us about the build side before you rely on this policy for it.