Best Engineering Business Insurance

NEXT leads our rankings for engineering business insurance with a 4.75 out of 5 MoneyGeek score, providing affordable coverage with quality service at $53 monthly. The Hartford follows closely as our second-best choice for engineering firms, while biBERK offers the most budget-friendly option at $42 per month. Compare quotes from all three to find the right coverage for your engineering company.

Note: We based all scores on a engineering business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Based on our analysis of engineering business insurance costs, biBERK offers the most affordable coverage at $42 monthly ($498 annually) for engineering firms. biBERK ranks first for general liability at $17 monthly and business owner's policies at $22 monthly. 

For workers' compensation, NEXT Insurance ($18 monthly) and The Hartford ($18 monthly) provide cheaper options than biBERK's monthly rate.

With rates at $16 monthly, biBERK offers the cheapest general liability insurance for engineering businesses. Engineering companies should also compare quotes from The Hartford and Nationwide to find the best coverage.

Engineering firms seeking the cheapest workers' comp insurance will find it at NEXT, which costs $36 monthly ($430 annually). That's $2 below the $38 monthly average and saving engineering companies 5% on this coverage. 

The Hartford offers comparable rates at $36 monthly, while Thimble provides coverage at $37 monthly. Workers' compensation requirements vary by state, so engineers should verify specific mandates with their local labor department.

Coverdash provides the cheapest professional liability insurance for engineering businesses at $72 monthly ($864 annually). That gives a $32 monthly savings compared to the $104 industry average, representing a 31% discount on professional liability. Hiscox follows at $87 monthly, with biBERK at $88 monthly for engineering firms needing errors and omissions protection. 

Professional engineers should review policy terms carefully, as coverage includes specific exclusions affecting design work and project recommendations.

Engineering companies looking for general liability and property coverage benefit from biBerk's business owners' policy, which are the cheapest at $22 monthly ($262 annually). It saves engineering business owners $27 monthly compared to the $49 average. The Hartford ranks second at $36 monthly, followed by NEXT Insurance at $37 monthly.

In general, business insurance costs for engineering companies are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $40 on average per month, ranging from $17 to $72, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $38 on average per month, ranging from $36 to $44, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $104 on average per month, ranging from $72 to $132, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $49 on average per month, ranging from $22 to $73, depending on the state

Business insurance requirements for engineers include workers' compensation in most states, but professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance is equally important since clients won't sign contracts without proof of coverage. Beyond these, engineering firms should add general liability, commercial auto and business owner's policies depending on whether they maintain physical offices, employ staff or travel to job sites regularly.

• Workers' Compensation: Insurance Required in most states when you hire employees, workers' comp covers medical costs and lost wages when your structural engineer injures their back lifting survey equipment or your civil engineer develops carpal tunnel from CAD work. Site visits to active construction zones present slip and fall risks that make this coverage essential for engineering firms.
• Professional Liability Insurance (E&O): Protects engineering companies when clients claim your load calculations were incorrect, your soil analysis missed critical foundation issues or your MEP systems design caused project cost overruns. When a building owner sues because your HVAC specifications resulted in inadequate cooling, professional liability covers legal defense and damages. Most engineering contracts require $1 million to $2 million limits.
• General Liability Insurance: Covers injuries and property damage your engineering business causes at client sites or your office. When you knock over a client's expensive testing equipment during a consultation or a visitor slips on your office floor, general liability handles the costs. Engineering firms carry $1 million per occurrence to meet lease and contract requirements.
• Commercial Auto Insurance: Essential for engineering firms whose staff drive to construction sites, client offices or field locations for inspections and measurements. When your engineer rear-ends another vehicle while traveling to a site survey, commercial auto covers repair bills and injury claims that personal policies exclude.
• Business Owner's Policy (BOP): Combines general liability with property coverage for your engineering office, protecting AutoCAD workstations, surveying instruments and project files from fire or theft. When a burst pipe floods your office and destroys computers containing ongoing project data, BOP covers replacement costs and lost income during recovery.
• Cyber Liability Insurance: Critical as engineering businesses store sensitive client blueprints, structural calculations and proprietary designs electronically. When hackers breach your systems and steal project specifications or ransomware locks you out of CAD files, cyber insurance covers recovery costs and lawsuits from compromised data.
• Commercial Umbrella Insurance: Provides extra protection when engineering errors on major infrastructure projects exceed your primary coverage limits. If your bridge design flaw leads to a $3 million lawsuit but your professional liability caps at $1 million, umbrella coverage fills the gap. Engineering consultants on large projects often need $2 million to $5 million.

Follow our step-by-step method for getting business insurance that protects your engineering firm without overpaying.

Finding affordable business insurance for your engineering firm starts with understanding what coverage you need. General liability, professional liability, commercial property and workers' compensation protect against your biggest risks. NEXT earned our top rating with a 4.75 MoneyGeek score, while biBERK offers the most budget-friendly rates at $42 monthly.

Common questions about engineering business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for engineering companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue