Free fact finder · United Kingdom
Surveyors' insurance fact find
Every question the surveyors' professional indemnity forms ask, asked once in plain English. Send it to your client and their answers fill each insurer's form.
- No login needed
- Fillable PDF with your logo
- 123 questions
- Written for UK rules
What it asks
The questions underwriters ask, in plain English.
Each one comes with a line saying why it's asked, so your client answers fully the first time.
- 1Which of these services do you provide? Tick all that apply.Each service carries a different risk. Valuations, certification and structural surveys cost the most to insure.
- 2Do you always follow the RICS valuation standards (the Red Book) when valuing?Lending valuations are the biggest source of claims against surveyors.
- 3Which kinds of project do you work on? Tick all that apply.Insurers price by what is being built: a mistake on a tunnel or a tower costs far more than one on a house.
- 4Do you ever agree to hold harmless or indemnify another party for claims arising from your services?An indemnity can make you liable for more than your own negligence, and policies may not cover the extra.
- 5Do any principals need cover for work they did at a previous firm?Claims can arrive years later; cover for a previous firm is an optional extension.
- 6Is anyone in the firm aware of a mistake, complaint or situation that could lead to a claim?Anything known before cover starts is excluded unless declared now.
The firm
Entity, surveyors and staff, professional bodies, RICS regulation and fee income.
Services
Tick the services, then the share of fees for each: building surveys, valuations for lending, party walls, quantity surveying and more.
Projects
The kinds of building and site you work on, and how big your contracts are.
Surveys and valuations
Red Book compliance, signed terms, comparables and re-inspection.
Claims and insurance
Past claims, known circumstances, current cover and the retroactive date that must carry over.
How it works
- 1
Open it and try it
Answer it on the page as your client would. Follow-up questions appear as you go. Nothing is saved.
No login
- 2
Send it, or download the PDF
Send your client a link to answer by form or chat, with reminders sent for you. Or download a fillable PDF with your logo.
PDF free, no email
- 3
Fill the insurers' forms
When your client answers, one click starts each insurer's form with their answers in, and drafts the demands and needs for you to finish.
Free 14-day trial
Minimum cover
RICS minimum professional indemnity limits
Firms regulated by RICS must hold professional indemnity insurance on RICS's minimum terms, with a limit set by the firm's turnover in the previous year:
- Turnover of £100,000 or less
- RICS-regulated firms need a minimum limit of £250,000.
- Turnover of £100,001 to £200,000
- A minimum limit of £500,000.
- Turnover over £200,000
- A minimum limit of £1,000,000.
A summary, not advice. From RICS's professional indemnity insurance requirements (July 2024). Lenders' panels often ask for more.
Free tool or a free trial
The fact finder is free. A trial does the forms.
Free, no login
Everything you need to use it.
- The whole fact finder, answered as your client would
- How much of each insurer's form it fills
- Fillable PDF with your firm's logo
With a 14-day free trial
Your client answers once. No card needed.
- Send it as a link: answered by form or chat, with reminders
- Upload a PDF your client filled in and the answers are read in
- Start each insurer's form with your client's answers in
- A first draft of the demands and needs statement
- Next year, your client only confirms what changed
Before you ask
Questions about the surveyors fact finder.
- Is the surveyors' fact finder really free?
- Yes. Answer it on the page as your client would, and download it as a fillable PDF with your logo, with no login and no email. Sending it to a client as a link comes with a free 14-day trial.
- How does it fill the insurers' forms?
- Each question is linked to the same question on the surveyors' and design forms in the Coverbound Form Library. Starting an insurer's form puts your client's answers in, and they confirm them instead of typing them again. The rest of each form, mostly tables of projects, principals and past claims, they answer there.
- Which insurers' forms does it fill?
- Surveyors' and design professional indemnity proposal forms from Arch, Elmlake, NBS and Travelers. The page shows how much of each one it fills.
- Can my client fill in the PDF instead of answering online?
- Yes. It's a real fillable PDF they can type into in any PDF reader. When they send it back, upload it to your account and the answers are read straight in.
- Does it help with the demands and needs statement?
- Yes. Once your client has answered, Coverbound drafts the demands and needs statement from their answers for you to finish. It recommends nothing: that part is yours.
Ask once. Fill every form.
Open the fact finder, try it as your client and download the fillable PDF. No login needed.
Open the fact finder