The thing to do is give Griffiths and Armour a ring and they will give you a quote. Its not as expensive as you may think. If your charging out jobs at £500 a shot, two jobs will about cover it. You have to remember that the risk is very low at the "bottom" end of the market and this is reflected in the insurance premium. A couple of years ago when I started, G&A quoted £800 plus insurance for £250,000 of cover.

how about the premium for £2mil? What is the best way to become self employed structural engineer, if my background is with big consultant, doing lots of steelframe for schools, hospotal, shopping centre?

Tommy !! As I said, you will have to ask a broker for a quote if you want PI insurance. As far as your other question about becoming a self employed engineer is concerned, the easiest way to become self employed is to resign from your current post. Apologies if that seems a bit flippant, but thats how it is. If you think too long or hard about starting your own business, you will probably not do it. When the salary cheque does not arrive in the bank account at the end of the month, you will realise the most important thing in the world is to gain an income stream. That means sales. And most of the engineers I know are not that comfortable with being viewed as a 'double glazing salesman'. You have to ask yourself if you can be a salesman. If you can sell your grandmother, then its probably for you.

LOL, thx thx

Try Caunce O'Hara Insurance Brokers.

I am an AMIStructE and have been running my own practise for nine years. I have never had any trouble getting PI for cover. I am with HSBC Ins brokers but there are plenty of others who offer the same sort of rates.

how do one actualy get started and get works?

Tommy, i am in the initial stages of starting up my own small consultancy/1 man band. personally my approach is think long an hard about your target market.why should they choose you? price? expertise?whatever.im aiming for small cheap jobs as i can price far lower than all the local consulatancies and probably deliver more quickly. do you market research.Local papers , business cards,existing contacts.Then you should know if it is a realstic & viable thing to do and you havent as of yet committed any real money. If you do start getting calls get some PI before you put pen-to-paper.Im not sure what the requirements are after that but if calls do start comming in i'm off to a free financial advisor (most banks) to find out about PLC's and LTD's and tax forms and all that.