The cost list people draw up before building runs to the permit fee, the design, the approvals, the ground studies. Insurance almost never appears on it, because as a general obligation it is new. Article 279 puts all of it in one paragraph.
We described the structure of the permitting cost, layer by layer, in what a permit is made of. This is a line that does not appear there.
Who has to be insured
Paragraph (2) of article 279 says that, in order to execute building works, insurance must be taken out according to each party’s responsibilities by: the client, the developer, the designer, the technical expert, the design verifier, the technical officer for execution, the site supervisor and the contractors.
Eight categories, and the first is the client. Not the contractor, not the designer: the person commissioning the house. The phrase “according to each party’s responsibilities” means this is not one policy but one per role.
The exemption that applies to you, if it is your own home
Paragraphs (3) and (4) are short and read together. Insurance is not compulsory for the client where the client is also the end user of a building intended as an individual or single-family dwelling. And the exemption applies to a single individual dwelling of that client, once only.
So there are three cumulative conditions, not one. The intended use must be an individual or single-family dwelling. The client must also be the end user, which rules out building to sell or to let. And the exemption is spent: a second house, even for yourself, no longer qualifies.
The rest of the list stays compulsory in every case. The exemption covers the client alone.
The cost is not on your invoice, but you pay it
For the six professional roles on the list, professional indemnity insurance is a condition of practising, not a commercial option. Article 456 lists it among the site supervisor’s obligations, valid for the duration of the right to practise, at a level covering the minimum risks associated with the activity. Failure by accredited or authorised specialists to take it out is an administrative offence under article 570 paragraph (1).
The consequence for your budget is indirect and certain: the cost of the policy is built into what each specialist charges you. You will not see it as a separate line, but it is there, and since 25 August 2026 it is there for everyone, not only for the cautious.
Why it is hard to budget for right now
The text says “under the conditions of the law” and fixes neither sums insured, nor premiums, nor a classification of risks. As with the local infrastructure levy, which we wrote about separately, the code creates the obligation and leaves the amount elsewhere. Until the insurance market arranges its products around these eight roles, any figure put into a cost estimate today is a guess.
What you can do concretely is ask, with every service quotation, whether the policy is included and up to what level. And if you are the client building for yourself, check whether you fall within the exemption before buying something you are not required to hold. What you declare about the value of the investment, and how the fees are calculated, is on the permit fee page.
This article is analysis, not legal advice. The provisions cited are from Legea 169/2026, published in Monitorul Oficial no. 661 of 10 August 2026. Check your own situation with the issuing authority.