Insurance for architects, engineers and design consultants.
We run a dedicated program for design professionals, which means we can quote most firms from our own markets instead of shopping your file around. No discipline is excluded. Structural, geotechnical, civil, mechanical, environmental, bring us the work you actually do.
Ask about your firm See what’s coveredProfessional liability for design work, with no discipline excluded
Architects, engineers and design consultants of any size
Your current policy and any contract setting a required limit
Do architects and engineers need professional liability insurance?
In practice, yes. Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, responds when a client says your design or advice caused them a loss, and it pays the cost of defending you even when you did nothing wrong. Most client contracts require it at a stated limit, and most regulators and associations expect it.
A claim on your professional work does not need to succeed to hurt you. Defence costs begin immediately, and without cover they come out of the firm, which for most practices means out of the partners.
We run a dedicated program for design professionals, which means we can quote most firms from our own markets rather than shopping your file around.
Your file goes into a program. We quote it ourselves.
A program means we hold the authority to write design professionals directly with our markets. For your firm, that shows up in three ways.
Fewer hands on your file
Your submission goes to markets that already know this class, not out to whoever might say yes this month.
No discipline shut out
Structural and geotechnical work is often the first thing excluded elsewhere. It is inside our appetite, not an exception to it.
Limits that match the contract
$10M, $20M, $100M, when a project agreement demands a limit, the number is rarely the obstacle.
Placed through A-rated program markets, with no discipline excluded. Small two and three-person practices are welcome, where a firm does not fit the program, we place it outside rather than turn it away.
Professional liability, in plain English.
Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, responds when someone says your professional work caused them a loss. It is the policy your client contracts usually insist on, and the one that answers when a design decision is questioned years later.
Claims about your design or advice
Defence costs and damages when a client alleges an error, an omission, or negligent advice.
Work you signed off years ago
Claims often arrive long after a project closes. Continuous cover is what keeps old work protected.
The cost of defending yourself
Defending a claim costs money even when you did nothing wrong. That is a large part of what you are buying.
Sub-consultants and joint ventures
Bring us the structure of the project team, how the work is shared changes how the cover should be written.
Most design firms carry commercial general liability and office contents alongside this. We write those too, in the same conversation, so nothing falls between two brokers.
Structural and geotechnical work is not an exception here.
Design professionals in higher-risk disciplines are used to hearing “we don’t write that.” Our program has no discipline exclusions. If your firm does any of the work below, it belongs in the conversation.
From a two-person practice to a multi-office firm.
The program suits established firms particularly well. Smaller firms are placed outside the program, with markets that suit their size. Same team, same speed.
Renewing soon?
Tell us your renewal month and we will come back to you before it, with time to compare properly, not the week it expires.
Most firms find out too late that their limit no longer matches the contracts they are signing. That is the conversation worth having early.
A situation we see.
A client says a design decision caused a delay and claims the cost. Whether or not the claim succeeds, the defence starts immediately. Professional liability pays for that defence; general liability does not touch it.
What design firms ask us.
My contract requires a specific limit. Can you meet it?
Usually, yes. Limits of $10M, $20M and $100M are available through the program. Send us the insurance clause from the contract. We will read it and tell you exactly what it requires, which is not always what people assume it requires.
We do structural and geotechnical work. Is that a problem?
No. Nothing is excluded by discipline. This is the single most common reason design firms are turned away elsewhere, and it is not a barrier here.
We are a small practice. Are we too small?
No. We write firms of every size. The program is built for larger practices, so a two or three person firm is usually placed with a market that suits it better, same desk, same people, and no discipline excluded either way.
What happens to claims about work we finished years ago?
Professional liability generally responds based on when a claim is made, not when the work was done, which is why continuous cover matters and why a gap between policies is a real risk. Tell us if you have ever had a gap and we will look at it.
Do you insure environmental consultants?
Yes, environmental consulting sits inside the same program and the same markets.
Which insurers do you use?
We place with several markets that specialise in design professionals, and which one fits depends on your firm’s work. We will tell you exactly who is on your quote before you decide anything.
What people usually look at next.
Not a design professional? consultants & professional services covers advisory firms.
Tell us what your firm does.
A short conversation and your current declarations page is usually enough for us to tell you where you stand. Send us your current policy and any contract setting a required limit.
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Structural or geotechnical firm? See Structural & geotechnical, the disciplines most insurers exclude.