A contract that promises perfect work is asking for something no policy will insure.
Professional liability answers for negligence, which means falling below the standard of care a competent professional would have met. When a client contract promises the highest standard, or guarantees a result, it has quietly asked you to take on a duty that sits outside what a professional policy is built to answer for.
Build the practice file Read the short answer firstThe policy answers for falling short.
A promise of results is not negligence.
One adjective can move the whole duty.
Why does the standard of care matter in my contract?
Because it sets the line your work is measured against, and professional liability cover is written around that line. Where the work meets the standard, a negligence claim has nothing to attach to. Promise more than the standard and the extra part is a contractual duty rather than an insured one.
British Columbia gives you a written place to look. Engineers and Geoscientists BC requires its registrants to keep documented procedures. Those procedures have to keep them informed of the standards, policies, plans and practices set by government or by EGBC. They also have to meet the intent of the ones relevant to their work. Architects are registered with the Architectural Institute of BC, a separate regulator, so check the requirements that apply to you. None of this decides the legal standard of care in a dispute. That is a question for a court. EGBC says its own guides can be used as evidence in its discipline proceedings to show what was expected of a registrant. A registrant may depart from a guideline for an identified reason, but EGBC requires that reason to be documented.
The dangerous words are short ones. Highest. Best. Ensure. Guarantee. Fit for purpose. Each of them lifts the duty above what a competent professional would have done, which is the only thing the policy was priced to answer for. A clause written to the reasonable skill and care standard describes the duty professional policies are built around. The stronger version usually goes past it. The clause itself is a legal document, so settle the words with your lawyer. Read Engineers and Geoscientists BC on professional practice guidelines (opens in a new tab).
Four clauses worth reading twice.
The standard of care sentence
Look for reasonable skill and care. Anything stronger is a promise you are making personally rather than one your insurer joined you in making.
Fitness for purpose
A guarantee that the result will work is a warranty, not a professional duty. A warranty of a result sits outside the duty of care the policy is built around, and that is the ground an insurer points to.
The indemnity
An indemnity can commit you to losses well beyond your own negligence, including a client’s own share of the fault. Read what it covers before agreeing to a limit against it.
Departures you have documented
Where you have stepped away from a guideline on purpose, write down why at the time. EGBC requires its registrants to document the reason, and it is also the record that defends the decision later.
Three practices, three signed contracts. All three are illustrations, not client files.
The word highest
A single adjective in a client template raises the duty above the professional standard. Nobody negotiates it, because it reads like ordinary contract language.
The promise that it would perform
The design meets the standard and the building still does not hit the target the contract guaranteed. The claim is about the guarantee, not the design.
The undocumented departure
A sound decision to depart from a guideline, made for good reasons, with nothing written down. Years later there is nobody left who remembers why.
The questions practices ask before signing.
The client will not change their template. What now?
It is worth asking, and worth explaining why the wording matters to both of you. If they truly will not, at least go in knowing which part of the contract your policy does not stand behind.
Is fit for purpose really uninsurable?
It is a warranty of a result rather than a duty of care, and professional policies are written around the duty of care. Treat any guarantee language as something to negotiate out.
Does this apply to sub-consultants too?
Yes, and it flows both ways. What you promise your client should not be more than what your sub-consultants have promised you, or you carry the difference.
What should I keep on file?
The signed contract, the scope, and a written note of any deliberate departure from a guideline with the reason. Those three documents answer most of what a claim will ask.
Can insurance cover a contractual duty at all?
Sometimes a policy will answer for liability you would have had anyway, even if a contract also states it. What it will not do is pay for a promise you took on that goes beyond negligence.
Two that sit next to this on the same site: how professional liability limits work, and the clause that outruns the policy.
Not the question you had? Send the clause and a licensed person will read it with you. Use the short contact form.
Negotiate the sentence, not the claim.
Five minutes on the standard of care wording before signing is worth more than any argument about it afterwards.
Checked for technical accuracy by Amrit Sidhu of S&S Insurance Services Ltd. Last checked 28 September 2026.