Consulting Engineers Professional Indemnity Insurance

There are many different kinds of Engineers, covering the different areas within the design industry and also the construction industry.  Engineering broadly covers any kind of work which finds a solution to problems/allows the completion of tasks or has to do with the design and specification of a product.

This section would include, but not be limited to - Civil Engineers; Structural Engineers; Geotechnical Engineers; Soil and Foundation Engineers; Mechanical Engineers; Electrical Engineers; Electronics Engineers; Heating & Ventilating Engineers.   There are overlaps sometimes and architectural consultancy, surveying (structural/quantity etc) town planning or even valuations can be seen on an engineer’s proposal.

There are many associated professional bodies, however no compulsory requirement to buy professional indemnity insurance.  Engineers however recognise that that if they are found to be legally liable, by way of any negligent act error or omission to undertake duties, leading to a financial loss to a client, this could lead to a claim.  Sensibly, they choose to insure and are offered a miscellaneous ‘neglect, error or omission’ policy or sometimes the wider ‘civil liability’ wording. 

Are you a Consultant that could be deemed a ‘Contractor’?  If the answer is ‘yes’ please go to the Design and Construction section on our site.  This could arise if a client was looking for a company to complete the design and also the ‘construction’ (be that a build/manufacture etc).  You, the Consultant, might be asked to give a single price for a job & if you take on the whole job, even if the physical work is done by sub-contractors (bona fide or not) you would in effect be acting as the contractor too, in which case a traditional professional indemnity wording is likely to be incorrect for you.  There is a professional indemnity product for ‘contractors’ but the breadth and cost of cover would be different to that of a 100% design consultant.  It is also worth checking that you do not incur a joint and several liability for other members of the design team ‘by accident’.  Be very careful of the contracts you enter into.

This can ‘work’ the same way for the construction company, who can take on the design responsibility inadvertently if they don’t have an in-house design team.  However, they would only ever buy a design and construct professional indemnity policy, which would ask them about this.  They will come for recourse against the consultant in the event of a claim, the consultant much more likely to have professional indemnity insurance that could respond, than the contractor.  If a consultant is just a subcontractor under a contractor's design and build job, then the normal policy coverage should respond...

Please complete the enquiry form as fully as possible and submit to us for a quotation for consulting engineers professional indemnity Insurance.

Alternatively, please download the blank proposal form here, complete as far as possible and follow the instructions on page 1 of the form for submission to Blackfriars

If you have already completed a proposal form, or a renewal form, you may submit that to pii@blackfriarsrgoup.com or by fax to 0845 838 7966 or by mail to Blackfriars Group, 6 Congleton Road, Sandbach, Cheshire. CW11 1HN.