What does professional indemnity insurance not cover?

It covers your duty to use reasonable skill and care, so it won't respond to obligations you've taken on beyond that. Fitness for purpose clauses, performance guarantees, warranties, and liquidated damages are typically excluded, which means signing them can leave you personally responsible for that part of the risk. Policies also exclude deliberate acts, fines, your own trading losses, and work you haven't declared, and most carry fire safety and cladding restrictions. We'll take the time to understand what your risks are and explain what your policy covers you for.

How much does professional indemnity insurance cost for engineers?

Premiums are based on your fee income, the disciplines you work in, the type of projects you take on, the limit and excess you choose, and your claims history. Structural design, high-rise residential, fire safety work, and temporary works attract the most underwriting attention.

Are engineers personally liable?

Trading through a limited company gives you some protection, but individuals can still be named in a claim, particularly where advice was given personally or a duty of care is alleged. Sole traders and partnerships have no such separation at all. A properly arranged insurance policy covers the practice, its principals, and its employees, so a single person isn't held personally responsible.

How long do I need to keep cover in place after a project finishes?

Professional indemnity is written on a claims-made basis, so the policy in action when the claim is made responds, not the policy that was active when you did the work. Appointments typically require six years from practical completion, or twelve where the appointment was executed as a deed, and work on dwellings can have longer exposure. If you wind the practice down, run-off cover keeps you protected for the same period.

What's the difference between professional indemnity and public liability insurance?

Professional indemnity covers claims about your professional work, such as a design or a piece of advice. Public liability covers injury to other people or damage to their property, which matters when you're on site or visiting clients. Most engineering consultancies need both, and site access is often conditional on showing public liability cover.

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Engineers

Name: Professional Indemnity Insurance for Engineers
Brand: Alan Boswell Group
Rating: 4.8 (13362 reviews)

Professional indemnity insurance for engineers protects your business when a client alleges that your design, technical calculations, or engineering advice was negligent and caused them a financial loss.

Limits to meet your contract requirements

Pollution and asbestos extensions available

Dedicated claims team

As an engineer, your clients will almost always insist you have professional indemnity insurance before you start a project, and the decisions you take at the design stage could be questioned years after the work is finished.

Whether it's a structural calculation that wasn't right, a specification that leads to the wrong materials being used or installed, or a delay blamed on your design information, a client may choose to begin legal proceedings against you. Compensation claims can still be brought against you even where advice was given informally, or where a design never went further than a sketch. Professional indemnity insurance can cover the cost of defending these claims and any compensation awarded.

The Alan Boswell Group Difference

Having arranged commercial insurance for more than 40 years, our brokers are specialists in arranging a variety of different policies.

As such, we understand the wide range of risks for those working in the engineering industry, from the appointments and collateral warranties you're asked to sign to the extended liability that follows a completed project. That's why we're ideally placed to provide professional indemnity insurance and independent, expert advice.

Professional indemnity insurance in detail

Professional indemnity insurance for engineers covers legal costs and third-party compensation claims arising from negligent advice, designs, or services that cause financial loss.

Our specialist PI policies provide cover for a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil and structural engineers, building services and M&E consultants, geotechnical and environmental engineers, temporary works designers, and engineering consultancies. It could include:

Civil liability

If a client suffers financial loss because of any advice, information, or designs you provided, PI will cover the cost of legal defence and any compensation awarded.

Design and specification errors

Cover for claims arising from calculations, drawings, specifications, and design information, including the cost of correcting the parts of the works affected by the error.

Sub-consultants and outsourced design

If you outsource work to a specialist or another consultancy, the client could still hold you responsible for errors. If the outsourced supplier's professional indemnity doesn't cover the claim, your policy can cover claims arising from work carried out on your behalf.

Loss of documents

Covers the cost of replacement or restoration of drawings, models, and records that were left in your business's care.

Breach of confidentiality

Covers compensation claims if commercially sensitive information from clients is shared without their permission.

Intellectual property

Provides protection where a design, drawing, or document is alleged to have infringed someone else's copyright or intellectual property unintentionally.

Pollution

An optional add-on that covers claims that your advice or designs resulted in environmental damage.

Asbestos

An extension is available for asbestos-related claims. This is normally excluded as standard, but it can come up regularly in refurbishment and survey work.

Formal investigation

If your firm is investigated by a regulator or has to respond to health and safety proceedings, the policy can cover the costs of the investigation and any legal proceedings brought against you.

Continuing cover after completion

Policies can include cover for appointments and collateral warranties that require you to maintain professional indemnity cover for a set period after practical completion. This is often six years, or twelve years where the appointment is executed as a deed.

How our customers rate us

Great one to one service as always, competitive price and bespoke policies.

Mr Hardy - Professional Indemnity Insurance

4.8/5 13362 reviews

Do engineers legally need professional indemnity insurance?

Engineers are not legally required to hold professional indemnity insurance, and engineering institutions, including ICE, IStructE, IMechE, CIBSE, and IET, don't set a single universal requirement. However, most professional bodies expect that members in independent practice hold cover appropriate to the work. Most appointments, frameworks, and collateral warranties make professional indemnity insurance a condition of being engaged on a project.

How much cover do I need, and is £1m enough?

The right cover limit depends on any contracts you've signed and your risks. Appointments and warranties commonly specify £1 million, £2 million, £5 million or £10 million, and the figure applies for the life of that obligation. Check whether the requirement applies to each claim or in the aggregate, as an aggregate limit in a busy year can be used up quickly.

Get in touch

Whether you need a quote, have a general enquiry, want to register a claim, or want to talk it through over the phone, we're here to help.

Speak to us: 01603 216387

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Professional Indemnity Insurance for Engineers

The Alan Boswell Group Difference