Identify services that involve professional judgment
Review the scope for engineering, design, specifications, hydrographic surveying, construction management and design delegated to specialty subcontractors. Distinguish responsibility for performing construction from responsibility for the adequacy of a design. Temporary works, lift engineering and installation methods can raise difficult allocation questions. Explain which services are performed internally and which are subcontracted. An agreement calling the contractor responsible for design may create obligations that are not apparent from the company's trade classification.
Compare professional and general liability
Professional liability is intended to address specified claims arising from covered professional services, subject to the form. General liability may contain professional services exclusions and does not necessarily address purely financial loss. Review the definition of professional services, insured entities, subcontracted services, contractual liability and rectification or mitigation provisions if offered. Claims-made triggers, retroactive dates and reporting conditions require attention. A current policy may not automatically address services performed before its retroactive date or after it ends.
Manage the design chain
Provide design agreements, subconsultant contracts, qualifications and sample project scopes for review. Ask counsel to examine standards of care, warranties, fitness-for-purpose promises and indemnities. Confirm the evidence required from engineers and surveyors, and consider how long insurance should be maintained after project completion. Retain drawings, revisions, approvals and correspondence. Insurance should be evaluated alongside the contractual allocation of design responsibility, not used as a substitute for technically sound review and documentation.
Questions worth asking
Do contractors need professional liability only when they employ engineers?
No. Contractual design responsibility, delegated services and construction management activities can also justify a review.
Does a design subcontractor's policy automatically insure the general contractor?
No. Responsibility, insured status and the contractor's own coverage must be examined separately.