Identify the professional responsibility
Describe design, surveying, specification, construction management and inspection services separately from installation. Explain whether the business signs and seals plans, retains outside engineers or makes field design decisions. A contractor may assume design responsibility through a performance specification even when its usual role is construction. Review the agreement and the actual service together so a label such as design-build does not hide the division of professional duties.
Coordinate professional and construction liability
Professional liability addresses different allegations from general liability and marine operational coverage. Examine the insured professional services, contractual assumptions, reporting conditions and work performed by subconsultants. Project property insurance also serves a different purpose from liability for a design error. Discuss claims arising from surveys, structural recommendations, specifications or certification, along with physical operations involving vessels and equipment. Avoid assuming that a single project policy resolves every participant's design and construction exposure.
Prepare a useful professional-risk submission
Provide representative contracts, service descriptions, revenue by discipline, project types, subcontracted design arrangements and quality-review procedures. Identify reliance on geotechnical information, existing-condition surveys and owner-supplied data. Explain how assumptions, design changes and field deviations are documented and communicated. Discuss the duration of record retention and how potential claims are reported under the applicable policy. Contract review by qualified counsel remains valuable because insurance cannot be relied upon to make every assumed obligation appropriate or enforceable.
Questions worth asking
Does hiring an outside engineer remove the contractor's design exposure?
Not necessarily. The prime contract may leave responsibility with the contractor. Review the subcontract, professional coverage and allocation of duties together.
Is a design error automatically covered by general liability?
No. Professional services and property-damage questions need examination under the relevant forms; the nature of the allegation and policy terms control.