Business Insurance Solutions for Engineering Professionals

Whether you work as a solo practitioner or run a small engineering firm, to be a successful engineer, you must be flexible, inquisitive, and have strong analytical and problem-solving skills. But even in your best work there is the potential for error. And as you know, for many engineering projects, a small mistake can have serious consequences.

Most independent consultants and small engineering firms don’t have deep pockets. If you or your company is sued – regardless of whether or not you are at fault – defending yourself against a lawsuit can be devastating. If you or your firm is sued, can you afford the legal defense costs? Or worse, could you pay restitution if you’re found at fault?

If you're properly insured, the answer is yes, you can.

What are the most important types of coverages to consider?

Your insurance should fit the needs of your unique engineering enterprise. At a minimum, small engineering firms and solo practitioners should consider two important types of coverage:

Engineering Professional Liability Insurance protects you from lawsuits related to errors or omissions in your work.
Engineering General Liability insurance protects you from claims of bodily injury or property damage. You may also wish to consider Umbrella Coverage, which provides up to $10 million of additional General Liability protection.

Why should I choose Business Insurance Now?

You expect a lot from yourself, and you should expect a lot from your engineering business insurance provider. Since our founding in 2000, we have specialized in working with small business owners; in fact, thousands of small businesses rely on Business Insurance Now to support their growing needs and help them manage their risks with fast, affordable insurance coverage.

Solo practitioners and small engineering firms specifically tell us that they want to:

Obtain quality coverage at a lower cost
Get the peace of mind that comes from being protected
Meet their client's contract requirements
Talk with experienced agents - real people with real answers
Receive competitive quotes from leading carriers

Business Insurance Now offers all of that, and more.

With skill and luck, you may never face a lawsuit. But if you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t taken the risk of going without insurance. Protect yourself and your company. Apply for a free, secure Engineering Business Insurance quote from Business Insurance Now today.

Engineering Professional Liability Insurance

What does Engineering Professional Liability insurance cover, and why should I carry it?

Also known as "errors and omissions insurance," Engineering Professional Liability insurance protects your engineering business or individual consultancy against financial devastation if a lawsuit is brought against you alleging negligence in the performance of your professional duties.

When engineers provide services, the law states that they must act in accordance with the standard of care common to their profession. If you make a design or consulting mistake and are sued as a result, you and your firm could face significant defense costs as well as damage awards. Professional Liability coverage lets you transfer this risk to the insurance company.

In such cases, your Engineering Professional Liability or E&O insurance would pay for your legal defense, as well as damages that you or your firm may be legally required to pay, up to the dollar limit specified by your policy for all covered claims. That protects your company and your future by helping you keep your business running as potential lawsuits move through the courts.

I have been an engineer in a solo practice for years, and I've never had a lawsuit. Now a new client requires that I obtain Engineering Professional Liability insurance. Why?

If your client is a prime contractor on a project and is hiring you as a subcontractor, your client wants you to be financially responsible for any errors. If you make a mistake and your client gets sued, your client wants to be sure you have the financial resources to compensate the company for its loss.

Often, engineers are contractually required to maintain Professional Liability coverage not only while working on a project, but for years after. Ultimately, maintaining Engineering Professional Liability insurance is the responsible thing to do.

How do I choose the right Engineering Professional Liability policy?

Engineers provide a broad range of services that vary widely from project to project. One job may involve significant technology risks, while another has the potential to cause pollution if things go wrong. It is therefore critically important to buy an Engineering Professional Liability insurance policy that covers these diverse risks.

We recommend your engineer’s Professional Liability policy include these features:

Full pollution liability, covering both sudden and accidental as well as gradual pollution, which is an important concern for geologists, environmental engineers and others
Clear, unambiguous coverage for breach of a client contract, providing you with certainty that this increasingly important exposure is covered
Full civil liability coverage – not just negligence
Specific coverage for breach of intellectual property rights
Standard coverage for suits brought against an engineer anywhere in the world
Reimbursement of costs incurred to help reduce or avoid a claim
Punitive and exemplary damages coverage
A broad definition of business activities that includes technology services
Virus and hacking liability coverage

How does Engineering Professional Liability insurance fit with my risk-management strategy?

Engineering Professional Liability insurance is an important part of a comprehensive risk management strategy that includes:

Identifying and documenting potential risks, and developing strategies to prevent them from becoming problems.
Transferring some risk to an insurer by purchasing an insurance policy.
Reducing risk by implementing projects in small increments, with careful attention to risk management at every step.
Avoiding risk by choosing not to take on risky activities. However, refusing to take on risk may cause you to lose out on potential profits or business gains that may come from taking that risk.
Retaining some level of minimal risk, in cases where insuring against a risk would be more costly than the potential losses you could sustain. In instances where these risks become problems, your company accepts any losses that occur. In reality, any risk that you do not transfer or avoid is retained by your company.

What is not covered by Engineering Professional Liability?

Engineering Professional Liability insurance is not designed to address every type of business risk you might have. Be sure to review the "Exclusions" section of your Professional Liability policy for these and other common exclusions:

Unfair trade practices: A competitor sues you for taking one of its clients after hiring one of the competitor’s employees.
Non-payment of fees: a vendor sues you for failing to pay an invoice.
Willful or dishonest acts: A client sues you alleging that you knowingly and intentionally defrauded it or stole company information. Liability insurance policies respond to allegations of negligence, not allegations of illegal activity.

Get a quote for Engineering Professional Liability Insurance now. It's fast, easy and free.

Engineering General Liability Insurance

What is Engineering General Liability insurance, and why do I need it?

Engineering General Liability insurance protects you against any potential harm to another person or their property. Unlike Engineering Professional Liability insurance, Engineering General Liability insurance doesn’t cover claims related to the delivery of professional services.

A General Liability and Property package policy can protect your company's assets from a lawsuit filed against you for injury or property damage. Up to the limit set by your policy, it covers court costs and the cost of a legal defense, as well as medical costs for anyone who might be injured on your property or in the course of your doing business. It can also cover physical damage to your property, including theft, and business interruption due to a disaster, such as a fire.

Some of my clients require that I name them as an additional insured on my Engineering General Liability policy. Does that cost extra?

Your General Liability policy should cover you for a wide range of property and liability risks tailored to your business and often required by your clients, at no additional cost. When your client’s contract requires special coverage provisions, the last thing you want is a hassle from your insurance company.

For example, when you sign a contract, agreement or permit that requires you to name a client as an additional insured on your Engineering General Liability insurance policy, your policy should automatically provide primary coverage for the additional insured. This eliminates the need to request an additional endorsement.

Your policy should also include Primary and Non-Contributory Additional Insured Coverage. If you have agreed in a written contract, agreement or permit that your insurance is primary and non-contributory with the insurance of the additional insured, this coverage provides that your Engineering General Liability coverage is primary, and the insurance carrier will not seek contribution from that other insurance.

Some of my clients require a Waiver of Subrogation. What is that?

Also known as a Waiver of Rights of Recovery, a Waiver of Subrogation provides that your insurance carrier will waive any rights of recovery against a person or organization if you have waived your rights of recovery in a contract, agreement or permit executed prior to the injury or damage.

What is a Per Location General Aggregate Limit?

A Per Location General Aggregate Limit provides a separate aggregate limit for damages for each location owned by or rented to you, and can be endorsed to apply to each project.

What is a BOP?

BOP stands for Business Owner’s Policy. This type of package policy includes both General Liability and Property insurance. A high-quality BOP ensures that you’ll be covered for a wide range of property risks specific to your business, including:

Business personal property: coverage to repair or replace your business-owned property, such as phone systems, desks, file cabinets and more.
Computers and media: coverage for your computers, peripheral devices and media. Coverage is also provided to help pay for the costs to research, replace or repair lost or damaged data and software as a result of covered damage to computer equipment, certain power failures, or a computer virus. Business Income Coverage also applies to computer equipment, data and software.
Valuable papers and records: coverage to you for the cost to replace important documents lost in a fire or other covered cause of loss. A BOP would protect the value of your time, work and research to re-create engineering drawings and blueprints if they are destroyed or damaged by covered cause of loss.
Business interruption: helps reimburse you for your actual loss of earnings for up to 12 months resulting from a covered loss to your property, plus extra expenses needed to continue your operations, such as renting temporary space.