Engineering Consultant Insurance: Liability & Quotes from $11

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Construction projects continuously develop. And so, existing knowledge about building design and construction are always changing. Employed and independent engineering consultants provide the needed advice and plans.

Employed and independent engineering consultants need insurance. Independent engineering consultants must be insured to attract clients. Those working for firms, on the other hand, need insurance as an extra layer of coverage to their employer’s business insurance.

While you can go for an engineer insurance bundle, what caters to your needs best is engineering consultant insurance. In this guide, learn what policies are included, the cost of premiums, and the best companies.

Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants

General liability and professional indemnity policies are the types of liability insurance for engineering consultants. Don’t skip these two because they provide comprehensive coverage against lawsuits.

To comply with the possible insurance requirements for engineering consultants, you must have a $1 million professional indemnity and general liability coverage where clients and other third parties can be named as additional insureds.

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Engineering Consultants

Use the table above to see which insurance company offers the best professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants.

Clients expect you to perform perfectly; reports must have no errors, analysis of data must be accurate, and measurements should be on point. That said, any issues you commit that result in the client’s losses can be grounds for a lawsuit.

Professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants will cover claims if a client holds your services responsible for financial losses. This is also called professional liability insurance. Situations where you’ll find this insurance are when:

• The plan and blueprint you provided didn’t follow the building code of the state where the client’s construction project is taking place

• You failed to submit plans, blueprints, and deliverables on time

• You shared information about your client’s project to a third party without permission

• A client entrusted an important document to you and this got lost by accident

Settlements, legal fees, and court judgments are the most common expenses you can cover using professional indemnity insurance. However, similar to the professional liability policy of construction consultant insurance, the professional liability policy of engineering consultant insurance might have add-ons.

Professional liability insurance for engineering consultants comes with license defense coverage. License defense coverage will cover legal fees if licensing bodies conduct an investigation against you following a malpractice claim.

Another thing, a defective work floater can be added to the PI insurance for consulting engineers, provided that you oversee and manage the construction projects of clients.

General Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants

Use the table above to see which insurance company offers the best general liability insurance for engineering consultants.

Your office is where client meetings, team discussions, and transactions happen. At the same time, it can also be a place where accidents resulting in property damage or bodily injuries occur.

A general liability policy, which you can also find in safety consultant's insurance bundles, provides a shield if accidents in the office involve third parties such as clients, visitors, and independent contractors. Here are some situations where you’ll find this type of engineering consultant liability insurance helpful:

• A technician gets electrocuted while repairing the HVAC unit of your office

• The client slips and falls while traversing the stairs of your office

• During a meeting, the bulletin board topples over and hits the client’s head

You can use general liability insurance to cover these expenses when clients, independent contractors, and other third parties ask for compensation for their property damage or bodily injury:

• Emergency room fees, doctor’s fees, and other medical expenses

• Refund for the value of the damaged property

• Settlements

• Legal fees

• Court judgments

Some insurance companies automatically include the following add-ons in their general liability insurance for engineering consultants:

• Tenants' legal liability coverage/rented premises liability coverage

• Products and completed operations coverage

• Medical expenses coverage

• Advertising injury coverage

Commercial Property Insurance for Engineering Consultants 

Use the table above to see which insurance company offers the best commercial property insurance for engineering consultants. 

The estimated cost of an engineering consulting office is somewhere between $38-$40 per square foot depending on location. The investment is hefty and you certainly don’t want your office to get burned, destroyed, or damaged. 

Commercial property insurance allows you to insure the office you’re using as an engineering consultant. Have this insurance and you’ll get the money to cover building reconstruction or renovation expenses when any of these exposures happen:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Civil commotion

• Sinkhole collapse

• Volcanic action

• Lightning

• Weather

• Falling objects

• Aircraft damage

• Vehicle damage

• Impact

• Sprinkler leakage

Purchasing commercial property insurance doesn’t only protect the building but what’s inside too. The policy comes with a contents coverage, which will reimburse the value of the HVAC unit, television, valuable papers and records, and objects inside the office. 

Business Owner’s Policy for Engineering Consultants

Use the table to see which insurance company offers the best business owner’s policy for engineering consultants. 

Insurance companies might offer a business owner’s policy if you’re planning to get general liability and commercial property insurance. 

Don’t refuse the offer. A business owner’s policy is a fusion of general liability and commercial property insurance. That said, it offers liability coverage and business property coverage for the price of one. 

The premiums of a business owner’s policy is 10% lower than when you bought commercial property and general liability insurance policies separately.

Commercial Auto Insurance for Engineering Consultants

Your engineering consultant insurance will offer a commercial auto policy if you’re an engineering consultant who frequently drives their own car to inspect and evaluate the construction projects of clients. 

Commercial auto insurance guards against the possible perils of driving and vehicle ownership.  You can use this to:

• Cover the medical treatment of third parties who got injured in a vehicular accident you caused

• Pay the repair or replacement of parts if your automobile for work got damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils

• Cover your medical treatment if you get involved in an accident caused by an uninsured/underinsured driver

Cyber Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants

Consider getting cyber liability insurance if you process data on behalf of clients or use a platform that collects addresses, credit card numbers, phone numbers, and other sensitive information. 

Malware, ransomware, and man-in-the-middle attacks could cripple operations and cause financial losses. Cyber liability insurance protects you against these exposures by covering the following costs:

• Customer notification

• Containment, and removal of malware or software

• Containment and fixes for data breach

• Credit and fraud monitoring

• Legal expenses if a lawsuit is filed against you

• Fines authorities impose

Workers Compensation Insurance for Engineering Consultants

Engineering consultants with one or more employees must have workers' compensation insurance. Workers' compensation insurance will cover medical treatment, hospitalization, medication, lost wages, and other related expenses if a part-time or full-time employee sustains a work-related injury or disease.

Engineering Consultant Insurance Cost 

The average engineering consultant insurance cost is $42 per month or $504 per year for a $1 million general liability coverage. Below is another table showing how much the recommended carriers charge for a $1 million general liability policy. 

The top factors insurance companies consider when deciding the premiums you will pay on your engineering consultant insurance are your consultancy's size, qualifications and experience, and the type of work carried out. 

The size of contracts you take out and claims experience are also considered. Note that there is a direct relationship between the size and complexity of the job and the exposure. Further, a poor claims experience will often be taken as a reflection of the quality of the company's work, experience, staff, and internal risk management.