Liability
- Damage to third parties
- Employers' liability
- Care, custody and control as an extension
Liability for engineering consultancies
An engineering firm delivers paper, but the paper becomes steel and concrete: the mistake is small, the consequence stands there for thirty years.
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Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
- Independent advice
- Several insurers
- Switching arranged
- Help with claims
In brief
What is particular about design risk is time. A calculation that is wrong goes unnoticed for years until a load changes, a building is altered or something fails. For your insurance that means the form of cover and its duration matter more than in almost any other profession. If your firm closes, you need run-off cover, otherwise you face a claim that comes in afterwards on your own.
If something collapses, you are not the first to be held liable: the owner of the structure is. Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code places strict liability for defective structures on the owner. The owner pays and then seeks recovery from the parties in the chain: contractor, structural engineer, consultant. That is why clients demand sums insured out of all proportion to your fee.
Your terms and conditions set the upper limit of that recovery. The DNR 2011 contains a liability cap and excludes consequential loss, but it only works if you agreed those terms and handed them over. What the insurance never pays: redoing your own work, fines, and claims you already knew about when you took out the policy.
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What does liability cover for engineering firms?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
- Business contents at replacement value as new
- Goods at cost price
- Business interruption or additional costs
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
- Continued pay for 104 weeks
- Group personal accident
- WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV | Cyber |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injury to a visitor or customer | Yes | No | No |
| Damage to a client's property | Sometimes | No | No |
| Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error | No | Yes | No |
| Downtime after a ransomware attack | No | No | Yes |
| Data breach involving personal data | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Damage to property in your care | No | No | No |
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
What does your premium depend on?
- Field of work. Structural work weighs more heavily than building services, geotechnics, environmental work or project management.
- Structural calculations or not. Load-bearing structures are the heaviest risk; advising without responsibility for calculations is lighter.
- Turnover and project size. It is not the number of instructions but the construction value you work on that determines the possible loss.
- Conditions applied. Whether you work with the DNR 2011 or sign the client's terms, which often have no cap.
- Sum insured and retroactive or run-off cover. Determines whether old designs and future notifications fall within the cover.
- Own staff and third parties engaged. Employees and sub-consultants fall under your liability and count in the risk.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
- You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
- We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
- You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
- We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Why arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
9.5New policy
9.8Claims handling
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Your mistake today is a claim ten years from now
Design errors come to light late. Most policies work on a claims-made basis: what is covered is what is notified during the policy term. If you end the insurance or the firm closes, everything that comes in afterwards falls outside the cover, unless you arrange run-off. Arrange that before you cancel, not afterwards. If you get any sign that something is wrong, notify it as a circumstance; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires notification as soon as you know of it.
Nobody pays for redoing your own work
Almost every professional indemnity policy excludes the cost of putting right or re-performing your own work. The hours spent redoing the calculation and correcting the drawing are your costs. What is insured is what that mistake caused at the client's end: work already carried out that has to come out again, delay to the building programme, the additional structure. That distinction determines the scale of virtually every settlement.
Your terms only apply if you handed them over
The DNR 2011 limits your liability to a cap and excludes consequential loss, but it is not law: it only applies if the parties agree to it. Refer to it expressly in the confirmation of instructions and make sure the client received the text before or when the contract was concluded. If that is missing, full liability in law applies under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code with no upper limit. Keep proof of sending it with the file.
In a chain the mistake is rarely laid at the door of one party
Where there is damage during construction, design and execution argue about who caused it. If you engage a party yourself, for example a geotechnical consultancy or a draughtsman, you are liable for their mistakes under Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code. Record which assumptions you received from third parties and which you made yourself. A file that shows what you relied on moves the discussion from your design to the source of the information.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Does the insurance cover redoing my calculation?
No. Putting your own work right is excluded: the hours spent correcting the design are for your account. What is insured is the loss the mistake caused to others, such as completed work that has to come out again, additional structure, and delay for the client. In a settlement that is almost always the first point of discussion.
I am closing my firm. What about claims afterwards?
Under a claims-made policy what matters is when the claim is notified, not when you made the mistake. If you cancel the policy, everything that comes in afterwards falls outside the cover. For design work that is a real problem, because errors surface late. Arrange run-off cover before termination; buying run-off afterwards is generally not possible.
The contractor built my design incorrectly. Am I still liable?
In principle not, but that has to be shown. Errors in execution are for the party carrying out the work; design errors are for you. When it comes to it both are alleged. Your position depends on what you recorded: assumptions, details, comments made during site visits. If you supervised and saw a deviation without reporting it, the blame shifts your way after all.
Why do clients demand such high sums insured?
Because the owner of the structure is strictly liable for a defective structure under Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code. The owner pays the loss and then seeks recovery along the chain. The potential loss is therefore linked to the construction value and the use of the building, not to your fee. Check the sum demanded before you sign; increasing it is usually possible, but not after the event.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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Read more
Ready to compare?
Request a quote without obligation. We will look at which insurer best matches your activities and your risk.
Prefer to call? 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 09:00–17:00.
Claim on the road? Emergency line 06 - 55 20 40 72.
About our service
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
This page was compiled by Finass Verzekert (LinkedIn). Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.