Survey errors · calculation method · series losses
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an energy consultancy
An energy consultancy calculates using a prescribed method. If there is a mistake in the survey or in the model, it affects not one file but a whole series.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een energieadviesbureau.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The work of an energy consultancy can be verified. A building survey is recorded, the calculation follows a prescribed assessment method and the result is registered. That is precisely why a mistake can be pinpointed later: a facade area entered incorrectly, cavity insulation that went unnoticed, an installation ticked as present but not actually found. The loss arising from that is pure financial loss for the owner, buyer or landlord, and that is exactly what public and employers' liability insurance does not cover.
The distinctive risk in this sector is the repetition. Anyone working with a fixed survey method and their own input template makes a systematic mistake in dozens of files at once. Think of a housing association's stock or a series of offices belonging to the same owner. Insurers treat related claims as one claim under one sum insured, allocated to one insurance year. So first read how your policy defines related claims and set the amount per claim accordingly.
The standard of care is that of Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code. Your certification counts as well: if you work under an assessment guideline, departing from the requirement is in itself a ground for criticism. Damage you cause to the building or to the installation during a survey is damage to property and belongs on the public and employers' liability insurance. For advisers who work for you on a self-employed basis, see professional liability for energy advisers.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points that weigh more heavily in energy advice than the level of the annual limit.
One calculation error, fifty files
A wrong default assumption or a mistake in your input template works through in everything you have produced with that template. The policy usually adds such claims together into one loss event. The annual limit is then no help. The amount per claim is decisive. Discuss this explicitly when you apply, certainly if you work in bulk for housing associations or property managers.
The survey is a finding of fact
With a calculation you can rely on the method. With a survey you cannot. A construction detail you did not inspect but did complete is hard to defend. Record for each property what you observed, what you could not reach and what evidence you kept. When a claim arrives, that file determines whether there is a professional error or an unavoidable limitation.
Staff, hired-in workers and the class of insured persons
If a hired-in adviser carries out the survey, you remain the client's contracting party. Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code attributes the conduct of auxiliaries to you, and for your own staff Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies. Have it recorded that employees, interns and hired-in self-employed professionals fall within the class of insured persons, and ask every self-employed professional for their own policy schedule.
What the policy does not pay out
What falls outside the cover includes the cost of carrying out your own survey or calculation again, fines and penalty payments from a regulator or local authority, and liability arising from guaranteed label improvements or savings amounts. Deliberately false registration is excluded; Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes intent and wilful recklessness. Claims already known at inception are not insurable.
What does your premium depend on?
- The agency's annual turnover: the usual basis for the premium
- Number of surveys per year: volume increases the chance of a repeated mistake
- Type of buildings: commercial property and new build weigh differently from existing homes
- Activities besides advice: installation design or contract supervision increases the risk
- Sum insured per claim: decisive where files are related
- Retroactive and run-off periods: for reports from earlier years
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A landlord raises the rent on the strength of your label and has to reverse it after recalculation | No | Yes |
| Your ladder falls against the facade and damages a window frame during the survey | Yes | No |
| The heat pump is sized on your bespoke advice and turns out to be too small for the home | No | Yes |
| An estate agent who used your label in the advertisement is held liable and passes that on to you | No | Provided that |
| The re-inspection by the certifying body after your file has been rejected | No | No |
| A client refuses to pay because the report was weeks late | No | No |
If you work with a fixed template, a mistake affects dozens of files at once; how your policy counts related claims then determines the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A buyer complains about an energy label that is too favourable. Who is liable?
The buyer usually claims against the seller, who then seeks recovery from the firm that carried out the survey. Your insurer will then assess whether the discrepancy arises from a mistake in the survey or from a difference between the assessment method and actual consumption. The latter is not a professional error: the method assumes standardised user behaviour, not this particular occupant.
What if the client supplied us with the wrong drawings?
The question then remains whether you should have noticed the discrepancy. An adviser is expected to test the data supplied against what he sees on site and to make enquiries in case of doubt. Record in writing which documents you received, what you checked and what reservation you made. Without that record this defence is hard to sustain when a claim arrives.
Does damage to the installation during an inspection fall on this policy?
No. If you damage a pipe, a ceiling or a meter cupboard during a survey, that is damage to property and it falls under public and employers' liability insurance. Watch the care, custody and control exclusion there for parts you had in your keeping temporarily. Professional indemnity insurance is intended solely for financial detriment caused by your advice, report or calculation.
We are stopping a particular service. Does it stay insured?
Only if the professional capacity on the policy still names that work and the policy remains in force. Under claims-made insurance what counts is the moment the claim comes in, not the moment of the advice. If you remove the activity from your professional capacity, have it confirmed in writing that old files from that activity remain covered.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering architectenbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering constructiebureau
- Nationale nederlanden zakelijk beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering energieadviseur zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering constructeur zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering interim management
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