Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed engineer
As a self-employed engineer you rarely sign your own contract. You work on the terms of a grid operator, a local authority or the consultancy that hires you, and those terms set out what your policy has to be able to do.
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The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
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- 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.
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- Several insurers
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- Help with claims
In brief
Self-employed engineers rarely work on one type of engagement. Design, engineering, project management, tender support, supervision and second opinions run into each other. Each role has its own way of going wrong, and each role has to appear as a business activity on your policy schedule. What falls outside that description is not partly covered but not covered at all. How this insurance is put together in broad terms is set out on the hub page on the BAV.
The second theme is contractual. Large clients work with standard purchasing and consultancy terms — DNR for construction-related advice, central government terms such as ARVODI for government services, and the UAV-GC for integrated contracts. Those documents often prescribe that you hold professional indemnity insurance with a particular form of cover and that you maintain it for a number of years after completion. Sometimes your own limitation of liability is simply struck through. Read that before signing, because your policy then has to fit it, not the other way round.
Third: you are judged by the standard of a reasonably competent and reasonably acting professional, the duty of care in Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you advise, the client takes the decision — but only if you have demonstrably named the risks of his choice. If your advice is ignored, his contributory fault can reduce the compensation under Article 6:101 of the Dutch Civil Code. That defence only exists on paper. For injury and damage to property on site you also need liability insurance for self-employed professionals needed.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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Professional indemnity insurance (BAV)
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Get coveredWhy 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.
What to look out for
Four points that matter more to a self-employed engineer than the premium.
The requirement in the purchasing terms determines your policy
A client can require a minimum sum insured per claim, cover on a claims-made basis with a retroactive date from a certain point, or a period of subsequent cover after completion. Check this before you sign. A policy that has to be increased after inception is more expensive than a policy that is right from the start, and increasing it mid-term does not always apply retrospectively to earlier work.
Secondment changes who directs the work, not your responsibility
If you work within a client's team for months, that client in fact gives the instructions. Your professional responsibility nonetheless stays with you. Record who has decision-making authority, which documents you release and which you only supply. When a claim arises, that distinction between advising and deciding is the difference between a mistake by you and a choice by the client.
Tendering and permits are risk areas in their own right
A missed tender deadline, a wrongly worded award criterion, advice that makes a permit unsustainable: that leads directly to financial loss without anything having been built. Insurers regard this as a separate activity. If your policy schedule says only 'technical advice', ask whether tender and permit support falls under it.
What is not reimbursed
Excluded are administrative fines and penalty payments, the cost of the redoing your own work including refunding fees, and liability arising from warranties and promised results. Anyone who causes loss by intent or wilful recklessness falls outside the cover; Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code provides for that. A circumstance you already knew about when you took out the policy is not insurable either.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the standard basis for a self-employed professional
- Field of work: civil, electrical, mechanical or process engineering
- Type of clients: government, grid operator, industry or consultancy
- Roles alongside engineering: project management, supervision and tender advice
- Sum insured required: clients set their own requirements for this
- Working area: engagements outside the Netherlands change the risk
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A calculation error in your design only comes to light at completion and the installation has to be replaced | No | Yes |
| Your supporting work for a permit application does not stand up before the administrative court and the project is halted for months | No | Yes |
| A missed tender deadline costs your client the contract | No | Provided that |
| You drop a tool on a parked car on the building site | Yes | No |
| Your client passes on the reduction he incurred himself for late completion | No | No |
| You warned in writing, the client chose otherwise and the loss occurs all the same | No | No |
Every role you take on must appear as a professional capacity on the policy schedule. What does not fit there is not partly covered but not covered at all.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
My client requires a policy with a particular limit. Can I arrange that per engagement?
Usually not separately. A BAV is continuous cover whose limit applies to all engagements. If you want to take on one demanding engagement, you either raise the limit for the whole policy or ask the insurer for separate project cover. Do that before the work starts: an increase does not automatically apply retrospectively to engagements already under way or already completed.
I advised, but the client chose something else. Am I liable?
Only if you fell short in your advice or in your warning. If you can show that you named the risk of his choice, he carries the consequence and his contributory fault can reduce the compensation. You provide that proof with an email, a note in the decision document or an entry in the project report, not with a recollection of a conversation.
Am I covered by the policy of the consultancy I work for?
That differs from one consultancy to another. Some include hired-in self-employed professionals in their class of insured persons, others specifically require your own policy and reserve the right of recovery. Ask for clarity on each engagement and record the answer in writing. Without an agreement an insurer can take the position that the other party is up first, while the claim simply continues.
What if I am unable to work for a long period?
This is not the policy that helps then. A BAV covers third-party claims, not loss of income. For the loss of your own income there is disability insurance. If your practice continues during your absence with people standing in for you, report that to your professional indemnity insurer, because it changes the group of people working in your name.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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