Sign-off · outsourced calculation work · existing buildings
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a structural engineering firm
At a structural engineering practice the question is rarely whether someone can make a mistake, but whether the practice catches that mistake before the document goes out.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een constructiebureau.
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.
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.
In brief
A structural engineering practice sells certainty about load-bearing capacity. The client sees nothing of it but paper, until the moment a floor is rejected, a building may temporarily not be used or the works are halted. The bill then consists of investigation, strengthening, downtime and relocation: money, not broken property. That pure financial loss is what professional indemnity insurance exists for. The structure of that product is set out on the hub page on the BAV.
What distinguishes a practice from a sole practitioner is the organisation around the work. At structural engineering firms, insurers look closely at how calculations are reviewed and signed off, who may sign a document as final and how model changes are tracked. A claims file without demonstrable internal control is assessed more severely than a file in which a second engineer signed off. For self-employed professionals working with you there is professional indemnity for structural engineers the starting point.
Also look at the the relationship between your limit and your heaviest project. A portfolio of home extensions has a different loss potential from one parking deck or the conversion of an office building into homes. If you work in a consortium with other consultants, the client can hold you liable for the whole under Article 6:102 of the Dutch Civil Code and you then have to sort out the apportionment between you afterwards. For broader advisory portfolios, professional indemnity for engineering consultancies is the neighbouring page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four subjects that are different at a structural engineering practice from at a one-person practice.
Review and sign-off as evidence
Record who checks a calculation, what was checked and when a document was signed off. In a claim that is your most important file: it shows that the practice works to a fixed method. If a document is sent out under time pressure without review and that is where it goes wrong, the discussion shifts from an isolated slip to systematic failure, which opens the argument about wilful recklessness.
Outsourced calculation and drawing work remains yours
If you outsource modelling or drawing work to an external firm, in the Netherlands or abroad, you remain the client's contracting party. Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code attributes the conduct of auxiliaries to you. Ask for a policy schedule, check that the cover works in the Netherlands and reckon with the possibility that recovery yields nothing in practice.
Existing buildings and unreliable archive data
In conversion and refurbishment you calculate on drawings decades old. Reinforcement in a different position, a wall that turns out not to be a wall, an unknown opening: that only comes to light during demolition work. State in the engagement that your calculation rests on archive data and spot checks and advise destructive investigation where it is needed. If that advice is not followed, record it in writing.
What the policy does not pay
Outside the cover are contractual penalties and reduction clauses for delay, the cost of redoing your own calculation or drawing and repaying fees, and liability under guarantees that go beyond the usual professional standard. Loss connected with asbestos or soil contamination is also excluded as standard, even where it is released by your work.
What does your premium depend on?
- The agency's annual turnover: the usual basis
- Number of engineers and draughtsmen: including hired-in capacity
- Heaviest project in the portfolio: determines the amount needed per claim
- Share of existing buildings: refurbishment and conversion involve more uncertainty
- Internal review and sign-off procedure: demonstrable checking counts in the assessment
- Outsourcing to third parties: modelling or drawing work outside the practice
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A parking deck is rejected and has to be strengthened after your calculation | No | Yes |
| Your design basis document is missing a load assumption and the floor is temporarily taken out of use | No | Yes |
| An external drawing office you hired makes a mistake in your reinforcement drawing | No | Provided that |
| In a conversion the reinforcement is in a different position from what the archive showed, while you advised destructive investigation in writing | No | Provided that |
| Your engineer drops a tablet onto an installed window pane on the building site | Yes | No |
| The client reduces the contract price because handover was delayed by your documents | No | No |
The same mistake in several projects almost always counts as one claim: so look at the amount per claim, not at the annual maximum.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Several projects contain the same calculation error. Is that one claim or several?
Almost always one. Policies treat claims arising from the same cause or the same conduct as one claim, with one limit and allocated to one insurance year. That is the main reason not to look only at the annual maximum, but above all at the amount per claim. Ask the insurer exactly how its conditions define relatedness.
We work in a consortium with a services consultant. Can the client claim everything from us?
If you accepted joint and several liability, yes. The client then chooses whom to hold liable and you bear the burden of recovery from the other party. Record before the start how responsibilities are divided and ask each member of the consortium for a current policy schedule showing the insured capacity, limit and term. Without those documents your own limit is used up for someone else's mistake.
Is a member of staff's mistake recovered from him personally?
As a rule not. The client holds the practice liable, and for mistakes by subordinates in the course of their work the employer is liable under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code. Recourse against the employee himself only arises in cases of intent or wilful recklessness. Do have staff and former staff included in the class of insured persons, so that a direct claim is covered nonetheless.
We are taking over another practice. What happens with old projects?
Claims about work from before the takeover will keep coming in. Arrange a run-off period before the old policy stops, and set out in the sale agreement who insures the past. If you also take over the legal entity, the obligations come with it. If you buy only assets and staff, that need not be the case. Report the change to your own insurer, because the risk profile changes.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering architectenbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering energieadviesbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering constructeur zzp
- Nationale nederlanden zakelijk beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering bouwadviesbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering interim management
Similar pages
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an architectural practice
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed structural engineer
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an energy consultancy
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a construction consultancy
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) through Nationale-Nederlanden
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an interim management firm
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a mortgage advice firm
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a guardianship and administration firm