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Get broad Professional Indemnity Insurance for your Architect's practice, quickly & easily. From only $79/month.
Provide offers Architects the quickest & easiest way to get your Professional Indemnity policy. You’ll get comprehensive coverage to protect you from many types of business lawsuits, at highly affordable rates. You’ll be able to easily fulfill your licensing requirements with our policies too.
What does Professional Indemnity for Architects cover?
Negligence / Errors & Omissions / Malpractice: Covers you for mistakes you make in your architectural work, and in professional advice you provide.
For example, if you make mistakes in your architectural plans, clients can sue you for those mistakes if they suffer losses. Professional Indemnity Insurance would protect your architect’s business by paying ofr legal fees and damages.
Retroactive claims: Coverage for claims due to mistakes that occurred in the past.
The good thing about Professional Indemnity policies is that they are typically structured on a “claims made” basis. This means that coverage can apply for claims made in the past (e.g. 3 years ago, 6 years ago, etc.), as long as you’ve continuously renewed your Professional Indemnity coverage through those years, with no interruptions in between. This is important to note, because legal claims against architects typically happen long after they hand over their projects to their clients. Buildings take a long time to finish, and potential flaws in the architect’s work often take time to show up and result in lawsuits.
Defamation: Coverage if you are found guilty of libel or slander.
For instance, you make verbal claims (slander) and written claims (libel) about a competitor’s services that are later found to be untrue, this would result in you facing lawsuits should the party decide to take action.
Subcontractor Errors: Coverage for mistakes caused by subcontractors that inflict harm on your client.
For instance, you may outsource part of your work to external consultants. If these sub-contractors make a mistake, a Professional Indemnity policy can cover your sub-contractors errors.
Do I need Professional Indemnity Insurance for my architect's business?
Yes, you must have a Professional Indemnity policy to be a practicing Architect. This policy is part of your licensing criteria. This is a legal requirement under the Architects Act in Singapore.
What's an example of a lawsuit against an architect?
In situations where buildings end up containing defective works, it’s a very common phenomenon for all relevant parties to get sued together. Often, such lawsuits will involve the architect who designed the building, the construction company and main contractor who built it, and the engineers who oversaw the structural planning. Plaintiffs typically will sue all these parties in a big suit.
Real-life example: In 2016, residents of The Seaview Condominium (located in Amber Road) sued four parties for $32 million. This was a massive suit, and was due to defective works in their condominium. The four parties who got sued were the architects, the real estate developer, the engineers, and the main contractor.
As an architect, you could be innocent. However, mistakes made by other parties like the construction firm could have you dangerously exposed to legal liability. You could easily end up spending hundreds of thousands of legal fees alone. When a building is defective, it doesn’t matter to the client who’s actually at fault. All parties can get sued together, and you’ll have to pay for your defense to prove your innocence!
This is why it’s a legal requirement for architects to have professional indemnity coverage. Don’t just get hte minimum amount required – make sure you get sufficient coverage to protect yourself from the sheer cost of lawsuits.
How much coverage do I need for my architectural practice?
Consider at least $500,000 to $1 million in Professional Indemnity Insurance coverage, at the minimum. Lawsuits involving architects can be very costly, and you don’t want to be in a situation where you have to pay your legal expenses out of your own pocket. Trying to save money on premiums by lowering coverage tends to be a false saving, since when claims happen, the cost to the architect is extremely heavy.
Why use Provide for Architects Professional Indemnity Insurance?
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