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Comprehensive Insurance Solutions for Architects and Engineers
Building Tailored Insurance Coverage for A&E Professionals
Architects and engineers (A&E) face a multitude of dynamic challenges — onerous contract clauses, constantly evolving technologies, morphing project delivery methods, and an increased emphasis on both sustainable and resilient design. We understand the complex risks that design professionals encounter daily and offer insurance products and services to address your diverse exposures and help manage your liabilities.
Our team members have robust industry backgrounds, many have been working with design firms for over 30 years and are the thought leaders in this space: several have defended A&E professional liability litigation, others have served as in-house counsel for ENR 100 firms, and others have served as professional liability underwriters or led claims teams at leading professional liability markets. Our customers lean on this specialty experience for far more than the insurance transaction itself, seeking our input on contract review and revision, loss prevention education, claims advocacy, and due diligence incidental to mergers and acquisitions.
Our geographic footprint spans the country. We combine an understanding of the regional issues that affect customer exposures with seasoned, local professionals who provide insurability reviews and assistance in negotiating revisions that help you avoid taking on uninsurable risk. We provide thousands of loss prevention education programs each year to customers and local and national chapters of professional associations.
We can help create a plan that protects you from the many exposures inherent to design professions. From professional liability, property & casualty, and executive risk, to cyber and benefits, we can help you protect what matters to your business. Unlike most brokers, we do it with unmatched depth of specialty industry knowledge, and experience.
Key Factors for Architects and Engineers When Comparing Professional Liability Insurers
With fast-evolving delivery methods enabled by ever-changing technology, design, and construction projects growing increasingly complex, it is essential that your firm’s professional liability coverage be as broad as possible. There are more than fifty insurers writing A&E professional liability coverage, and policy forms vary significantly – some do and some don’t expressly cover potentially costly pollution incidents, for example, and the best insurers go far beyond covering traditional architectural and engineering services to expressly include ancillary services such as technical and environmental consulting, LEED certification, and BIM modeling services. Some professional liability forms provide bolt-on coverage for cyber incidents and technology services but depending on the nature of the services provided by your firm, a stand-alone cyber policy may be far more appropriate.
In addition to coverage differences, it is important to consider an insurer’s approach to the dispute resolution process — some provide “pre-claims assistance” to prepare for and mitigate potential damages without application of a deductible until such time as a claim is actually made. Others provide access to robust loss prevention education materials that can positively impact firms’ QA/QC protocols and qualify firms for premium credits. Consideration should also be given to an insurer’s reputation for “insured-friendly” handling of claims and whether they offer deductible credits to incentivize resolution of disputes by way of mediation.
Design professional liability insurance is a crucial coverage for any firm, and there are myriad factors that go into making sure you select an insurer that will do the right thing when it comes time to settle a significant claim. The Brown & Brown team can help you select your insurer(s) on a fully informed basis.
Choosing the Right Insurance Broker for Your Architecture or Engineering Firm
Architects and engineers provide complex services within a very competitive environment. We believe that specialization is necessary to meet such firms’ risk management and insurance needs.
Consider the following when evaluating potential brokers:
- Does the broker “speak the language,” such that they recognize the implications of different project delivery methods on risk allocation?
- Can they demonstrate their commitment to advocate for customers intelligently and aggressively throughout the claim process, from attorney selection to resolution?
- Do they have protocols in place to ensure Certificates of Insurance are accurately and efficiently turned around?
- Do they provide contract review and revision services to help you avoid taking on uninsurable risk?
- Do they deliver loss prevention education programs to their A&E customers?
- Do they have direct access to, and strong relationships with, the senior decision-makers at all leading markets?
- Can the brokerage firm demonstrate its support of and collaboration with professional societies such as the ACEC and the AIA?
- Does the broker offer exclusive access to any insurers that may represent a viable choice for your firm’s professional liability or other coverage?
- In addition to professional liability coverage, do they have demonstrable specialty capabilities in other lines that may be directly relevant for your firm, including cyber, executive risk, property & casualty, aviation/drone coverage, and benefits?
- Should the need arise, is the broker capable of delivering project-specific solutions, whether it be a project policy covering the entire design team on a given project, Owners or Contractors Protective Professional Indemnity or simply providing customer-specific excess limits via endorsement to your practice policy?
A knowledgeable broker understands that design professionals face many factors when it comes to risk management — demanding clients, design-build contractors that often try to cover overly aggressive GMPs by claiming design inadequacies, a heightened standard of care influenced by climate change, and other unpredictable factors. Selecting the right broker and risk management solution can help give you the best opportunity to navigate that minefield successfully.
Additional Resources
'Arising Out Of': A Contract Danger Zone
Firms that take the time to review and attempt to negotiate their contracts know to strike the word “defense” if they want to avoid having to pay a client’s attorneys’ fees out of their own pocket. But if the words “arising out of” remain in an ...
Designing for Resilience: How Climate Change Is Shaping A&E Liability and Practice
Climate change is redefining expectations for design professionals. Courts now see resilience, the ability to withstand extreme weather, and anticipate future risks, as basic professional responsibility. As storms intensify and climate data becomes ...
How Contract Clauses Can Lead to Uninsurable Exposure for A&E Design Firms
Design firms are under constant pressure to move projects forward. Most customers demand speed. Contracts can arrive late. Terms are presented as standard or non-negotiable. In that environment, it can be tempting to accept unfavorable language just ...
Market Trends
Our 2026 report unites Brown & Brown and Risk Strategies resources, knowledge and proven experience to deliver stronger insurance solutions for commercial insurance, employee benefits and personal insurance.
Connect with Brown & Brown
Learn how Brown & Brown can help protect your architecture or engineering firm with tailored insurance solutions designed to meet your unique needs. Connect with a Brown & Brown specialist to discuss your coverage options and explore strategies to strengthen your risk management program.