Liability cover abundant for architects, engineers

There is no shortage of professional liability coverage for architects and engineers in the current competitive marketplace, observers say.

“It’s really a good time to be a good architectural or engineering firm from a professional liability insurance perspective because the rates are very competitive. A lot of people want their business,” with some 60 insurers in the sector, said Brett Fowler, Farmington, Connecticut-based vice president and program manager for AmWINS Group Inc.’s architects and engineers program.

Terms “are fairly broad, but ... I think the carriers are not looking to go beyond what they have in the policy forms, so there isn’t a lot of flexibility,” said Joe Schrancz, New York-based vice president of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co.’s specialty risks architects and engineers’ group.

Insurers are “not all that willing to use the capacity that they have,” although companies can build capacity by having multiple insurers on programs, Mr. Schrancz said.

Design professionals can either purchase blanket or project-specific policies.

The market is more constricted for more complex infrastructure projects, said Dan Buelow, Chicago-based managing director of Willis Towers Watson PLC’s architects and engineers division.