Being a contracting architect has its perks. You can step out of the office when you need to, don’t need to answer to a boss, and you can work from home or an office if you choose to. On the other hand, if you were to face a Public Liability or Professional Indemnity claim as an architect, the responsibility would be on your head alone to sort out. That’s why it is extremely important to have Public Liability Insurance or Professional Indemnity Insurance in place.
Many contactors believe that they should save money where they can, or that they don’t need Public Liability or Professional Indemnity Insurance, when in fact the two are the most important types of insurance you can employ to protect your business from third party claims. Even if you believe that you can’t do much wrong as an architect, or you don’t mistakes, it’s hard to deny that human error occurs, or that accidents happen.
Public Liability for architect’s – A case study
Both types of insurance will protect you in the case that a third party claims against you. Public Liability Insurance for architects covers injuries or illness occurring as a result of your business activities to third parties. Whilst Professional Indemnity Insurance protects you if you give negligent advice about architecture.
Here is an example about Public Liability. Let’s say you design a balcony for a restaurant. Upon arrival of guests and under the added weight strain, the balcony collapses during dinner service. The patrons on this balcony could be injured, disabled, or worse – deceased, as a result. Your design could be deemed negligent. In this case you would be liable to pay for settlement costs, legal fees, medical bills, loss of income, and other associated bills for those affected by the collapse.
Make sure that you don’t get caught out without Public Liability or Professional Indemnity Insurance for architects. It’ll be the difference between your business being out of pocket for the associated expenses of a claim, or you being covered by insurance and protecting your own funds.
Protect your business
Get online now to obtain a quote for insurance with Contractor Cover. Call us on 1300 GET COVER today, email at info@contractorcover.com.au or fill in our easy online quoter. All information provided above is of a general nature, if you need specific advice we recommend speaking to a broker.
