Professional Liability Insurance for Architects

Professional Liability Insurance for Architects can be somewhat overwhelming and confusing. There are so many business insurance options available. As an Insurance Agent, I've seen a lot of them. In fact, I sell a lot of them, but there's one I really like. Travelers 1st Choice for Design Professionals is the policy I would consider if I were an Architect. And, no, this is not a paid ad and Travelers is not paying me anything to write this article. In fact, they don't even know I'm writing this article. Anyway, this particular Professional Liability Insurance for Architects really delivers when it comes to protection and value added services. As far as comparing a policy, it's easy to get caught up with price, retention and policy limits to do an apples-to-apples quote, but consider the risk management resources below for your business. Travelers can not only be competitive on premium, but also hit a home run with the resources below. 

Training Webinars from an Experienced Industry Leader
Founded in 1853, Travelers has been around a long time and knows what it takes to be successful in this fast paced digital economy. They understand their success depends on your businesses success, that is why they created a program for Architects and other Design Professionals. The program consists of quarterly risk management webinars for businesses to help mitigate risk. Some insurance companies may have the same webinars, but I doubt they can bring the value that Travelers does. Travelers webinars typically will have someone with an architect or design professional background and a law background not an underwriter afraid to go off script. In addition to the education, you will also get credit when you participate in them. Again, other carriers will offer this, so I would ask to hear a sample webinar. If you are going to have to listen to a webinar, you want to make sure you are getting something out of it. 

Pre-Claims Phone Number
Having a resource available before you have to file a claim can be of huge value. Take for example a property owner and general contractor are in litigation due to a faulty structure and you are called on to make a statement. There's no claim, so the insurance company cannot respond. Pre-claim assistance can be very valuable in this situation. Without this, your only other options are consult with your attorney or blindly make your statement. Both of which could be very costly in the long run. Some carriers may also offer pre-claim assistance, but does the carrier have the experience and reputation that Travelers does? These are just a few questions I would ask. 

Contract Reviews
Another set of eyes to look at a contract never hurts. At the end of the day, the contract is going to be an extremely important, if not most important, document when it comes to doing business. Having an industry leader take a look at it never hurts. Not only will they review the contract, but they will do this at no cost to you. 

Again, I want to reiterate, I get nothing from Travelers for writing this post. Yes, I do represent other "A Rated" carriers and they offer some of these risk management value adds as well, but I feel Travelers has the complete package when it comes to Professional Liability Insurance for Architects and other Design Professionals. Design Professionals include:

• Architects
• Engineers
• Land Surveyors
• Landscape Architects
• Technical Consultants

If you have a business, and are in any of the above industries, I would love the opportunity to work with you. I can get you a Travelers proposal, but I can also get you a quote from many other insurance carriers. Sometimes Travelers is less and sometimes they are more. If you have any questions about Architect & Engineer Insurance, please feel free to contact me. You can also check out my post Insurance for Engineers. 

Jason Matison
​Commercial Insurance Agent
​Austin, Texas