Architects & engineers insurance checklist: what an architecture or engineering firm should carry

The architecture or engineering firm insurance checklist

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Architects & engineers usually carry professional liability (e&o), general liability and cyber liability. Design firms stamp drawings that buildings are built from, visit sites where their observations become liability, sign contracts with indemnity clauses wider than any policy, and carry claims-made coverage whose continuity is the whole game. The client's vendor desk and the general contractor ask for proof of each. The checklist below covers who asks and how to check what you have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks an architecture or engineering firm for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Enterprise clients & vendor onboarding	General liability, professional or cyber liability, workers' compensation and often an umbrella
General contractors	General liability and workers' compensation with a waiver of subrogation, often primary and non-contributory wording and commercial auto
Banks, lenders & SBA loans	Property or auto physical damage with the lender as loss payee, and liability proof at closing and every renewal

Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.

How to check what you already have

Professional liability declarations. Claims-made or occurrence, the retroactive date (it should not have moved), the limit per claim and aggregate, the deductible, and whether defence costs sit inside or outside the limit.
General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
Pollution liability. Site-based or contractors form, claims-made or occurrence, the materials named (mold, asbestos, lead, fuels), and transport and disposal coverage.
Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.

What usually goes wrong for architecture and engineering firms

Indemnity clauses in client contracts that the professional policy will not fund.
Site visits and construction observation under a policy that assumed office work.
A retroactive date that moved when you switched carriers, cutting off earlier work.
Contracts with indemnity clauses wider than the policy will support.
Social engineering (wire fraud) sublimited to a small amount on a cyber policy with a large headline limit.
Tenant improvements insured by nobody, because the lease says one thing and the policy another.

What underwriters will ask an architecture or engineering firm

Disciplines and project types, largest project size, contract review practice, retroactive dates, and site-visit share
Services, largest engagement size and the contracts you sign
Claims-made retroactive date and any prior claims or circumstances
Multi-factor authentication, backups and endpoint protection
Records held, payment card handling and any client network access
Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers

Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.

Renewal timing

Audits at year end compare payroll, receipts and subcontractor costs with the estimate, so keep the wallet's size figures and the subcontractor certificates current. Start comparing sixty days before expiration, and ask for the limits the next contract will need rather than the ones the last one did.

Questions people actually ask

Why do design firms worry about contract language so much?

Because professional liability covers negligence, not promises. A contract that indemnifies the owner for everything, or warrants a result, creates liability the policy excludes. Carriers review contracts; so should the firm, before signing.

What is the difference between occurrence and claims-made for a design firm?

Design claims arrive years after the work, so the policy is claims-made and continuity matters: keep the retroactive date, never lapse, and buy a tail if the firm closes. CoverMatch shows the retroactive date on every comparison.

What is a retroactive date on an E&O policy?

The date before which no work is covered. On a claims-made policy you want it to stay at the day you first bought coverage, not reset at each renewal or carrier change. CoverMatch checks it on every quote comparison because it is the difference between covering ten years of work and one.

Does cyber insurance cover a fraudulent wire transfer?

Only under a social-engineering or funds-transfer-fraud insuring agreement, and often at a sublimit well below the policy limit. Ask for the sublimit before you buy; it is the claim small businesses actually have.

Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my architecture or engineering firm?

It covers the building. The lease almost always makes you responsible for your own improvements, equipment and stock, for injuries inside your space, and for naming the landlord as additional insured on your liability policy. Read the insurance clause; the contract checker in the wallet will pull it out for you.