As contractors take on design-build, consulting, and specification work, the line between "we built it wrong" and "we designed it wrong" blurs — and a standard General Liability policy doesn't answer for the second one.
Professional Liability (also called Errors & Omissions) covers the professional-judgment side of your work that GL was never built to reach. If you provide design, engineering input, means-and-methods decisions, or consulting, we help you map where that exposure sits and put a program in place that actually responds to it.
Errors & omissions
Claims that a mistake in your professional services caused a client financial loss.
Negligent design or specification
Exposure from design-build and specification decisions GL typically excludes.
Defense costs
The cost of defending a professional-negligence claim, which can dwarf the claim itself.
Contingent / protective PL
Coverage for design delegated to or relied upon from others, where applicable.
What's actually covered is governed by your issued policy and its endorsements — this is a general description, not a coverage determination. That's exactly why the structure below matters.
GL stops where professional judgment starts.
General Liability responds to bodily injury and property damage — not to a claim that your design, specification, or professional advice was wrong. As soon as your contracts include design-build, engineering input, or consulting, you've taken on an exposure your GL specifically excludes. We identify where that gap opens in your work and structure Professional Liability to close it before a claim finds it first.
Go deeper on Professional Liability
Plain-English guidance on Professional Liability, written for contractors, not adjusters.
Professional Liability: The Coverage That Runs on a Clock
Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) is the coverage contractors most often assume they don't need, right up until a client claims a design decision or a missed spec cost them money — a claim…
Read the full article →More Professional Liability guidance is on the way.
More Professional Liability guidance is on the way.
Does your work include design or consulting your GL won't cover?
Get a free E&O gap check — we'll map where your professional exposure sits and whether your current program answers for it.
Unique Risk Management & Insurance Services — commercial insurance for contractors since 2007. Licensed in CA, FL, MN, UT & NJ. This page is general risk-management and business-structuring education. It is not a coverage determination, a guarantee of coverage, or legal advice; coverage is governed solely by the terms of your issued policy and its endorsements.