E&O insurance for design-build contractors that closes the professional negligence gap.

Yes — and urgently. When a single entity contracts for both design and construction, it assumes the professional liability of an architect or engineer in addition to the general contractor liability. A design defect claim, a specification error, or a coordination failure can all trigger the professional services exclusion in your CGL, leaving you exposed without E&O coverage.

CGL covers third-party bodily injury and property damage from your operations — a worker drops a tool, a scaffold collapses, a visitor trips. Professional liability (E&O) covers financial loss claims arising from your professional services — a design error, a specification mistake, a coordination failure that causes rework or delay. In design-build, you need both, coordinated.

A construction professional liability policy typically covers: design defect claims, specification errors, coordination failures between design and construction, inadequate site investigation, failure to meet professional standard of care, negligent preparation of drawings or specifications, and completed operations professional claims surfacing after project completion.

A design defect claim alleges that the design your firm produced was negligent — structurally inadequate, code non-compliant, functionally deficient, or otherwise below the professional standard of care. In design-build, where you hold both the design and construction contract, you cannot pass the design defect claim to a separate architect — your E&O policy must respond.

Specification errors are mistakes in the written instructions, product selections, material requirements, or performance criteria your firm produces. A specification error that causes a contractor to install the wrong product, a system to fail, or a building to be non-compliant with code can generate a significant professional liability claim against the design-build firm.

Coordination failures occur when the design and construction teams — even within a single firm — produce conflicting or incomplete information that leads to rework, delay, or defect. As the design-build contractor, your firm owns both the design and the construction, making coordination failures a direct E&O exposure rather than a passed-through subcontractor issue.

No. Standard commercial general liability policies contain a professional services exclusion that specifically removes coverage for claims arising from your professional services — design, specification, engineering, or other expert functions. Professional liability (E&O) is the separate policy that fills this gap. Without it, design-build contractors are uninsured for their most significant exposure.

Completed operations professional claims arise from professional negligence on a project after construction is finished — a design defect that causes a structural failure years later, a specification error that leads to premature system failure, or a coordination failure discovered during renovation. E&O policies need a discovery period or tail to cover these long-tail professional claims.

Cost depends on firm revenue, project types and sizes, contract structure (design-build vs. CM vs. GC+design sub), claims history, and limits required. Small design-build firms may pay a few thousand annually; large CM firms with multi-million-dollar projects run considerably more. We quote your actual operation in about 15 minutes — never a generic estimate.

Most design-build contracts require at least $1M per claim/$1M aggregate, but large commercial projects, public owners, and institutional clients routinely require $2M–$5M. Umbrella coverage that follows form over the E&O policy can extend your professional liability limits for catastrophic-loss protection.

Construction professional liability (E&O) is almost always written on a claims-made basis — meaning the policy must be in force both when the act or error occurred and when the claim is made. This is different from CGL's occurrence basis. It means maintaining continuous coverage and purchasing an extended reporting period (tail) when you cancel or switch carriers.

A tail endorsement extends the period during which claims can be reported to a claims-made E&O policy after it is cancelled or not renewed. Because professional negligence claims on construction projects can surface years after project completion, tails are critical for design-build contractors who change carriers, retire, or wind down operations.

Yes. Construction managers (CMs) who provide professional services — schedule management, cost management, design review, or any advisory role — carry professional liability exposure even if they do not sign the design documents. Owner's professional claims against a CM for failing to identify a design defect or manage the design process are excluded from CGL and require E&O coverage.

Typically no — your E&O policy covers your firm's professional services. If a design subcontractor (architect, engineer, MEP firm) makes an error, their own E&O policy responds first. As the design-build prime, your policy may respond if the sub's coverage is exhausted, if you failed to supervise adequately, or if the contract passes professional responsibility to your firm.

Contractor's pollution liability covers bodily injury, property damage, and cleanup costs from pollution conditions arising from construction operations — soil contamination, mold, lead, asbestos, fuel spills, and chemical releases on or from a jobsite. Standard CGL and E&O policies exclude pollution. Design-build contractors frequently encounter legacy contamination and need CPL to cover the jobsite environmental exposure.

Builders risk (installation floater) covers physical loss or damage to the project during construction — fire, wind, theft, vandalism, and collapse. In design-build, the contract may require the contractor or the owner to provide builders risk. We place builders risk policies that cover both the design-build contractor's exposure and satisfy the project's contractual requirements.

Yes. Contractors Choice Agency is licensed in all 50 states and has specialty E&O markets for design-build contractors, construction managers, and architect-contractors whether your firm operates in Texas, California, New York, Florida, or anywhere in between.

Typically 15 minutes on a call. For larger firms with significant revenue or complex project portfolios we may need a day or two to involve the right specialty E&O markets, but we move fast and tell you the timeline up front.

Often yes. We have admitted and excess-and-surplus (E&S) markets for design-build firms with prior professional liability claims, difficult project types, or hard-to-place risk profiles. Bring us what you have and we'll find a specialty market that can write you.