Professional Liability

Contractors professional liability (errors & omissions) covers claims that an error or negligent act in your professional services — bore-path design, alignment and depth decisions, locate interpretation, or design-build engineering — caused a third-party financial loss. These are professional-judgment claims that general liability (which covers bodily injury and property damage from operations) specifically excludes. As bore contractors take on more design responsibility, it's an increasingly important coverage.

General liability covers physical harm from your operations — injury and property damage. Professional liability covers financial harm caused by your professional judgment — a design error, a misread locate, a depth decision alleged to have caused a loss. GL explicitly excludes professional services, so a bore contractor providing design-build or making engineering calls needs both. One protects against operational accidents; the other against allegations of professional error.

Your exposure is lower if you only execute an owner-provided design, but it's rarely zero — locate interpretation, field decisions on alignment and depth, and any professional advice you give still carry some professional exposure. Contractors who provide design-build, engineer the bore path, or make the professional calls have substantially more exposure. We'll assess your actual role and recommend coverage that matches it rather than over- or under-insuring.

It can, if the strike is alleged to have been caused by a professional error — a flawed design or a misinterpreted locate, for example. A utility strike often involves several coverages working together: general liability for resulting damage, underground-utility/CCC coverage for the struck line, and professional liability if a design or locate-interpretation error is blamed. We structure these to coordinate so the claim doesn't fall into a gap between policies.

Yes — and that's one of its most valuable features. Disputes over whether a bore-path design or locate interpretation was negligent are technical and expensive to defend even when meritless, involving engineering experts and testimony. A strong professional-liability policy pays your defense costs so you're not forced to choose between settling a baseless claim and draining your reserves to fight it. We pay attention to the defense terms when we place your coverage.

Yes — taking on design-build or engineered crossings meaningfully increases your professional exposure, because you're now responsible for the engineering decisions, not just the execution. That's exactly when professional liability becomes important. Tell us about the design and engineering services you're adding and we'll make sure your professional coverage matches the new responsibility, alongside the rest of your program.

They work together. A frac-out might involve pollution liability and, if a design decision is blamed, professional liability. A utility strike might involve general liability, underground-utility/CCC, and professional liability. The point of building these together is that a real claim often touches several coverages, and you don't want it falling into a gap. We structure your whole program so the coverages coordinate rather than leaving seams.

Call 844-967-5247 or request a free quote and tell us about your professional services — whether you provide design-build, engineer bore paths, or make the professional calls on alignment, depth, and locate interpretation. We'll place professional liability sized to your role, with attention to defense terms, coordinated with your general, pollution, and underground coverage. Quotes are free and carry no obligation.