Liability or Errors & Omissions Insurance

What if any are the opinions and thoughts on yacht designers having this insurance or not, this would be for countries having the same law system as the UK.

[Timm]

Here in the states, this insurance is so expensive that almost no designers carry it. In fact, our contract states up front that we do not carry E&O insurance. I believe this is common practice with most reputable designers to put it in writing in the contract.

[DavidG]

I think a fair number of designers in the UK carry PI cover, but it is begining to get much more expensive. I question the morality of not having adequate PI cover given the designers duty of care to the client and I am not sure of the legality of stating your lack of it up front. Not having PI cover may be fine if you drive a wreck and live in a caravan!

The key maybe to ensure that designers charge a rate that reflects the PI overhead.

[Timm]

David,
I believe the legal problems are much different here than in the UK. Due to our penchant for suing over the smallest of errors, it has driven the cost of insurance for many things through the roof. Most designers are careful to stand behind their work and wouldn't stay in business long if they designed too many monuments to their incompetence. The contract we use was actually written by a lawyer who was paid by a group of designers who joined together to pay his fee. It is available on our website(currently under construction, but half of it works!) to download as a pdf file. My boss publishes it in all of his books and encourages anyone who would like to use it to do so. The website is www.benford.us. I believe it is buried in the articles section at the end of one of the articles, look through them and you'll find it.

[Timm]

Sorry about that, I just noticed our web designer forgot to include the link! Anyway, I have sent him an email and it will probably be fixed in a day or so (he's pretty good at that!). The link is at the bottom of an article titled "The Custom Design Process".