Insurance for Design QA/QC & Peer Review
Coverage for design QA/QC and peer review services: tech enabled firms and platforms that review drawings and models for constructability, coordination and quality before they go out, often for architects, engineers and owners.
Peer review is a professional service even when software does part of the work. Someone relies on your review to say the design is ready. When it was not, the claim may name both the designer and the reviewer.
Where QA/QC and Peer Review Firms Carry Risk
Shared responsibility
When a reviewed design fails, the designer of record and the reviewer can both be named. Your scope letter decides how much is yours.
Constructability comments
Comments about how something should be built can drift into means and methods or redesign.
Licensed reviewers
Reviews signed by licensed architects or engineers are professional services. Technology forms often exclude that capacity.
Owner reliance
Owners who hire you to check their design team rely on you directly, which is a different relationship than consulting to the designer.
The Stack Most Design QA/QC & Peer Review Carry.
Technology E&O and professional liability often need to work together, with cyber for client data.
Hover a layer to see what it covers. Every firm is different, so treat this as a starting point.
The Reviewed Retaining Wall.
An owner hires a peer review firm to check a civil package. The review comments focus on drainage and miss a surcharge condition on a retaining wall. The wall moves after construction and the owner names both the civil engineer and the reviewer.
The reviewer’s defense depends on its scope letter and on a professional liability policy that covers peer review as a professional service.
Hypothetical example for illustration. Coverage for any claim depends on the policy terms and the facts.
Clauses Design QA/QC & Peer Review See Most.
A peer review is a professional opinion on what was reviewed, not a certification of the whole design.
Taking on design responsibility makes you a designer of record in practice. Avoid it unless that is the job.
State which disciplines, sheets and issues the review covers, and what it does not.
Carriers Don’t Always Understand What You Do.
AEC technology companies sit between software and professional services. Underwriters who see only the software can miss the advice, reviews and reports your clients actually rely on.
When the work is misread
- Written on a technology form that excludes work done as an architect, engineer or surveyor
- Reviews, findings and recommendations described as software support
- Consulting and implementation revenue left off the application
- Client data and hosting exposure left without cyber coverage
How we submit your firm
- Your platform and your services described separately, with revenue for each
- Who relies on your output, and for what decisions, spelled out
- A combined form, or two policies that fit together without a gap
- Carrier confirmation in writing for the services that sit in between
Professional Liability, Not Just Software
Questions We Hear From Design QA/QC & Peer Review.
Answers are general. Your policy and your contract always control.
Ask yours on a 15-minute callIs peer review covered by a standard A&E professional liability policy?
Often, if the application describes it. Some carriers ask about peer review specifically because the reviewer shares exposure with the designer.
We built software to speed up reviews. Do we need technology E&O?
If others use the software directly, or you license it, technology E&O can fill the gap. If you only use it internally, professional liability usually carries the review.
Can the designer’s policy cover our review?
No. Their policy protects them. As the reviewer, you need your own coverage.
Straight Answers
Not sure how your firm was classified?
Send us your current policy or application. We’ll tell you how your work reads to an underwriter.
Review My CoverageTell Us About Your Firm. We’ll Tell You What We See.
Starting out or renewing, with a policy in hand or not. If something is worth discussing, we’ll call. If not, we’ll say so.