Are you aware that you give your customers advice on a regular basis? Even a casual comment in passing can count as advice and it’s important to ensure you’re covered.
As Master Builders, you regularly offer advice to your customers on various aspects of their projects. Whilst you may have good intentions on giving sound advice based on your experience in construction, there are occasions when your client may disagree. If you’re deemed to have provided inadequate advice that causes injury, damage or financial loss, you could face legal proceedings.
Any sign of negligence (mistakes or errors made by you or your employees when giving advice or supplying services) or breach of duty (failure to complete the work or give advice that is of an appropriately high standard), puts you at risk. Increasingly, as society becomes more litigious, there is a rise of disputes being settled in court. The results of this can have a devastating impact on your firm's finances if you’re not covered.
We’ve been speaking to Peter Matson, Chairman of FMB Insurance, to provide some insight into why it’s so important for members to have cover.
“Any builder who is providing design work, even if they do not go on to carry out the construction work, should have some form of professional negligence insurance. Even when they do not provide any designs, all builders in the course of their work or even whilst in the process of quoting for work, give advice or information to their clients. If any of that advice or information or failure to provide the correct advice and information is wrong or incorrect, this may leave a builder open to a claim for negligence. Even if the claim has no merit they still need to be defended and even when the builder is successful in that defence, the unrecoverable costs can be substantial”.
The risk to companies of all sizes has grown immensely in recent years as the openness of legal firms pursuing action has increased. According to Professional Indemnity.co.uk, it is estimated that 1.5m British businesses collectively spend over £2billion per year on premiums. The Design and Construction industry features in the top 5 of those considered at higher risk of work causing professional indemnity insurance claims.
Click here to find out more about our Professional Indemnity Insurance. To find out how we can tailor a policy to meet your own requirements call our friendly team on 01353 652760.