Insurance for Professional Services in Vancouver
Errors are part of human nature and they can and do happen in business. Vancouver professionals need errors and omissions (E&O) insurance for protection against claims of professional negligence or claims of errors and mistakes.
With E&O insurance, you will have protection from financial loss and reputational damage that can result from allegations of professional negligence, errors, misconduct, or failure to deliver services. You may also hear it called professional liability insurance.
What professionals need errors and omissions insurance?
If you are providing professional services, consulting, or advice, you need to protect yourself with professional liability (E&O) insurance.
Some examples of Vancouver professionals who need this type of insurance:
- Architects
- Accountants
- Consultants
- Contractors
- Directors and officers on boards
- Engineers
- Event planners
- Financial services professionals
- Health professionals
- Interior designers
- Lawyers/Paralegals
- Marketing professionals
- Mediators
- Real estate agents
- Social services professionals
- Technology consultants
- Wedding planners
Do I need E&O insurance if I am not in a traditional field as a Vancouver professional?
Yes, you do in order to protect yourself from lawsuits and reputational damage. Any professional providing services can face claims of negligence including if you are self-employed.
What determines how much errors and omissions insurance will cost you as a Vancouver professional?
- Your field of professional services
- Years of experience
- Annual revenue
- Number of employees
- Location
- Past claims
What is E&O Insurance?
E&O insurance, also known as professional liability insurance, gives you financial protection from errors, omissions, and negligence when providing agreed-upon services.
It also covers failure to deliver a service as promised and media and advertising services that result in your client getting sued for defamation, libel, or slander.
Errors and omissions insurance builds on your credibility and trust with your clients and shows them that you are committed to professional standards.
3 examples of how errors and omissions insurance protects you
- You are an event planner and you mistakenly put the wrong time for an event both online and in print advertising. The host of the event sues you for the error. E&O insurance would help protect you in this case.
- You are in interior designer and have gone over budget and over the homeowner’s deadline to complete a redesign of a client’s house. E&O insurance would help cover the liabilities stemming from the budget overruns and delays in the completion of this project.
- Your financial projections were wrong for a company and you are being sued for negligence. E&O insurance will help cover your legal expenses, including defence costs, settlements, and awards up to your policy limit.
Professional Liability Insurance: It’s also called Errors and Omissions insurance.
This type of insurance helps protect your consulting business against claims involving charges of professional negligence or failure to perform your professional duties. Professional liability insurance helps covers lawsuits alleging neglect, misconduct, or failure to deliver advice or services as promised. Whether a claim is justified or not, defending a legal action can be expensive and have financial effects on your business.
Examples of professional liability insurance claims can include:
- Work mistakes
- Claims of negligence
- Overspending
- Undelivered service
- Missing a deadline
Note that professional liability insurance typically does not provide coverage for:
- Criminal, dishonest, or fraudulent acts
- Incorrect estimates of profits or economic returns
- Cost guarantees or price estimates
Need your Certificate of Insurance (COI) fast?
Some projects may require you to provide a certificate of insurance (COI). A certificate of insurance is issued by an insurance broker or company, and it shows that you have business
insurance. It is a summary or snapshot of your insurance policy, and it contains all the most important details, helping protect against third-party risk. Customers, businesses, or
independent contractors could ask to see proof of insurance before they agree to work with you. If the work you do has a high risk of loss or damage, you should have a certificate of
insurance.
When you get your insurance coverage through us, we will send you the certificate of insurance right away, so you can focus on what you do best.
Insurance for Architects
As an architect, you design and advise clients about building projects. You provide different services, from construction drawings to estimating costs and reviewing on-site construction work. You need architect insurance to protect your professional work from lawsuits, property damage, and other claims.
Mistakes can happen during any phase of a project. An architect insurance package can be customized to your specific needs to protect you from any risks you may face.
Insurance for Painters
No room, office, or building is finished without being painted. As the owner of a painting business or as a self-employed painting contractor, your job involves risks like using the wrong colour, working at heights, or spilling paint.
If you are a residential or commercial painter, you need painter’s insurance to protect your business.
Insurance for Lawyers
Legal disputes can be expensive to resolve. You may think your Vancouver small business doesn’t need legal expense insurance, but what if you needed to hire a lawyer due to a business dispute or lawsuit? Could you afford that on your own?
You could be facing contract disputes, employee disputes, tax disputes, trademark, or intellectual property (IP) disputes, or debt recovery. Small to medium-sized businesses, contractors, and self-employed professionals in Vancouver can benefit from the protection of legal expense insurance.