Here at Butler Evans we have over 25 years experience providing Architects Professional Indemnity Insurance services for Architectural Practices and Engineering Consultants.

The expertise we have developed lets us think laterally about our clients Insurance Protection, solving problems they have obtaining coverage at reasonable premium costs.

The following case study is an example of how Butler Evans look at our client’s business differently to most other Insurance Brokers and can achieve beneficial solutions without compromising on cover or service:

Case Study – Large Project Architectural Practice based in London

The Problem:

Our client came to us for advice because despite their Architects Professional Indemnity being provided  by a National Broker with an established reputation, they were getting no help with their issue. The problem they were having was a high premium cost which kept increasing significantly every couple of years, then dropping a little before increasing again for unexplained reasons. This was affecting the Practice’s ability to plan and budget for overheads, plus was a little irritating as the Practice had not made any claims or changes to work.

When Butler Evans looked at the issue, we could see it was twofold in nature. Firstly the Practice required £ 10,000,000 in cover but instead of seeking out insurers who understood large project risks, the existing brokers had used their internal Architects Professional Indemnity scheme which gave maximum commissions. This meant that the minimum premium costs each year were £ 10,000.

The second issue was down to the nature of the work. The client tended to undertake large amounts of staged work within each project, but only charged fees for this in bulk at 6 monthly intervals. So although the work being done and released to the Projects was constant, income was being received some time after the work was completed. Due to the annual period of insurance, the ‘earned fee income’ on which Architects Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums are based seemed to go up and down from year to year as disclosed on proposal forms being returned by the Practice.

The Solution:

Butler Evans asked the client to provide a full breakdown of work, when completed and the fee income chargeable over as three year period. This showed a much smoother relationship between work undertaken and income over time, irrespective of when the fees were actually received into the practice accounts.

We then approach a number of insurers who we knew to have the right appetite for this type of project work and made proposals for Insurers to consider the risk on a smoothed basis.

The Results:

We are pleased to confirm that we obtained a quotation from a recognised RIBA approved UK Insurer for £ 10,000,000 AOC cover at a cost of £ 4,950 plus IPT. This quotation allowed Butler Evans a fair level of commission at 20% of the premium, which is normal for the sector, allowing us to provide a good level of service for our customer. Additionally the Insurer agreed to offer an 18 month policy to fix this level of premium costs for the customer and allow them the confidence to budget for their Architects Professional Indemnity over the long term.