Question

Whilst we always will attempt to gain direct client orders we have had to accept the JCT Sub-contract route for a current London project.

I have scrutinised the Main Contractors special amendments, which can be a minefield, but have also been required to provide Professional Indemnity Insurance for the Sub-Contractor’s Designed Portion (£10,000,000 for 12 years).

Have any other members:

A. Found a good source of cover for this PI

B. Argued successfully against it (and on what specific grounds) NB: in this instance we have not been the sole designer, both our client and architects have modified our original design significantly. This argument however falls on deaf ears with the head client and their consultants.

C. Dealt with main contractor Jerram Falkus and have any pointers on sub-clauses created by them which have been found to be particularly onerous

Replies

  1. For professional indemnity we would suggest that you contact Jelf Clarke Roxborough. Contact Darren Cronin – Tel: 01527 405433, Mobile: 07971 065317
    1. A. Jelf Darren Cronin
    2. B. No – basically ensure they sign off current design and record any objections you have on design issues where they have changed it.
    3. C. No – Negotiate each point
  3. Chris wheatley@jelfgroup.com is the man. He is also ceda approved supplier.
  4. We hold £1m PI and have done for many years. We have always managed to persuade the client to accept it on the grounds that £1m should be sufficient for our portion of the works. There has only been one exception where the main contractor would not change their requirement even though we kept telling them it was a £50k care home. They insisted on £2m but we convinced them to pay for it and have it only for 1 year, which we all know completely defeats the purpose of PI. The QS just needed to tick a box. £10m for 12 years is extremely onerous and expensive especially where the design has been a joint effort. We buy our PI through Jelf who are known to CEDA.
  5. I managed to persuade them that it wasn’t suitable for the kitchen element of the project and finally it worked – so can only advise persistence. The reply we received was ‘We have had a break through and had confirmation from Lend Lease that £1m PI is acceptable!! Can you come back to me on the Terms and Conditions please ASAP and hopefully we can put this to bed.’
  6. I have argued successfully against P.I. We only do drawings for the convenience of our clients we have no qualification to allow us to take responsibility for these drawings, Nor do we make a charge for design. Quite simply we do not have PI insurance because we do not take any responsibility. We simply delete this paragraph from the contract when we send it back, there is usually a bit of argument but in the end, they have always excepted it. I remember one contract we crossed out about 2/3 of the contract clauses and it was accepted. If they want someone to take responsibility, they need to engage a consultant.
  7. There are lots of companies out there, but we use Jelf Clarke Roxburgh. We always argue against it on the basis that what we are doing is relatively small and low risk and have always got the to agree to £1mill to date
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