Risk Management Articles
Construction Administration Services as a Risk Management Strategy
By Mark Jackson, JCJ Insurance Construction Administration (CA) Services helps bridge the gap between design and construction. Being involved during the construction phase provides the best opportunity to notice when the project fails to conform to the design...
Check, Please…
By: James W. Walker, Esq. No design professional is perfect all the time and no set of construction documents is 100% “complete.” Often omitted items are caught and corrected before any harm occurs. Sometimes omissions from construction documents do cause the...
Navigating Next-Door Claims
A look at the new normal in construction disputes. By Kenneth Quigley, Stephanie Chesney, and Jessica Skarin Construction is booming in major urban centers and fast-growing suburban corridors nationwide—and with it, a once-rare category of claims is rapidly on...
Is Code Compliance Enough to Meet the Standard of Care?
By Erin Johnson, JCJ Insurance Agency Design professionals are expected to perform their services consistent with the standard of care for their profession. What is the standard of care? When a negligence claim is made against a design professional, this is a...
Managing Risk on Jobsite Visits: How Design Professionals Can Avoid Liability for Accidents and Injuries
By Mark Jackson, JCJ Insurance Design professionals are essential to a project even after the design is complete, permits are issued, and a General Contractor is selected. The construction phase is a critical time of a project and a design professional’s involvement...
Avoiding Scope Creep to Safeguard Your Firm’s Profitability
By Mark Jackson We typically see contract negotiations focus on legal protections such as indemnification, waivers and releases. While these are important aspects of a contract, they may actually be secondary to something that should come far more naturally to design...
The Value of a Constructability Review
By Travelers Insurance As a design professional, most projects you work on contain significant risks. One way to reduce these risks is to have a constructability review performed in order to increase the likelihood that your project is successful and minimize the...
The Prime/Sub Team: Strategies for a Healthy Relationship & Successful Project
By Erin Johnson, JCJ Insurance Successful construction projects consist of multiple design firms working towards a common goal. Some projects, your role may be the Prime Consultant, and on other projects you may be the Subconsultant. No matter your role, the success...
Documentation – Your Best Defense for Professional Liability Claims
By Mark Jackson, JCJ Insurance Communication is essential to every part of a project. Good communication can help ensure a project’s success, while poor communication can lead to disputes and claims. Documentation is the narrative of the project that forms the legal...
The Importance of Having a Signed Contract
by Mark Jackson Your firm has been selected for a new project. Congratulations! The Owner wants you to start as soon as possible. Your team is excited to start working on the design. But what about the contract? It is not uncommon for design firms to begin schematic...