liability awareness

I think we are all aware of potential liability and do our best to limit it in our drawings and consultations. I'm in the Salt Lake City area and interested in retaining a knowledgeable consultant to help our office expose where we may have left any back doors open that could lead to possible liabilities. I like our contracts and agreements but want to have them reviewed as well. Your references would be appreciated.

Jeremy

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Permalink Reply by August Bateman on November 20, 2012 at 10:20am

Poke. Anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Whitted on November 20, 2012 at 5:17pm

I'm afraid professional liability seems to be one of those taboo subjects. Nobody ever wants to discuss it in specifics, unless related to a code or design potential and then only in vague terms.

From what little I've gathered over the years, you're looking for a lawyer. I've been given the impression that most liability insurance providers either want to review your contracts or have certain things they want to see in them. That may be a good place to start - asking your insurer for local references, or at least references familiar with local law if they won't do it themselves. Beyond that, a lawyer familiar with or specializing in design, construction, and contract law. Both firms I've worked for and been at least semi-familiar with the contract had them reviewed by lawyers though they took different approaches; one was a few standard phrases and that was it, the other was a Master-Spec like everything including the kitchen sink lettered section multi-page contract that could be edited down and tailored to a specific project.