A design-build contractor makes a professional design error that causes a client financial loss but no bodily injury or property damage. Which coverage is specifically intended for this kind of claim?

Explanation

Errors and omissions cover, sold also as professional liability, is written precisely for economic loss caused by negligent professional services — a defective design, a bad specification, a missed code requirement — where nobody is hurt and nothing is physically damaged. That gap is the reason it exists. A commercial general liability policy is triggered by bodily injury or property damage, and its standard form excludes liability arising out of the rendering of professional services, so a pure design error falls outside (a). (b) is the wrong risk altogether, covering injury to the contractor's own employees. (d) is not insurance at all: the §7071.6 licence bond is a surety bond answering to the beneficiaries §7071.5 lists, up to $25,000, and it does not stand behind design advice. Design-build is where this matters most, because one firm now carries both the construction and the design exposure.