Legal issue with architect contract

[drfuzzy]

Building two townhouses and have made some edits to the Architects agreement prior to engaging him.

His agreement states:
11. You must indemnify us and keep us indemnified against all costs, liability, losses, and claims incurred by you as a result of our breach under the agreement.

I have added:

We agree to indemnify you against all costs, liability, losses and claims incurred by you as a result of our breach under the agreement.

My architect is not happy with that but to me it just seems like balance. Can I just delete it? Is it not implied that he must indemify me as the client if he makes a mistake during the project that impacts on me?

Am I being unreasonable or is he?

 

[RPI]

His insurer will probably require such a condition in there.

Also they can't contract out of a lot of their legal obligations to you, regardless of what the contract says.

 

[Andrew K]

Indemnities allow a wronged party to claim more compensation for a breach of contract than they otherwise could. Indemnities work by removing a bunch of legal rules that limit the compensation that is recoverable under the general law of contract. But you are paying them for work they are doing for you so the only loss you can cause them is not paying them their fees. And I expect your contract requires you to pay them. So an indemnity from you to them is pointless. It is you who benefits from an indemnity because if they stuff up then you can claim more money in compensation from them than you could without the benefit of an indemnity.

Their clause also reads oddly in that you indemnify them for loss "incurred" (i.e. suffered) by you. But that would literally mean you pay them for your financial loss! May be a typo and should read "caused" by you.

Insurers don't require indemnities from you. The insurance issue is that the architect's PI insurance policy will not cover indemnities given by the architect to you. Most PI insurance policies do not cover professionals for the additional liability imposed by indemnities. But you wouldn't be asking for indemnities if they weren't.

So both out is the solution.