---
title: "Design Professional Liability"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/real-estate-law-en/design-professional-liability-en"
field: "Real Estate Law"
description: "Design professional liability: contract of work, mandate, fault and damage compensation. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Design Professional Liability

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/real-estate-law-en/design-professional-liability-en

## Design-Professional Liability: Two Frameworks

The service of an architect, designer or consulting engineer legally sits between two frameworks. On the one hand, it is a result of labor — in the form of a contract of work: under it the contractor undertakes to perform the work contemplated by the contract, and the customer must pay the agreed remuneration. On the other hand, it is a service — in the form of a contract of mandate: under it the mandatary must carry out one or several acts entrusted to it in the name and at the expense of the mandator.

In practice a design professional's contract often contains both elements: delivery of a result (drawings, a project, documentation) and conduct of a process (consultation, coordination, supervision). The correct model of liability is built precisely on this distinction — and defining it is the first step in drafting the contract.

## Personal Performance and Delegation

One of the significant rules of the contract of mandate is the requirement of personal performance: the mandatary must personally perform the mandate, except where it is permitted to transfer it to a third person, or is forced to do so by the circumstances that have arisen. The involvement of auxiliary persons is allowed. For a design professional this means that the client chooses a concrete professional — and it is impossible to hand the matter to another without permission.

Even where delegation is permitted, liability does not disappear entirely: where the transfer of the mandate to a third person is permitted, the mandatary answers only for such fault as attaches to it in the transfer and in the selection of that person. In other words, the choice of the performer remains the professional's responsibility to the extent corresponding to its qualification.

## Compensation of Damage Without Fault

A special rule applies in the liability of professional services: the mandator must compensate even damage arising without its fault that befell the mandatary in performing the entrusted act, where the damage occurred as a consequence of a significant danger connected with the performance of the entrusted act due to the mandator's instruction. This norm is connected with the dangerous nature of the work — and its essence is that an instruction creating the danger entails compensation even without fault.

Exceptions are defined as well: no such claim exists where the damage that occurred should be covered by the fee, or where the damage was caused by the conduct of the mandatary. Where the covering of the damage by the fee becomes disputed, the burden of proof lies on the mandatary. And where the mandatary performs the entrusted acts without reward, it answers only for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence — in a gratuitous relationship the threshold of liability is higher.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/real-estate-law-en/design-professional-liability-en

### Which framework fits a design professional's contract?

Both — elements of the contract of work (delivery of a result) and of the mandate (conduct of the service in the client's name and at its expense); the liability model depends on this distinction.

### Can the mandatary hand the matter to another?

It must perform personally unless permitted or forced by circumstances; even with permission it answers for fault in the transfer and the selection of the performer.

### When is damage compensated without fault?

Where it occurred as a consequence of a significant danger connected with the entrusted act due to the mandator's instruction; exceptions are damage coverable by the fee and damage caused by the mandatary itself.

### How is damage assessed in a gratuitous service?

In performance without reward the mandatary answers only for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence.

### Can a third person bring a claim?

Yes — under tort rules: a person causing damage by an unlawful intentional or negligent act answers for compensation beyond the contractual limitations of the parties.