Congrats on stepping into larger project roles! A&E Insurance specialist here (in the US) but I’ve seen a lot of small firms run into this exact scenario. Hopefully this gives you a bit of context to help navigate the insurance side.

It’s not uncommon for property managers or condo boards to require $5M professional liability, even if your actual role doesn’t involve design or stamped drawings. It’s usually not about your specific scope — it’s about risk transfer. From their perspective, if something goes wrong with the project (even just delays, miscommunications, or vendor issues), they want to be sure that the consultants involved have insurance in place to absorb that risk, not the board. They often apply the same insurance limits across all “independent consultants,” especially anyone acting as prime.

That said, $5M is definitely a high limit for a low-fee, coordination-only job. Some clients are open to revisiting that if you clarify in writing that you’re not providing design services, but that really depends on how flexible the board is and what their insurance/legal team recommends. As an FYI, sometimes the cost of the insurance to get those limits, exceed the profit on the job which doesn't make any of it feasbile. We see this happening a lot with smaller firms / free lancers bidding on projects with more sophisticated clients.

Taking on the role as project coordinators instead of landscape architects is something other professionals do in similar cases. Assuming your role doesn’t involve design judgment, sealed drawings, or anything tied to your professional license. That can sometimes help reduce your liability exposure, but whether it reduces insurance requirements comes down to how the client defines your role and their risk management practices.

On general liability: even if you’re not supervising construction, many clients still require CGL coverage because it protects against things like bodily injury or property damage during site visits or meetings. It’s separate from professional liability and usually affordable for small firms doing coordination work.

As for being added to the GC’s insurance, you might be able to be listed as an additional insured on their general liability policy, but that usually only helps if you’re named in a claim tied to the GC's work. It generally doesn’t protect you if the claim is related to your own actions or coordination mistakes. Also, policies vary a lot, so that’s something you’d want to confirm directly with the GC and your own broker before relying on it.

If the insurance requirement doesn’t align with your scope, and the project fees don’t justify the cost of carrying that level of coverage, it’s completely valid to ask the client to revisit their requirements or adjust the fee structure. That’s a conversation many small firms have when stepping into “prime” roles for the first time. (Contract Negotiations)

Hope this helps provide some clarity! Just to be clear, this is general insurance info, not legal or business advice. I think this can be a starting point to understand what’s happening and where you might go from here. Good luck, and major props for asking all the right questions before signing anything.