You’ve gotta have heart! Your prospective bond agent can have experience, fancy cars, technical skills, equipment, pricing, computers, fancy software, and more. The bonding agency can represent over 30 surety companies, over 600 contractors, and have a couple of offices […]
There are several fine sureties that can provide a bond for you under $350,000 if you have clean personal credit. No need for expensive CPA statements or all the other paperwork sureties normally require. If you are looking for standard bonds under $750,000 and have good credit, there a […]
If it is the owner who is asking, that would be an emphatic yes. An owner has a very vested interest in who the subcontractors and suppliers are to the general contractor. Under the Florida Lien Law, if the general contractor fails to pay a supplier or subcontractor, then the owner […]
As a contractor, you know better than your surety what is happening in the construction marketplace. You see certain contractors who are so desperate for work that they are bidding work at unprofitable levels just to keep their crews busy. You know that a contractor cannot sustain their operations […]
We only gained 162,000 jobs in July. Unemployment dropped to 7.4% but that was largely from frustrated people giving up on even trying to find a job. According to the government, you aren’t unemployed unless you are actively seeking work. For some reason, the Fed is apparently more interested in this […]
People are not generally evil. They don’t create malicious bond forms because they want to hurt everyone they meet. Usually the toughest of language in a bond form can be traced back to a bad experience the owner or General Contractor is trying to avoid in the future. We […]
With the slowdown in construction, we are seeing a dramatic increase in subcontractor defaults. Even subcontractors who have been in business for many years are having some difficulty. Many General Contractors are bemoaning that last year would have been better if it weren’t for one subcontractor or another. This […]
Maintaining the surety relationship requires trust, mutual respect and accountability. These qualities are developed over a long period of time and require open and honest communication. You want to maintain and increase your surety credit. You accomplish this by providing the surety accurate, detailed, and consistent feedback on your […]
A real focus of a successful contractor is to reach substantial completion on time and within budget. Guess what? Not everyone agrees on what is substantial completion. Usually, you think that getting a certificate of occupancy should suffice. Not necessarily if you are dealing with residential or hotel construction. […]