Surety Blog

On January 1st, 13 states raised their minimum wage.  The Federal minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour.  Florida has raised its minimum wage to $7.93.  Florida is one of 21 states to have a higher state minimum wage than the federal requirement.  It is expected that as many as 14 more states will follow […]

According to a recent report in USA Today, most of the largest companies in the US are self-insured.  They cover their employee’s claims while insurance companies help administer the plans.  Starting in 2014, those businesses that are fully-insured, as opposed to self-insured, will have to pay a tax that is expected to add about 2%

It has been slow so long we didn’t think it would ever pick up.  Get ready for things to change.  McGraw Hill Construction is forecasting that contract activity in the Southeast region will achieve an across the board increase within each of its broad construction categories: Nonresidential, residential. and nonbuilding.  The acceleration is expected to

Since the late 1990’s the Veteran’s Administration has been using reverse auctions as a contracting process to promote competition by having the agency buyer solicit bids from multiple sellers.  This is different from a standard auction where a seller solicits bids from multiple buyers.  In a reverse auction, you keep lowering and lowering your price

Florida Surety Bonds feels it\’s important to give back to the community as much as possible, even more so around the holidays. This year, the FSB team donated box loads of non-perishable food items and delivered them to Spring Lake Elementary. There, up 60 backpacks will be packed of food for these 60 children who

Your experience, financial capabilities and quality of financial statements can dramatically impact your bonding for the next year!  Some people get confused about tax returns, CPA Compilations, CPA Reviews, and CPA Audits.  As you plan for your Financial Year-End statements, both the quality and format of CPA statements can impact your bonding rates and stretch

Bonding companies are requiring that year-end financial statements are properly prepared within three or four months of your fiscal year end.  Some are also requiring that you provide them with some kind of interim balance sheet and income statement on the percentage of completion basis.  Many, many good contractors cannot do that.  The hardening marketplace

Maximize your profit by regularly checking your ever-changing break-even point.  Indeed, as the construction market changes, you’ll want to manage your break-even point, or it could come back to haunt you – Big Time!  Your break- even point is figured by dividing your Total Fixed Expenses by your Gross Profit Percentage.  Thus, if your fixed

According to a recent report from the Fed, banks have been easing their lending standards and are experiencing stronger demand in most loan categories in the past three months.  About half the respondents reported stronger demand for commercial real estate lending.  This is good news in light of the spike in market interest rates after