Articles

Hiring a subcontractor is a regular necessity in the construction industry, and it often raises the question of whether a prime or general contractor should

A performance bond can be a necessary surety bond to have whether the construction job is private or public, and a contractor has a few

Surety bonds are an essential part of doing business as a contractor, and there are several types you’ll run into while bidding on or engaged

Everyone makes mistakes in business, but mistakes made while growing your construction business can risk the long-term health of your company and harm its survival.

Surety bonds are an essential part of the construction industry, and while it’s mandatory for government projects, they’re popular among privately funded jobs as well.

As a contractor, when you want to bid on a tax-funded construction job, you’ll likely be required to apply for and obtain several kinds of

As a contractor, you know that bonding capacity and the ability to get surety bonds are essential to bidding on jobs. What isn’t always clear

Applying for a surety bond isn’t so routine that a contractor is immune to making mistakes. In fact, lots of contractors make mistakes on their

Contractors, like anyone with a business, would naturally want the best rate for anything necessary. With surety bonds, getting the best rate has less to

Surety bond rates are determined on a case by case basis, which makes it much more difficult to know if you’re paying too much for

Whether you’re looking into bonding for the first time or have reached a point where CPA statements are part of the bond requirements, you may

Increasing your bonding capacity provides you with the ability to bid on larger and larger jobs, increasing the growth of your company and furthering your

There are many terms in the construction industry that may seem alien or confusing to a contractor, especially if they’re similar. One good example of

The surety world can be confusing for contractors as there are many kinds of bonds you’ll be faced with in order to bid on public

There are several kinds of surety bonds contractors might be required to provide, especially if seeking federal construction projects. Some of these bonds are required

When a contractor is required to obtain a bid bond, perhaps for the first time, you’ll likely come across information speaking to bid guarantees and

There are several types of surety bonds that are important to the construction business, but just knowing what they are isn’t enough to take advantage

Whether you’re a seasoned contractor or newer to having your own business, you’ll likely soon be in a situation where a surety bond is required.

What a bid bond is, when it’s required, and what the requirements are to get one are all important things to understand as a contractor.

A surety bond term is important to know and to understand your options no matter the type of surety bonds you may need for a

To many contractors, accounting is a foreign language and a necessary evil that they would rather spend as little time as possible involved with. What

Considering that both bid bonds and performance bonds are essential to the construction industry, it’s important to understand the details of a bid bond vs.

One of our main objectives here at CSBA is to improve the surety literacy of contractors and help them to operate better. As part of

When discussing surety bonds vs. insurance policies, it’s important to understand the key differences, because they have very different purposes and ways of obtaining them.

Contractors sometimes stick with those they’ve worked with in the past, including remaining with their insurance agent to get bonded, without considering whether it is

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently passed by Congress and signed by President Biden allocates a total of $1.2 trillion over the next 10

In the surety world, the term “aggregate bonding capacity” is used to refer to the total amount of credit extended by a surety company to a particular contractor at any one time, and it is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of surety programs for contractors.

Navigating the process to obtain a payment bond for a construction project can be overwhelming without the proper support. Part of our mission at CSBA

New construction companies face a special set of hurdles when beginning, as any business does. It’s not just getting set up that causes barriers, but

In the surety world, the term “aggregate bonding capacity” is used to refer to the total amount of credit extended by a surety company to a particular contractor at any one time, and it is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of surety programs for contractors.

Whether you’re new to the bonding process or have been working with a surety agency for a significant amount of time, it can be difficult

The Small Business Administration (SBA) formed the Surety Bond Guarantee Program in 1971 in an effort to increase the small business participation in federal, state, and local

If you’ve ever worked on a public works project, you’ve no doubt been required to get a performance construction bond prior to starting the job.

By Dan Huckabay, PresidentCommercial Surety Bond Agency For many contractors, even those who rely heavily on surety bonds, the general rules that surety companies use to

Our mission at CSBA is to help contractors navigate the complex world of surety bonds so that they can win the jobs that will take

For contractors, taking on larger projects is a natural part of growth in business. The challenge is that no two projects are exactly alike, and

COVID-19 presented new challenges for the construction industry in 2020, and 2021 is poised to offer similar hurdles for new business. State and local municipality

If “pursue bigger and better projects” is on your to-do list this coming year, there are some important steps you need to consider taking to

Over the last several years, innovations in the surety industry have made it convenient and fast for contractors to obtain a construction bond. There are

Over the many decades that we’ve worked in the construction surety bond business, we’ve noticed time and time again that contractors often overlook business opportunities in favor

Covid-19 has challenged all of us to adapt to an environment that we probably never thought was possible. But what is true adaptability? General Stanley

On March 16th, UCLA Anderson forecast officially declared that the “U.S. economy has entered a recession, ending the expansion that began in July 2009.” Because

I received a year-end financial statement for one of our contractor clients, and the results were truly extraordinary! Not only did they manage to have

Chris Thornburg of Beacon Economics spoke to the Southern California Contractors Association in January and had a different view than most economists in media. According

I was cleaning out some old files the other weekend, and I came across an article published in ENR in January 2008 by construction management

Some might recognize the title of this article, as it was borrowed from a book written by Jim Collins. In his book, Collins explores why

One of the really interesting things about the surety business is you get to look behind the curtain of a ton of contractors’ operations. Daily,

When most of us hear the words “taking inventory”, we typically think of reviewing physical assets that a business has for sale to determine their

There was an eye-opening article in ENR on March 14, 2019 about Munilla Construction Management (MCM), the prime contractor involved in the bridge collapse at

When most people talk about the continuity of construction businesses, the focus is typically on the technical elements such as who the buyer will be,

In Jim Collins’ famous book Good to Great (Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t), he says that, “One of the dominant themes

Warren Buffet has said that the true role of any Chief Executive Officer is to be the Chief Risk Officer. In no business could this

Have you heard there’s a recession coming? Don’t panic, it won’t be tomorrow or next month, but according to many economists, it is getting closer.

I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled, Kodak’s Downfall Wasn’t About Technology, and the author did a great job of getting

Most people attribute Steve Job’s success to his incredible creative genius, which was certainly a huge factor, but what many don’t realize is how his

Much like kids on a road trip with their parents, we have all been asking, “When are we going to get there?”. Well kids, we

As the construction market continues to improve, we are seeing more contractors needing increased bonding capacity. For some contractors this means wanting the ability to

I just finished reading a fantastic book by Ryan Holiday titled, Ego is the Enemy. Ryan goes into detail about the various ways ego sabotages