Articles

How Sureties Determine Bonding Capacity
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

Performance Bonds vs. Payment Bonds: What’s the Difference?
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

4 Factors Your Surety Company Considers When Bonding Larger Projects
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

What California Construction Companies Need To Know About Bid Bonds
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

Subcontractor surety bonds can make a BIG difference on your next project
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

The Top 6 Questions You Need To Ask Your Surety Agency
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

How CSBA Helps Contractors Become Better, More Successful Businesses
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

Is Your Company Adaptable?
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

Preparing for the Recession
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

What Are You Best At?
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

Are We Near a Recession? Maybe Not.
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

Deadly Distractions
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

How the Mighty Fall
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

A Tale of Two Contractors
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,

Taking Your Company’s Inventory
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

Can a Single Project Take you Down?
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

The Culture of Continuity
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,

Why We Make Bad Decisions
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

Chief Executive Officer or Chief Risk Officer – Which are You?
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

Are you Ready for the Recession?
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.

Is Your Company the Next Kodak?
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

Steve Jobs – How Laser Focus Lead to His Success
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

Higher Gross Profit Margins – Are we there yet?
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

7 Tips to Increase Bonding Capacity
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

Ego is the Enemy
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