My business (based in Washington State) is being requested, by a local City Agency, to provide a Payment Bond and a Performance Bond for window cleaning services. I do not know what these Bonds are, what function they perform, how to get them, or the cost associated with them. Help is appreciated....Read More
We are a school district in Colorado and we had hired a local contractor to install HVAC upgrades to three of our schools. Are we required to have a performance bond from him? The total am ount of the job bid is $993,000. Would a retainage fee of 5% be a better option?...Read More
I am a Sr. Project Manager for a large Florida based construction firm. In the past (with a previous company) we had never received Notice of Commencements from our Public Owners. We have just always recorded P&P Bonds for the project. The P&P Bonds cover letter for an upcoming School Project directs us to include the NOC with the Bonds when recording, and all references that I could quickly google indicated not exception for public projects. Do I need to start making my Public Owners execute an NOC to record with our P&P Bonds?...Read More
Bay Area GC kicked off public works job and needs to get paid (retention, unpaid scope work completed, and change orders). Is there an alternative to hiring an attorney to guide/submit claim? Or do we need an attorney for this process? Public works agency keeps telling us to 'file a govt claim'. What are our recovery options short of litigation? Money is tight. No sub bond claims made yet. No claims to surety made yet. Any guidance appreciated....Read More
I am forming a roofing company and was planning to subcontract some work. I was looking into the bonding process and was told with the surety bond I was looking at I would not be able to subcontract anything out. I am curious to see what kind of bond or different licensing I would need to be able to subcontract work out and still be legal....Read More
We have a 5 year lease with customer. Contract is for over $5M. $1.4M is due upon completion of delivery and installation with the remaining due monthly for the remaining time frame. Would I issue bond for the full contract amount or for the portion associated to installation and delivery only?...Read More
What happens when the company pulls the permit and doesn’t inform the homeowner about the Notice of Commencement? Are homeowners just expected to know about it? The company I hired intentionally never told me about it or asked me to sign. Why wouldn’t the homeowners signature also be required for the permit? I believe much of what happened probably wouldn’t have if it was. Not only does this leave homeowners liable for paying twice, it can lead to a number of serious adverse effects. My family’s safety and well-being were completely compromised because of the health hazards from the property damage this company left behind. Without the NOC, my roof went on without a midway or final inspection. They left the permit open and refused to take responsibility for any of the damage they created when they caused my pan roof to collapse. This included a 40 foot stretch of fascia torn off my roof that exposed my home’s structure and allowed rainwater in. No one ever said anything to me about it; not their insurer nor the adjuster and I know that they knew. I started battling allergies and chronic migraines I’d never had before. Two years later, my previously healthy 6 year old dog was dead. Another year later is when I discovered the mold and I had no choice but to abandon my home of 22 years. This devastated me. I’m broke and homeless because of the entire ordeal and I’m probably going to lose my home. I’ve been trying for the past 3+ years since the day that this happened to get somebody to help me. I’m at a loss how the hell this could happen to begin with. I do have one last question though…I’d just like to know why this was allowed to happen. Why did having recourse depend on the amount of money I had when this business was licensed, bonded and insured? Suing them civilly shouldn’t be my only option when there were criminal violations as well. I later found out the people who I contacted with weren’t licensed owners as they made themselves out to be. They weren’t company employees. They were unlicensed contractors renting the owners license. There was no oversight whatsoever when their workers were busy destroying my home, not even a foreman was present. Can someone please explain how this is OK? I can’t for the life of me understand…...Read More
Client is unhappy with their GC’s pace of work, the GC is still performing, but behind schedule . They want me to take over the job, but the GC has yet to be terminated. What kind of legal risks am I facing from the client AND the GC in this situation?...Read More
I am being retaliated against by a group of nefarious individuals who place 'unwitting small business owners in a spider's web of unfairly weighted contracts with language intended to tie the hands and feet of unsuspecting businesses if they speak up and speak out when they realize these people are shady, greedy and working a criminal enterprise. Their sole purpose is to fraud the government and they even take the small businesses revenue which is outside of the rules for work percentages between them. I believe that they have done this before, and perhaps the others went along because they don't say much about what they are doing however, if someone like myself speaks up and questions them, they tighten the noose and become vicious in the manner in which they work to retaliate and destroy your small business. At the very least, would you please take a conference call with me and hear my story? I have plenty of emails that will prove my claims because they were written at the time these issues were being raised and argued between myself and the parties in question. I did not agree to fraud the government. Nor did I agree to allow these peoples to enrich themselves using my company. This group consists of a Contracting Officer, a SDVOSB, a Construction Manager, A Bonding Agent, A 3rd Party Escrow Agent (who recently packed up and moved to Florida October 2021), supposedly US Fire & Casualty and Crum & Forster (one of its reps asked me to provide my User ID and Password to a Subcontractor to have access to my WAWF account, which I found disturbing) since I learned we're not supposed to share this information. I just want to understand and receive guidance on what my next steps should be. Thank you....Read More
A lender is requiring a payment & performance bond on a commercial construction project. My question is, who gets the bond and who is it written to? I am thinking the GC for both?...Read More
I'm a subcontractor working on large park project. I finished my work a few months ago and our customer still has a balance on their account and pushing back to pay for the change order. I cannot find any bonds on this job, so I'm reaching out to see what my options are. ...Read More
I'm a prime contractor who has finished home repairs through a city subsidized program. For this program, we provide the estimates and the homeowner signs everything contractually with a contract with the City. We then sign the same contract. The homeowner paid their share but the City will not pay their share until the Homeowner signs off that all work has been completed. The Homeowner is not satisfied due to a desired feature of the work that was not featured in the contract signed with the City, but had verbally been indicated. We have attempted to rectify the problem but their demands are unreasonable. The City says they do not get involved in disputes and will not pay out any money until the Homeowner signs. Given that we've completed the work in the contract with the City do we have any claim to make against either the Homeowner or City?...Read More
If a main contractor asks a supplier for a 10% performance bond on total contract value say 8million pounds contract value.
What in return should the supplier request of the contractor “ a payment bond” or other ?...Read More
I am the owner of a project, and my GC wants to get a bond on one of their subs that is asking for a large materials payment upfront. Who would be responsible for paying for that bond? Me, the GC, or do we split the cost?...Read More
I have applied for an owner-builder permit in Lee County, Florida. Do I need a payment bond for as an owner-builder remodel to record a Notice of Commencement....Read More