Contractors and construction pros have unique insurance needs and concerns: inland marine policies to protect equipment, builders risk policies to protect a project in progress—and that’s on top of the standard business insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and other types of coverage that protect just about every type of business.

Then there are surety bonds, a type of insurance that ensures completion of a contract in the event that the contractor defaults. It’s a policy between the contractor, the client and the surety bond company—and although applying for and obtaining a surety bond is not necessarily a fun process, the bond itself can be a great help to the contractor. It allows you to proceed with the job without putting up cash as a deposit.

ContractorsHelpers.com strives to make the process of applying for and obtaining a bond as simple, quick, and hassle-free as possible, with outstanding service that will benefit you for the life of your bond.

But now there is a pilot underway that may help us to help you even more.

This pilot is investigating simplification of the way the surety industry reviews a contractor’s financial statements, including work in progress reports. The study focuses on the use of standards to reduce costs and streamline processing when contractors, bond agents, and surety companies are transferring financial data to identify risks and determine surety bond eligibility.

Specifically, a glossary of digital terms has been developed to represent the work in progress report, allowing sureties and other creditors to more quickly analyze a contractor’s complete financial report to shorten response time—allowing the surety to be more responsive to contractors that need surety credit. Contractors will create financial statements and work in progress reports using these digital terms on pre-formatted spreadsheets, allowing the surety to read and analyze the data more swiftly.

Interested in learning more about this pilot? Check out the webinar Improve Surety Underwriting Processing through Standards.

Questions about surety bonds for your business? Just contact us. We’re here to help!

ContractorHelpers.com is offered by Insurance Partners, Inc., which has specialized in contractors insurance for more than 35 years. If you have questions about your contractors insurance coverage, contact us.