RESOURCES / CAPACITY AND GROWTH
Scaling a bond program, public work, prequalification, joint ventures, and succession.
10 ARTICLES IN THIS CATEGORY
The names and details in this story are changed, but the pattern is real. Our team at WIA sees it regularly with small specialty contractors who are ready to grow but do not know where to start.
3 min read · 667 words
A contractor I work with landed three new projects in a single quarter. Each one was bigger than anything he had done before. His crew was excited. His pipeline looked incredible. Six months later, he was scrambling to…
3 min read · 641 words
You had the lowest number. Your crew was available. You knew you could build it. And then the award went to somebody else.
4 min read · 856 words
Most contractors start in private work. A homeowner needs a renovation. A developer hires you for a strip mall. A property manager calls with a repair job. The work is steady enough, but the payments can be…
4 min read · 843 words
A contractor called our office last year. He was 62, ready to hand the business to his daughter, and wanted to know how to transfer his bonding program. The honest answer surprised him. You cannot just transfer it. The…
3 min read · 615 words
There is a moment in every growing contractor's life when they realize they are spending more time on paperwork than on the work itself. Invoices stack up. Insurance certificates expire. The CPA is waiting on documents…
3 min read · 626 words
A GC sends you a prequalification questionnaire. It is 12 pages long. It asks for your financial statements, your EMR, your bonding capacity, a list of completed projects, references, and your organizational chart. You…
5 min read · 921 words
A residential contractor called me last month. He had been doing custom homes and renovations for twelve years. Solid reputation, steady revenue, clean books. A commercial GC offered him a subcontract on a $4M school…
3 min read · 632 words
When I first started working with contractors at WIA, I assumed that growing a bond program was mostly about time. Do good work for a few years, and the limits go up. That is part of it, but the surety professionals I…
5 min read · 910 words
A project comes across your desk that is bigger than anything you have done solo. The scope is right. The location is right. But the bonding requirement exceeds your single project limit by a wide margin. You know…
5 min read · 1,054 words