Taking the First Step: New Website Orients Small, Emerging Construction Businesses to the Steps for Surety Credit
I am proud to report that, over the last five years, NASBP bond producers and staff have dedicated countless hours to efforts and programs around the country to educate owners of small, emerging, and disadvantaged construction businesses about bonding awareness and readiness. In fact, past issues of Pipeline have profiled some of these efforts. The evident need for outreach continues, however, to be a daunting challenge, and a local awareness program given once or infrequently will reach only some of those desiring or needing information about bonding in a given location. NASBP bond producers also have reported a number of discussions at these local programs where small business owners told them that they had not pursued bonding in the past simply because they had had no idea where to start learning about bonding and were not aware of bond producers.
For many emerging businesses, it seems, understanding whom to speak with about earning surety credit is, at best, a hit-or-miss affair. Receiving such information and insights prompted NASBP to take action and to develop a website resource available 24/7 for small, emerging contractors called
SuretyLearn.org. I urge you to review the website and for you to make businesses, public officials, lenders, and others aware of this important resource.
SuretyLearn.org is intended as a vehicle to orient, inform, and shape the expectations of small businesses about surety bonding and as preparation for and a compliment to local in-person bonding readiness programs. To that end, the website includes
articles, forms, and a
basic orientation course ($25 fee) on surety bonding, at the end of which students receive a certificate of completion. The
articles include subjects such as a quick introduction to construction risks, selecting a bond producer, verifying your surety bond, and understanding general agreements of indemnity. NASBP also created a new contractor questionnaire form specific to small businesses and a building a professional service providers network worksheet. These forms are just the start of other resources to come. The orientation course, titled “Understanding Contract Surety Bonding: An Orientation Course for Small Contractors,” includes seven chapters with review questions for each chapter. The chapters are:
Chapter 1: What Is Contract Surety?
Chapter 2: What the Surety Looks for in a Contractor (or How Do I Become Bondable?)
Chapter 3: Role of the Professional Surety Bond Producer
Chapter 4: Establishing Relationships with Other Professional Service Providers—Bankers and Attorneys
Chapter 5: Construction Procurement and the Roles of Those Involved
Chapter 6: Governmental and Other Resources for Small Construction Companies
Chapter 7: Basics of Contract Bond Claims
Links to important industry and government websites and to the
directory of NASBP producers and associates also are located on
SuretyLearn.org.
NASBP already has received expressions of interest from members and affiliates on how
SuretyLearn.org can be employed as a tool to augment local bond readiness efforts. Not surprisingly,
SuretyLearn.org will not be a static resource; with the help and focus of the NASBP Small and Emerging Business Committee,
SuretyLearn.org will continue to take shape to ensure that it remains a relevant and important resource for small, emerging businesses contemplating taking the steps to position themselves for achieving surety credit. How as an industry can we afford to do anything less!