This publish is a part of a collection sponsored by Previous Republic Surety.
“We’ve focused tight turnaround instances from submission to approval utilizing Previous Republic Surety’s (ORS) FastBond course of — the quicker, the higher,” says Todd Taylor, CPCU, AFSB.
As an ORS Bond Supervisor, Taylor has seen the favorable impression of FastBond, which has been obtainable for greater than 10 years. “We’ve managed to simplifythe bonding course of for brokers by providing limits as much as $1 million primarily based on credit score solely,” he says. “And since there’s no want for added monetary info and no CPA required, that saves large time and problem. Throughout the Quick Bond program, Previous Republic Surety will contemplate non-residential completion bonds as much as $250,000 in bond penalty on credit-based underwriting. Increased limits could be thought-about with further underwriting info.”
What if a consumer does require extra? Taylor explains that they’ll nonetheless use FastBond to safe as much as $2 million single or mixture by including present company and private monetary statements to their utility — nonetheless no CPA involvement needed.
Taylor notes a current uptick in FastBond exercise as effectively. “We have now a historical past of writing accounts utilizing widespread sense underwriting, and Previous Republic Surety is happy with our partnership with brokers who write accounts which may be smaller or just have few or very rare bond wants. These are the sorts of accounts which might be an actual plus for therefore many brokers. Though they might not qualify for our contract facet, they characterize an actual mainstay of the development business.”
Maintaining brokers aggressive
To remain forward of the curve and keep a management place in these smaller account markets, Previous Republic Surety requests agent suggestions and displays business situations. “As in different sectors, development prices have risen throughout the board, making the identical danger are available in at a a lot larger value than it did just some years in the past,” Taylor says. “We’ve continued to regulate our limits as wanted to maintain tempo with these adjustments, which is why we not too long ago elevated limits from $750,000 to $1 million primarily based on credit score. The FastBond utility is so simple as earlier than, however larger limits hold our brokers aggressive, they usually can qualify bigger accounts with much less want for underwriting. Better of all, even at these larger limits, the fast turnaround remains to be potential, which could be essential for profitable a bid.”
As Taylor notes, contractors usually postpone tackling bond points till the top of a bid course of, and it’s common for them to attend in an agent’s workplace for bond approvals. “Bid time stress could be intense,” he says. “Our fast turnaround alleviates a few of this stress.”
Whereas many brokers are already comfy with the FastBond utility course of, the ORS group is able to soar in and supply steerage for any brokers who’re simply getting began in bonds or who would possibly need assistance with the primary few purposes. “We are able to pace up the training curve and double-check their work till they’re comfy doing an utility on their very own,” Taylor says, “However as a result of the shape is so simple and the bond is primarily credit-based or solely requires present monetary statements for larger quantities, most brokers turn out to be adept fairly shortly.” He provides that Previous Republic Surety may present a bond-ability or pre-qualification letter if that’s a requirement earlier than any formal bonding. “We’re at all times completely happy to confirm {that a} subcontractor can qualify for a bond if that’s all they want in an effort to submit a bid,” he says.
FastBond can be a useful stepping-stone for brokers who wish to assist their purchasers transition into bigger initiatives. “Few purchasers are in a position to soar to a normal bond program in a single day, and a few simply don’t wish to make the extra required investments, like CPA involvement,” Taylor says. “With FastBond, the upper limits assist brokers hold extra of their rising accounts till they’re able to graduate to our contract facet.”
FastBond benefits
Whereas Taylor considers the upper limits, fast turnaround and straightforward utility course of amongst FastBond’s main advantages, he additionally highlights their bond availability in all 50 states and their consideration of all development trades. “This can be a answer that’s supreme for shorter length initiatives in that candy spot of $1 million to $2 million, however now we have loads of flexibility to debate variations,” he says. “Even when a job is projected to be barely larger, we wish brokers to name us; we’re at all times keen to debate the underwriting specifics and dig into the small print of a undertaking to succeed in an approval. Previous Republic Surety has at all times primarily based our bond approvals on extra than simply the spreadsheet numbers.”
Taylor provides that the corporate will proceed to guage and regulate FastBond as wanted. One current enchancment is the addition of safe DocuSign digital signatures for purposes. Different workflow options are in fixed evaluate.
“Providing a extra streamlined bonding course of for smaller exposures is among the greatest methods to develop alternatives for our brokers,” he says. “And Previous Republic has actually supported our efforts to enhance small account servicing. In spite of everything, extra bonds imply extra development, and simply because a bond could also be thought-about small by business requirements or a consumer has an rare want, they’re nonetheless a necessity. We’re right here to make getting them as straightforward as potential for our brokers.”
For extra information from Previous Republic Surety, please go to https://www.orsurety.com/weblog.
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