Surety bond insights for contractors
Performance and payment bonds, and bid bonds — what the statutes actually say, what the numbers are, and where they come from. Every dollar figure and percentage on these pages is quoted from a statute, a federal regulation, or a published program term, with the citation beside it. Where a competitor prints a rate table, we say why we do not.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Annual vs Job-Specific Bond Programs
The FAR defines annual bid and performance bonds — and both definitions exclude construction contracts in the text itself, twice.
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Bid Bonds
From Bid Bond to Performance Bond: What Converts
Nothing converts. FAR 28.001 defines the bid guarantee as a promise to execute the contract and furnish the required bonds — a different instrument.
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State Guides
Colorado Public Works Bonds: Half, and a Bond Sized to the Year
C.R.S. § 38-26-106 sets the penal sum at not less than one-half the total payable — and on contracts of $500 million or more, at half the annual amount.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
How a Payment Bond Claim Is Actually Made
The federal clock runs from your last day on the job. Nevada’s runs from your first, Colorado’s from a published settlement date.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Increasing a Bond Mid-Contract After a Change Order
FAR 28.102-2 measures the penal sum against the original contract price, then adds 100 percent of any increase — and the duty to secure it is federal.
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State Guides
Louisiana Public Works Bonds: Three Figures and a Ten-Day Clock
La. R.S. 38:2241 writes the contract at $5,000, bonds it at $25,000 and at half the price — and gives a surety ten days to pay a materialman.
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State Guides
New Hampshire Bonds: Where the Claim Gets Filed
RSA 447:16 bonds state work at $75,000 and town work at $125,000 — and a claimant files with a named public office, not with the contractor.
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State Guides
Oregon Public Improvement Bonds: Transportation Comes Sooner
ORS 279C.380 bonds public improvement contracts above $100,000 — and highways, bridges and transportation projects above $50,000, the opposite of Illinois.
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State Guides
Pennsylvania Public Works Bonds: Two Sections, Two Figures
8 P.S. § 193 carries two triggering provisions — $5,000 and $10,000 — and for the bodies the second covers, the security need not be a bond at all.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
The Miller Act in One Page: All Four Sections
Four sections, 40 U.S.C. §§ 3131–3134: which bonds are required, who may claim, what is exempt — and the withheld-tax duty most summaries omit.
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State Guides
Virginia Public Construction Bonds: The Highest Thresholds Read
Va. Code § 2.2-4337 bonds nontransportation work above $500,000 and transportation above $350,000 — and preserves a bond the prime may require of you.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Penal Sum Meaning: What It Is and Why You Do Not Pay It
The penal sum is the ceiling on the surety’s obligation, set by statute or contract. It is not a price, and it is never the amount you pay.
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Bid Bonds
Bid Bond Cost: Usually the Cheapest Bond You Buy
A bid guarantee is sized against a fraction of your bid, not the contract — and the fractions are small: 20 percent federally, 10 or 5 percent by state.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Cash, Certified Check, or Bond: When You Get to Choose
Some statutes accept a bond and nothing else. Others take an affidavit, a letter of credit or a certified check — or waive the requirement outright.
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State Guides
Connecticut Public Works Bonds: A Statute That Limits the Obligee
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-41 requires a bond in the amount of the contract above $100,000 — and tells contracting officers what they may not demand below it.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
What Happens Between $35,000 and $150,000 on a Federal Job
Below the federal bond threshold a payment bond is not simply dropped. FAR 28.102-1(b) puts the contracting officer to a choice among five protections.
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State Guides
Florida Public Works Bonds: When the Bond Is Less Than the Job
Fla. Stat. § 255.05 sets the bond at the contract price — except above $250 million, where the owner sets it at the largest amount reasonably available.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Federal Performance Bond Requirements: The Two Thresholds
Federal construction bonds are required above $100,000 by statute and above $150,000 by the FAR. Both are current law. Each figure, with its citation.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Getting a Copy of the Payment Bond You Are Claiming Against
40 U.S.C. § 3133(a) gives anyone who furnished labor or material a statutory right to a certified copy of the payment bond. Most claimants never use it.
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State Guides
Idaho Performance and Payment Bond Requirements for Public Work
Idaho Code § 54-1926 requires bonds at or above $50,000 and floors both penal sums at 85 percent of the contract amount — a figure no other state sets.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
How Much Does a Performance Bond Cost? What Sets the Price
A performance bond’s price is a charge set by the surety, not the penal sum. What the bond is measured against, what underwriting weighs, one public fee.
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State Guides
Illinois Public Works Bonds: The State at the Federal Number
30 ILCS 550/1 sets Illinois public-works bonds at over $150,000 — the figure the FAR states — and drops the threshold to $50,000 in 2029.
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State Guides
Indiana Public Works Bonds: A Bond Assembled in Pieces
Ind. Code § 5-16-5.5-2 sets the performance bond at the contractor’s total contract price — and allows it to be built from multiple or chronological bonds.
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State Guides
Maryland Construction Security: The Act That Never Says Bond
Md. State Fin. & Proc. § 17-103 requires payment and performance security above $100,000 — and between $50,000 and $100,000 a public body may require half.
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State Guides
Maine Public Works Bond Requirements: 14 M.R.S. § 871
Maine requires both bonds at the full contract amount above $125,000 — and is one of the few states that tells you how the claim notice must be mailed.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Miller Act vs. Little Miller Acts: What Actually Differs
Every state built its public-works bond statute on the Miller Act and changed the numbers. Illinois is the one whose threshold is the federal figure.
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State Guides
Nevada Public Works Bonds: The State That Bonds the Subs
NRS 339.025 floors both bonds at 50 percent above $100,000 — and on State Public Works jobs the subcontractors furnish bonds of their own.
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State Guides
Ohio Bid Guaranties: What Happens If You Walk Away
O.R.C. § 153.54 prices a withdrawn bid two different ways — and gives a bidder an escape hatch when the surety says the bonding capacity is gone.
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State Guides
Oklahoma Public Works Bonds: Three Ways to Satisfy 61 O.S. § 1
Oklahoma is the only state we have read where a bond, an irrevocable letter of credit and a sworn affidavit are all statutory ways to meet the requirement.
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State Guides
North Dakota Public Improvement Bonds: N.D.C.C. § 48-01.2-10
North Dakota sets the highest public-works bond threshold we have read — two hundred fifty thousand dollars — and takes the bond before any work.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Your Payment Bond Rights Cannot Be Waived Up Front
40 U.S.C. § 3133(c) makes a waiver void unless it is signed after the labor or material was furnished. The clause in your subcontract was signed before.
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Bid Bonds
Performance Bond vs. Payment Bond vs. Bid Bond
Three construction bonds, three beneficiaries, three moments. Who each one protects, when each attaches, and what actually converts when you win the bid.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Can You Get a Performance Bond With Bad Credit?
Credit is one input to a surety’s decision, not the decision. What the SBA guarantee changes, what it costs, and what it does not do for a weak file.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Retainage and Bonds Are Two Different Protections
A bond and withheld money guard the same risk from different directions. Two states we have read tie them together — one caps retainage, one swaps it in.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
The SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program, Explained
A federal guarantee behind a surety that would otherwise decline you. The published terms — the fee, the ceilings, the limits — with the source.
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State Guides
The States That Set Two Bond Thresholds, Not One
Texas, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia and Louisiana each carry two dollar figures in their public-works bond statutes, doing two different jobs.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Surety Bond vs. Letter of Credit
A letter of credit and a bond can satisfy the same requirement and cost you very different things. Federal and state statutes name both.
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State Guides
South Carolina Performance and Payment Bond Requirements
S.C. Code § 11-35-3030 requires bonds at one hundred percent — of a contract price with operation, maintenance and finance costs taken out first.
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State Guides
Texas Performance and Payment Bond Requirements for Public Work
Tex. Gov’t Code § 2253.021 sets a performance bond above $100,000 and a payment bond above $25,000 — two triggers in one sentence, quoted here in full.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
The One-Year Clock on a Payment Bond Claim
40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(4) gives a Miller Act claimant one year from last furnishing. Several states copy the structure and change the details that decide it.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
The States That Do Not Require 100 Percent
Most public-works bonds equal the contract price. A handful do not — 85 percent, 50 percent, a reduced base, and one that names no percentage at all.
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State Guides
West Virginia Public Work Bond Requirements: No Threshold
W.Va. Code § 38-2-39 names no dollar threshold and no percentage. The penal sum is measured by the reasonable cost of the materials, equipment and labor.
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Bid Bonds
What Is a Bid Bond? A Bid Guarantee, Explained
A bid guarantee assures you will not withdraw your bid and will sign and furnish the required bonds if you win. What FAR 28.001 and 28.101 actually say.
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Performance & Payment Bonds
Who Is Protected by a Payment Bond, and Who Is Not
40 U.S.C. § 3133 gives two tiers of claimant a right of action, on two different conditions — and the second tier is where most claims are lost.
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Bid Bonds
What Happens If You Win and Cannot Get the Performance Bond
The scenario the bid guarantee exists for: what you owe, how it is measured, and the one state that lets a bidder out when its capacity is gone.
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State Guides
Wisconsin Public Works Bonds: Two Thresholds, Neither Round
Wis. Stat. § 779.14 sets bond thresholds at $369,000 and $148,000 — and lets a prime swap the instrument, but only after the contract is awarded.
What this covers
- Performance & Payment Bonds
- Bid Bonds
- State Guides
The underwritten-bond hubs carry the essentials and the quote request: Performance & Payment Bonds for government and private construction contracts, and Bid Bonds for the guaranty you submit with a bid.
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