General Contractors
Evergreen Surety is an independent agency placing surety bonds for general contractors and prime contractors across commercial, vertical, heavy highway, civil infrastructure, and tenant improvement work throughout the United States and Canada. Surety is all we do. No insurance, no financial products. That focus is backed by appointments with 15 surety carriers, which means more options for your bond program and better outcomes when the first answer isn’t yes.
Whether you need your first bond or a better program, talk to us.
Most general contractors come to us for one of three reasons. They need a bond for a specific project and want it placed correctly. Their existing construction bond program has a problem – the rate is too high, the capacity hasn’t kept pace with the work they’re chasing, or the indemnity terms are more restrictive than they need to be. Or they’ve been told by another agent that a bond can’t be obtained and they want a second opinion.
We can help with all three scenarios. Surety is all we do, and we’ve spent our careers understanding what underwriters actually look for and how to present a contractor’s story in a way that gets the right result.
We work with general contractors across every scope of work
We place bonds for GCs in commercial and vertical construction, heavy highway and civil infrastructure, tenant improvements, and mixed-scope programs that cross multiple project types. Whether you’re bonding a single public project or managing a full program across a backlog of contracts, we understand the underwriting considerations specific to your scope.
A heavy highway contractor working in the public sector has a different risk profile than a commercial GC doing tenant improvements. The financial metrics underwriters look at differ. The carriers with appetite for each scope differ. We know the distinction and present each program to the right market.
Get the bonds your projects require
We place the full range of construction bonds that general contractors need. Here’s what each one does and when it comes into play.
Bid Bonds
A bid bond backs your bid. It guarantees to the project owner that you’ll sign the contract and provide the required performance and payment bonds if you’re awarded the work. Most public projects require one, and the limit is typically 5% or 10% of the bid amount. For most DOT projects, bid bonds are submitted electronically through Bid Express or Surety2000. In these cases, you can request the bid bond through us and we submit it on your behalf.
Performance and Payment Bonds
Performance and payment bonds are required on most public construction bond programs. They’re issued together, each equal to the contract value. The performance bond guarantees you’ll complete the project per the contract terms. The payment bond guarantees your subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers get paid.
The Miller Act requires P&P bonds on federal contracts over $150,000. In Colorado, the state threshold is also $150,000 and the local threshold is $50,000. These amounts can be different depending on where the project is located. On private work, owners and GCs also occasionally request bonds even when they’re not legally required. Being bondable is a competitive advantage, and we help contractors develop robust programs that help them grow.
Maintenance Bonds
Maintenance bonds cover defective workmanship or materials for a defined period after project completion. They are often included as part of a performance bond, but they can also be issued separately when the contract specifically calls for it. If a contract you’re reviewing has maintenance bond language, we review it and make sure the terms are structured correctly before you sign.
Supply Bonds
Supply bonds guarantee that a material supplier will deliver goods on time and at the agreed price. They come into play when the project owner or general contractor wants assurance that the supply side won’t hold up the job. If your contracts regularly involve supply guarantees or if an owner is asking for one, please let us know.
Bonding subcontractors - and here's why it protects you
As a GC, one of the most effective risk management tools available to you is working only with bonded subcontractors. When a surety has vetted a sub, it means their financial records have been reviewed, their payment history with suppliers has been checked, their credit has been verified, and the carrier has confirmed they have adequate cash and credit lines to handle the project without surprises.
If a bonded sub fails, the risk transfers to the surety carrier. You know the replacement cost won’t exceed the bond amount. Compare that to a situation where an unbonded sub fails and you’re absorbing the cost of finding, onboarding, and paying a replacement at market rate. In a tight labor market where you’re sometimes working with subs you don’t know well, that protection matters more than ever.
At a minimum, you should request bondability letters from subs. If the sub does not have an established program, we can help. Either way, this confirmation from the sub’s surety carrier provides guidance on their future performance.It’s a straightforward way to separate bondable subs from those who can’t qualify.
Your construction bond program is a three-legged stool - is yours in balance?
Think about a surety program as three legs: rate, capacity, and indemnity. The goal over time is to improve all three – better rates, higher capacity, and less personal indemnity. Most contractors are accepting terms that can be improved by a proactive agency. We dig into the program, find what’s holding it back, and fix it.
Rate
Performance and payment bond rates typically range from 0.5% to 3% of the bond limit. A $1 million P&P bond package costs between $5,000 and $30,000 depending on the program. That cost is typically built into the contract, so the contractor doesn’t directly incur it as an out-of-pocket expense. But rate matters – like any raw material, differences in cost affect how competitive you are. A contractor paying 2% when their financial profile warrants 0.8% is leaving margin on every project they bid.
If your rate hasn’t moved in several years and your financials have improved, that’s worth a conversation. We create competition between carriers to get the right rate for where your company actually stands.
Capacity
Capacity is measured in single and aggregate limits. A program of $1M/$3M allows single bonds up to $1 million and a total outstanding bonded liability of up to $3 million. Liability is measured on a cost-to-complete basis. This means that as you run off projects, your outstanding liability decreases and your available capacity opens back up.
The rule of thumb for building capacity is to stairstep. Sureties are hesitant to support projects that are more than twice the size of your largest completed project. Jumping too far creates the perception of overextension. We help contractors build a track record that supports the capacity their pipeline actually requires.
Indemnity
When contractors obtain bonds, they sign a General Indemnity Agreement that puts their personal assets on the line if a carrier pays a claim. That means the owner’s personal savings, their spouse’s assets, and their primary residence are all potentially exposed. It’s the part of bonding that tends to make people the most uncomfortable.
Larger companies with strong corporate balance sheets can negotiate to remove personal indemnity requirements. As your company matures and your financial position strengthens, reducing personal indemnity becomes a realistic goal. Some contractors are willing to pay a higher rate in exchange for reduced indemnity, or add indemnitors to access greater capacity. We work with contractors to find the right balance for where they are now and where they’re going.
Your financial reporting is either opening doors or closing them
Where a contractor sits on the financial reporting ladder directly determines their rate, their capacity, and which carriers will look at their account. Most surety carriers require CPA-prepared statements for any bonds over $3 million.
What underwriters actually look for
The surety industry evaluates every account through three lenses: character, capacity, and capital. Character is the most important. If a contractor won’t do whatever it takes to complete a project, they won’t be bondable. Character is measured initially by personal and corporate credit scores. A FICO score above 675 provides access to bonds up to $400,000. Excellent credit combined with strong references can unlock up to $3,000,000 without financial statements.
Capital is about cash. All underwriters want to see large cash balances and an untapped bank line of credit. We use a 50-point checklist as a report card to help contractors identify exactly which metrics are holding their program back, and then we lay out a specific path to improving these metrics. One often-overlooked area is corporate credit scores. Carriers review Dun and Bradstreet, Experian, and TransUnion to see how promptly you pay suppliers. Signing up for Experian business credit monitoring costs about $189 per year and lets you see which suppliers are reporting your payments.
The financial reporting ladder
There are four levels of financial reporting that matter to surety underwriters: internal accrual statements, CPA compilations, CPA-reviewed statements, and CPA-audited statements. Internal cash-basis statements, which is what most contractors produce for taxes through QuickBooks, are not sufficient for surety underwriting. The first step is switching to accrual-basis statements. That’s a simple toggle in QuickBooks but it’s a common point of confusion.
The best addition to any financial package is a Work in Progress (WIP) schedule. WIP’s are typically built in Excel using percentage-of-completion accounting, but more sophisticated accounting software can produce this schedule through job cost reports.. The WIP identifies overbillings and underbillings and forecasts future cash flows. For contractors pursuing larger programs, a clean WIP schedule is one of the most powerful tools you can show an underwriter.
CPA-reviewed statements are the standard for contractors in the $3 million to $50 million revenue range. They typically cost $10,000 to $20,000 per year. In exchange for that investment, bond rates go down and capacity goes up. Our take: before spending money on reviewed statements, a growing contractor is often better served building strong internal monthly statements first. That internal discipline creates the systems (proper estimating, job costing, contract compliance, etc.) that produce the financial metrics underwriters actually reward. Hiring a CPA for annually reviewed statements doesn’t automatically include consulting on processes and internal controls. Building those internally first makes the CPA engagement far more valuable when you get there.
CDOT and Colorado public works bonding
To bid directly to CDOT as a prime contractor, you need to register and prequalify through the CDOT Business Management System – B2G. There’s no cost and registration is straightforward. You need to apply at least 17 days before the opening of any bid you want to submit. CDOT reviews your equipment, personnel, organizational structure, and financial capacity.
CDOT’s financial reporting thresholds work on a sliding scale. Internal statements or compilations are accepted for projects up to $3 million. CPA-reviewed statements are required from $3 million to $5 million, typically costing $10,000 to $20,000 per year. Audited statements are required above $5 million and can exceed $20,000 per year. Keep in mind that surety carriers are more stringent than CDOT – most require reviewed statements for any bonds over $1.5 million, regardless of the CDOT threshold.
Part of CDOT’s prequalification process involves bondability letters (sometimes called good-guy letters). We issue these letters detailing your carrier, bond limit, and any relevant context around your program. Tom is a regular speaker at CDOT’s bond education programs and has presented at Denver International Airport’s bonding education series as well. If you’re preparing for CDOT prequalification or bidding on Colorado state and local public work, we’ve been through this process many times and can help you navigate it correctly.
If you've been declined, get a second opinion
If another agent told you a bond can’t be placed, that’s worth a second look. Being appointed with 15 different carriers means we have real alternatives. Each underwriter has a different appetite and a different approach to assessing risk. An account that doesn’t fit one carrier’s appetite may be exactly what another is looking for.
Tom built Evergreen’s reputation on accounts other agents walked away from. In 2016, he took on a small Colorado electrical contractor doing around $4 million in annual revenue that wanted to pursue international bonding work. Fourteen carriers declined. He kept going. At an industry event, he found a carrier headquartered in Canada with a different underwriting framework and an underwriter who happened to know the contractor’s owners personally. The bond was placed. That contractor now produces over $20 million in annual revenue and recently closed two bonds totaling over $50 million for a joint venture. Fourteen no’s before the yes.
SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program
We’re an SBA-appointed surety bond agency. That means we can place bonds through the SBA Bond Guarantee Program for contractors who don’t qualify through standard underwriting channels. The SBA guarantees the bond, which reimburses the carrier if a loss occurs.This program gives carriers a reason to say yes to contractors they would otherwise decline.
The most useful part of the program is how the SBA calculates bonding capacity. An untapped bank line of credit counts as a current asset, and the SBA multiplies that available balance by 20 to determine aggregate bond capacity. As such, a contractor with $100,000 available on their line of credit can access up to $2 million in bonding through the program. If you’ve been told you don’t have the working capital to support a bond, the SBA program may change that answer.
We also work with minority-owned, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned contractors. Bonding can be an extra hurdle for businesses in these programs, especially when working capital is limited or financial history is short. Our SBA appointment and 15-carrier access give us more paths to place the bond than most agencies can offer.
Beyond the bond - what we do that most agencies don't
Getting your bonds placed is one part of what we do. The other part is helping your company build the financial position that unlocks better terms over time.
We analyze your financial statements and benchmark your KPIs against the metrics underwriters actually focus on – working capital, equity, cash flow, and the ratios driving decisions on your account. If something is holding your program back, we identify it and lay out a path to fix it. When you need hands-on support, we connect you with construction-oriented CPAs and fractional CFOs who understand how surety underwriting works. Tom holds the CCIFP designation – the Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional credential, the only financial certification specific to the construction industry. He’s been a CFMA member for over 15 years and has served on the AGC of Colorado board. That depth of involvement in the construction financial community means the referrals we make to CPAs, bankers, and advisors are informed ones.
We also review contracts before you sign them. Liquidated damages clauses, warranty periods, pay-if-paid language, and other provisions that affect your risk exposure or bondability get flagged before you commit. We know which municipalities and general contractors will negotiate problematic terms. For contractors expanding into new states, we maintain legal and risk matrix reports for all 50 states and Canada, so you understand the legal landscape before you commit to work in an unfamiliar market.
Why Contractors Choose Evergreen Surety
We do surety only. No insurance products, no split focus. Every hour we spend is on bonds, which means deeper carrier relationships and more informed conversations with underwriters than you’ll get from an agency where surety is one of a dozen product lines.
We’re appointed with 15 carriers and SBA-appointed, so your account isn’t limited to one carrier’s appetite or one set of underwriting criteria. Tom holds the CCIFP designation – the only financial certification specific to the construction industry – and has spoken at CDOT and Denver International Airport bond education programs for years. He’s a published author in CFMA and construction industry trade publications. When we advocate for your account with an underwriter, we’re doing it with credibility that comes from documented expertise, not just confidence.
You get a dedicated point of contact. You call Eddie or Tom directly,you don’t get passed to a processor or left waiting in a queue. When you need a bond, you get a same-day response. When you have a question about a contract or a submission, you get an answer that day. That responsiveness matters because surety is a transactional business built on a long-term relationship. Every time you sign a contract that requires a bond, you’re calling us. We need to be ready, and we are.
Your Surety Team
Tom Patton, President
Tom Patton founded Evergreen Surety in 2020 after 12+ years in the surety industry. He holds the Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional (CCIFP) designation, the only financial certification specific to the construction industry.
He’s a regular speaker at Colorado Department of Transportation and Denver International Airport bond education programs, and a published author in CFMA and construction industry trade publications.
Evergreen Surety is an SBA-appointed agency under his leadership.
Eddie Maxfield, Surety Advisor
Eddie Maxfield is the primary contact for construction and energy bond inquiries.
Eddie is active with the American Subcontractors Association, Hispanic Contractors of Colorado, Associated General Contractors, and the Construction Financial Management Association. Through these groups, he has developed relationships with trusted industry partners and can help you obtain the bond you need.
Reach him directly at 720-492-9258 or emaxfield@evergreensurety.com.
Get your free construction bond consultation
Whether you need your first bond, want your existing construction bond program reviewed, have been declined and need a second opinion, the first step is a conversation.
Call Eddie Maxfield at 720-492-9258 or email him at emaxfield@evergreensurety.com