CONSTRUCTION BONDING SUPPORT.
Bonding capacity is determined by working capital, balance sheet strength, and a clean WIP schedule, not by the relationship alone. A subcontractor with strong operations and disorganized financials can be given a smaller bond than the business warrants, because the numbers being presented don't reflect the real picture. SPM produces the financial statements, WIP reporting, and working capital positioning that sureties review, so applications and renewals show the strongest accurate read of the business.
Sureties underwrite financial discipline as much as any single year of results. A company that turns in reconciled statements every month, in the same format, with a WIP schedule that ties to the balance sheet, reads as low risk before anyone looks at a ratio. A company whose numbers come in late and in a different format every quarter reads as a question the underwriter has to settle, and underwriters settle questions by holding capacity down. The reporting habit is the lever you control, and it works over months rather than in the week before renewal.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Bonding support is the ongoing financial work that keeps your statements, your WIP schedule, and your working capital position in the condition a surety underwrites from.
Bonding companies evaluate working capital, net worth, and the working capital ratio against the size of the bond being requested, alongside a WIP schedule showing that current work is billed correctly against progress. A history of consistent, reconciled financial statements counts as much as any single year of numbers, because the surety is underwriting the company's financial discipline and not just today's balance sheet.
Working capital trending down without an explanation is its own red flag. It's fixable with forward cash and capital forecasting, provided the forecasting happens before the bonding conversation starts. Once the application is in, all you can do is explain history.
WHAT WE HEAR, AND WHAT IS TRUE.
"Our bonding company is just being difficult about capacity"
Capacity is a direct function of working capital and balance sheet strength as presented in the financials. The underwriter is reading a package and applying ratios, not deciding how much they like you. So when the answer comes back lower than you expected, the financials are the first place to look.
"We'll clean up the financials right before renewal"
Sureties evaluate a track record of consistent, reconciled statements rather than the most recent snapshot. One clean month produced right before renewal doesn't undo a year of unreliable numbers, and the sudden change can raise more questions than it answers. The cleanup has to be the routine instead of the event.
"WIP and financial statements don't need to match"
A WIP schedule that doesn't reconcile to the financial statements is one of the fastest ways to trigger additional underwriting questions or a capacity reduction. The surety reads the difference as either sloppy reporting or overbilling, and neither reading helps you. Reconciled every month, that same schedule becomes the strongest document in the package.
WHAT THE SURETY SEES INSTEAD.
The statements go out on the same schedule, in the same format, whether or not a bond is in play. That consistency is what builds the track record an underwriter is looking for, because a surety is buying evidence that the company knows its own numbers. By the time an application comes up, the evidence already exists.
The WIP schedule is reconciled to the balance sheet every month rather than kept as a separate report that nobody ties out. Overbillings and underbillings post where they belong, so the revenue on the income statement is supported by the job detail underneath it. That single piece of housekeeping removes the most common underwriting question there is.
The working capital ratio is tracked monthly against the CFOS target so the trend is visible long before a renewal. On top of that, the bonding capacity forecast flags a growth plan that's going to reach a capital ceiling while there's still time to fund it. Growth that outgrows the balance sheet is the usual reason a good contractor gets capped.
SPM puts the package together and presents the financials for bonding applications and renewals rather than emailing you a folder to forward. Your agent and the underwriter get what they asked for in the form they asked for it. Questions come back to us, and they get answered the same week.
THE OUTPUTS, NAMED.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing. No payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 to $3,300 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $14,900 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $17,650 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $22,400 | $9,000 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually | Quoted individually |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
