WHAT SURETIES REQUIRE IN A WIP SCHEDULE.
Sureties require a current WIP schedule calculated from actual job costing data using the cost-to-cost method. The WIP must show overbilled and underbilled positions by job, projected final margin by job, and the historical accuracy of WIP projections against actual job closeouts. A contractor with 24 months of monthly WIP from ControlQore where projections have consistently matched actual closeouts within 5% will get higher bonding limits and lower collateral requirements than an otherwise identical contractor with no WIP history.
What the underwriter is buying is confidence in your financial statements, and the WIP is where that confidence gets tested. Their question is whether they can trust the numbers, and the answer comes from whether your projections have historically matched your closeouts. A WIP produced for the first time the week of the bonding meeting carries no weight, because there's nothing behind it to check. The same schedule, produced monthly for two years with a track record of matching within 5%, is the single strongest document a subcontractor can bring into that room.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A WIP schedule for a surety is a job by job statement calculated from actual job costing data on the cost-to-cost method, showing contract value, estimated cost at completion, cost to date, percent complete, revenue earned, amount billed, and the overbilled or underbilled position on every open job.
WHAT THEY CHECK, AND WHAT KILLS IT.
Calculation method
What the surety wants is cost-to-cost calculated from actual job costing data, meaning cost to date divided by estimated total cost. The red flag is percent complete estimated by the owner or a project manager with no underlying cost documentation behind it. One is a financial statement and the other is an opinion, and the underwriter can tell the difference in about a minute.
Overbilled and underbilled
What the surety wants is the overbilled and underbilled position disclosed clearly by job, with dollar amounts on each one. The red flag is a schedule that doesn't disclose those positions at all, or that nets them into one combined figure. Netting hides the thing they're looking for, because a heavily overbilled job next to a heavily underbilled job is a very different risk than a portfolio that's close to even.
Projected final margin
What the surety wants is projected final margin updated from the actual cost trajectory rather than carried forward from the original estimate. The red flag is every job on the schedule still showing its bid margin regardless of how the costs have run. A WIP where nothing ever moves isn't a projection. It's the estimate reprinted with a new date on it.
Historical accuracy
What the surety wants is a record of WIP projections finishing within 5% of actual closeout margins. The red flag is a WIP produced for the first time at the bonding meeting, or one built from estimates rather than verifiable cost data. Accuracy is the only element on this list that can't be created in a week, which is why it's the one that moves the limit.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
The acceptable variance between projection and actual is 5%. A contractor with 24 months of monthly WIP where projections have consistently matched actual closeout margins within 5% gets materially better bonding terms than an identical contractor with no WIP history. The requirement is monthly production, because that's what builds the track record in the first place.
Sureties set single-project limits at 10-15% of net worth and aggregate limits at 20-25% of net worth. They will go above those ratios for contractors who can demonstrate financial management sophistication, and the WIP track record is how that gets demonstrated. The ratio is the starting point rather than the ceiling.
HOW THE TRACK RECORD GETS BUILT.
The cost codes get built to match your estimate structure so the two sides can be compared at all. Variance between projection and actual runs wide in this stretch and that's normal, because the system is still settling and the field is still learning where to post. Nothing here goes to a surety yet.
Projections start finishing within 10% of actuals as the cost codes stabilize and the crews build reliable posting discipline. Most of our clients reach 5 to 8% accuracy by month 6. This is the point where the WIP becomes useful to the owner, several months before it becomes useful to an underwriter.
Now a surety can compare six months of projections against actual closeout margins and check the work themselves. That comparison is the foundation the bonding capacity gets raised on, because it's evidence rather than assertion. Six months is the minimum where the conversation changes tone.
Consistent monthly WIP across 12 to 24 months, with projections staying within 5% of actual closeout margins, moves the surety conversation off collateral requirements and onto what limits you want. Same company, same balance sheet, and a different set of terms, because somebody can now verify that your numbers hold up.
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, and no add-ons.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually |
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.
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 rather than a report.
Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the job costing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
