As always, depending on the job size (yes, it matters) and your company's profitability and backlog, you'll get more attention when you ask for bigger jobs these days. For your next bond approval, it will help you to know what the bonding company leaders are losing sleep over. You can read it at http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416269482&o=ext. 

In this section, between the ads with athletic elephants and big bridges, you can read what your bonding company thinks about this year. The list of topics include:

1. Concerns about contractors who have had a rough past four years now trying to load up on work.

 

2. Can the new work be profitable?

3. Can contractors get enough skilled, qualified people to do the work and meet the schedule?

4. Will your sub still be around at the end of the job?

5. Will your GC still be around at the end of the job?

 

6. Will lower public spending increase the competition, and decrease profits for public works contractors?

7. Will contractors take more risks by chasing different work or going to new locations?

8. If we don't approve the bond, will the contractor try using an individual surety instead?

We'll explore some of these in more detail in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, you can read all about it, and you don't even need to be an ENR subscriber! But you should be! You'll know more about our industry, and maybe sleep better.