Anyone who works very long in the construction industry eventually spends part of some night staring at the ceiling trying to figure out how they’ll handle a problem that WILL require attention.

When I spent 20 years helping build projects, there were some wide-awake nights. As a bond agent, there are also problems that have kept me awake that we’ll talk about in the coming months.

There are lots of things that keep our clients up at night, too. It doesn’t matter what size their company is, some problems are universal. We’ll keep our readers who have smaller companies in mind here, too, not just the ENR 400. Some examples:


 • What do you mean they won’t approve the bond?
 • We were low bidder today. Great, what was the spread? About 21%!
 • I don’t like messing with that accounting stuff, my bookkeeper handles it.
 • The fire department rescue squad, OSHA and the coroner were at our job today
 • We have to tell your bonding company about this. Or do you want to let your competitors bring it up first?
 • Are you saying you’re not getting paid and you didn’t verify financing before you started the job?
 • A school bus and OUR dump truck?
 • This is just between you and me.
 • Do you mean my contract says I have to wait until YOU get paid??
 • Is that thunder? The weatherman didn’t say anything about rain tonight!
 • Did we check EVERYTHING when we planned that heavy lift for today?
 • What did you say happened? Do we have a CURRENT Certificate of Insurance from them?
 • Are you telling me he was on the phone when he ran into them?

Since almost everyone is likely to have an example, if you want to tell me about your worst night’s sleep story (OR, one you heard of about at some OTHER company), we’d like to hear it. You can send it to my email mikeh@baldwincoxagency.com, or just add your story below. 

Perhaps we’ll have a BEST “Worst Night’s Sleep Story” contest at the end of the year. Until then, Pleasant Dreams!