This publish is a part of a sequence sponsored by Outdated Republic Surety.
“We’ve focused tight turnaround instances from submission to approval utilizing Outdated Republic Surety’s (ORS) FastBond course of — the sooner, the higher,” says Todd Taylor, CPCU, AFSB.
As an ORS Bond Supervisor, Taylor has seen the favorable affect of FastBond, which has been accessible for greater than 10 years. “We’ve managed to simplifythe bonding course of for brokers by providing limits as much as $1 million based mostly on credit score solely,” he says. “And since there’s no want for added monetary data and no CPA required, that saves super time and problem. Throughout the Quick Bond program, Outdated Republic Surety will think about non-residential completion bonds as much as $250,000 in bond penalty on credit-based underwriting. Greater limits may be thought of with further underwriting data.”
What if a consumer does require extra? Taylor explains that they’ll nonetheless use FastBond to safe as much as $2 million single or mixture by including present company and private monetary statements to their software — nonetheless no CPA involvement crucial.
Taylor notes a latest uptick in FastBond exercise as effectively. “We have now a historical past of writing accounts utilizing widespread sense underwriting, and Outdated Republic Surety is happy with our partnership with brokers who write accounts which may be smaller or just have few or very rare bond wants. These are the sorts of accounts which can be an actual plus for therefore many brokers. Though they might not qualify for our contract facet, they characterize an actual mainstay of the development trade.”
Retaining brokers aggressive
To remain forward of the curve and keep a management place in these smaller account markets, Outdated Republic Surety requests agent suggestions and displays trade situations. “As in different sectors, development prices have risen throughout the board, making the identical threat are available in at a a lot larger worth than it did just some years in the past,” Taylor says. “We’ve continued to regulate our limits as wanted to maintain tempo with these adjustments, which is why we not too long ago elevated limits from $750,000 to $1 million based mostly on credit score. The FastBond software is so simple as earlier than, however larger limits hold our brokers aggressive, and so they can qualify bigger accounts with much less want for underwriting. Better of all, even at these larger limits, the short turnaround remains to be attainable, which may be essential for successful a bid.”
As Taylor notes, contractors usually postpone tackling bond points till the tip of a bid course of, and it’s common for them to attend in an agent’s workplace for bond approvals. “Bid time stress may be intense,” he says. “Our fast turnaround alleviates a few of this stress.”
Whereas many brokers are already comfy with the FastBond software course of, the ORS group is able to soar in and supply steerage for any brokers who’re simply getting began in bonds or who may need assistance with the primary few functions. “We will velocity up the training curve and double-check their work till they’re comfy doing an software on their very own,” Taylor says, “However as a result of the shape is so easy and the bond is primarily credit-based or solely requires current monetary statements for larger quantities, most brokers turn into adept fairly rapidly.” He provides that Outdated Republic Surety can even present a bond-ability or pre-qualification letter if that’s a requirement earlier than any formal bonding. “We’re all the time glad to confirm {that a} subcontractor can qualify for a bond if that’s all they want to be able to submit a bid,” he says.
FastBond may also be a useful stepping-stone for brokers who need to assist their purchasers transition into bigger initiatives. “Few purchasers are capable of soar to an ordinary bond program in a single day, and a few simply don’t need to make the extra required investments, like CPA involvement,” Taylor says. “With FastBond, the upper limits assist brokers hold extra of their rising accounts till they’re able to graduate to our contract facet.”
FastBond benefits
Whereas Taylor considers the upper limits, fast turnaround and straightforward software course of amongst FastBond’s main advantages, he additionally highlights their bond availability in all 50 states and their consideration of all development trades. “This can be a answer that’s supreme for shorter length initiatives in that candy spot of $1 million to $2 million, however we’ve got loads of flexibility to debate variations,” he says. “Even when a job is projected to be barely larger, we wish brokers to name us; we’re all the time keen to debate the underwriting specifics and dig into the small print of a challenge to succeed in an approval. Outdated Republic Surety has all the time based mostly our bond approvals on extra than simply the spreadsheet numbers.”
Taylor provides that the corporate will proceed to judge and regulate FastBond as wanted. One latest enchancment is the addition of safe DocuSign digital signatures for functions. Different workflow options are in fixed evaluate.
“Providing a extra streamlined bonding course of for smaller exposures is likely one of the greatest methods to increase alternatives for our brokers,” he says. “And Outdated Republic has actually supported our efforts to enhance small account servicing. In spite of everything, extra bonds imply extra progress, and simply because a bond could also be thought of small by trade requirements or a consumer has an rare want, they’re nonetheless a necessity. We’re right here to make getting them as straightforward as attainable for our brokers.”
For extra information from Outdated Republic Surety, please go to https://www.orsurety.com/weblog.
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