The Hidden Cost of a Disorganized Surety File
Canadian contractors will be fully ramped up in the coming weeks. Roads built, foundations poured, and exteriors finished. The result of a strong contractor and smart bonding.
Regrettably, some contractors won't be working because of a disorganized surety file.
A disorganized surety file leads to:
Missed project wins for your contractor
Broken trust with your contractor, or Surety
Wasted time hunting for lost information
Chaos is a bad look. Don't become the broker that companies aren't going to work with.
Let's look deeper.
1. Missed project wins for your contractor
You thought you had time to issue that bond, but just learned you didn't. Your relationship is crushed with a single deadline. It was a long chain of mistakes. Emails requesting more information. Outdated documents. Too many spreadsheets with WIP details.
When you're disorganized, you impact a contractor's bonding capacity.
It's important to know when a bond should be closed or considered lost. The contractor wants this capacity for their next pursuit.
How do you see a compelling financial narrative when your contractor spreadsheets, financials, and documents are scattered in email or across file servers? How do you grow their bonding timetable when you can't connect the dots? A broker needs to be confident in their contractor's financial health.
Your surety file can't perform like an advent calendar. Each door bringing a new surprise 📦. Get organized or watch your book of clients dissolve.
2. Broken trust with your contractor, or Surety
Your contractor's periodic financial review breeds exhaustion. You miss a critical detail. Profit's sliding. Challenges with their WIP. A flip in financial ratios. Disorganization takes it's toll, and adds risk.
In a regulated world, compliance is key. An audit, non-compliance issue, or legal problem, means you want strong files.
How do you assess a risk profile without a connected history? You must trust your understanding of their surety file to advise on improving bondability.
Contractors need brokers to assist with bonding. Delays, denials, or repeated asks for the same information frustrates a contractor.
Trust is earned. Keep it.
3. Wasted time hunting for lost information
Einstein stated, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Think of the hours your team spends searching, copying and pasting, ransacking emails for details. All you want is a clear picture of your contractor and the trend that got them here.
Bid deadlines, last minute couriers, emergency phone calls to satisfy a decision to bond, all add stress. You hate the thought of asking your contractor to resend.
Scouring filing systems, Sharepoint sites, and Teams threads hurts your brain. Your administrative costs are high.
Recover your time, redeploy hours into building relationships.