{"id":104086,"date":"2023-11-08T12:19:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T17:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?p=104086"},"modified":"2024-02-12T05:26:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T10:26:18","slug":"trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>Executive Summary. <\/b><\/strong>\u00a0Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. \u00a0This thirty-minute chat educates the construction-owner-wannabe, or even a veteran of the industry who really didn\u2019t know. \u00a0Great for construction company owners and for public agency upper management!<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/6oWafMfS2ybOrZKkkiyneD?si=2bb6bbe84f984ba2&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>Our talk in a nutshell.<\/b><\/strong> \u00a0Join Scott Jennings and Paul Kennedy\u2019s chat about the basics of bonding. \u00a0Each with over thirty years in the business, you\u2019re bound to learn something new today!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-104087 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture1-271-224x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"264\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture1-271-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture1-271.png 226w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>Discussion topics.<\/b><\/strong> \u00a0Paul and I discussed the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>What is bonding? \u00a0What is a bond?<\/li>\n<li>What does a bid bond cost?<\/li>\n<li>How do I even start the bonding process as a new company owner?<\/li>\n<li>What are the three C\u2019s?<\/li>\n<li>What are final bonds?<\/li>\n<li>How much money do I need in the bank to get a bond?<\/li>\n<li>How is bonding capacity calculated?<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s an indemnity agreement?<\/li>\n<li>What happens when things go bad?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>Surety versus agent.<\/b><\/strong> \u00a0It\u2019s not brought up in the talk, but it\u2019s worth a quickie on the difference between a surety and an agent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Paul is an agent. \u00a0The surety is the actual insurance company providing the product to you (the bond). \u00a0So, for example, let\u2019s say Paul is your agent. \u00a0He is the one that goes to market for you and finds an actual surety: \u00a0Travelers, The Hartford Group, Zurich, RLI, AIG, Liberty, and many, many more. \u00a0Paul\u2019s job is to find a good fit for your business. \u00a0And if for any reason, your agent or you think the relationship is not working, Paul will go back out to market to find you another surety. \u00a0A good agent will always have a backup surety for you if you\u2019re on the move in varying types of construction or varying regions you want to work in.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-104088 aligncenter\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture2-271.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"228\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>Why choose one surety over another?<\/b><\/strong> \u00a0Sureties have different risk profiles, work in different construction sectors, and work in different geographical areas. \u00a0For example, Paul said in the podcast he was with Chubb. \u00a0I haven\u2019t heard that name in Hawaii or on the West coast often, if at all. \u00a0Yet when I started my career on the East coast, my employer was bonded by Chubb. \u00a0I\u2019m pretty sure that Chubb works more on the East coast than the West coast (I could be wrong and will wait for Chubb\u2019s marketing department to call me!). \u00a0So, like any other business, sureties stick to certain areas, although many of them will follow their clients to different states or regions around the globe.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-104089 aligncenter\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture3-271.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"274\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><b>My story. \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>I had my own construction company for ten years and had plenty of ups and downs. \u00a0Starting with Travelers as my surety, I changed sureties for a couple reasons. \u00a0The first reason was that I wanted to grow, geographically. \u00a0Another time I moved because I was aggressively growing (financially) and an opportunity arose to be with a surety more suited to my heavy\/civil sector and my capacity needs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Whatever you do, find an agent you trust and you like. \u00a0You\u2019ll spend much more time with your agent than the actual surety representative. \u00a0So, find a person you can have a beer with. \u00a0And make sure that if you\u2019re aggressive, he or she is too.\u00a0\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-104090 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As always, if you have questions about this subject just reach out. \u00a0I\u2019m here to ask questions and Paul is too. \u00a0We both have national contacts and are happy to help!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Work safe!<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-button-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023.11.02-Paul-Kennedy.pdf\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-flat\" style=\"color:#FFFFFF;background-color:#293a57;border-color:#212f46;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color:#FFFFFF;padding:0px 30px;font-size:22px;line-height:44px;border-color:#6a768a;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px;text-shadow:none;-moz-text-shadow:none;-webkit-text-shadow:none\"> Download The PDF<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Executive Summary. \u00a0Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. \u00a0This thirty-minute chat educates the construction-owner-wannabe, or even a veteran of the industry who really didn\u2019t know. \u00a0Great for construction company owners and for public agency upper management! Our talk in a nutshell. \u00a0Join Scott Jennings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":104090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":34,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,293,909],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-08T17:19:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-12T10:26:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"855\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Jennings\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Jennings\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/\",\"name\":\"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-08T17:19:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-12T10:26:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2dd838cc51863ecc64a3a2a5f150f7ff\"},\"description\":\"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":855},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/\",\"name\":\"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC\",\"description\":\"Helping the Construction Industry!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2dd838cc51863ecc64a3a2a5f150f7ff\",\"name\":\"Scott Jennings\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6aa973c96470b1e2a45a863ad0118f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6aa973c96470b1e2a45a863ad0118f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott Jennings\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/author\/sjcivilpodcast\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent","description":"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent","og_description":"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...","og_url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/","og_site_name":"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC","article_published_time":"2023-11-08T17:19:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-12T10:26:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":855,"url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Scott Jennings","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott Jennings","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/","name":"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-08T17:19:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-12T10:26:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2dd838cc51863ecc64a3a2a5f150f7ff"},"description":"Hear firsthand from a surety agent (also known as a bonding agent) what bonding is all about. This thirty-minute chat educates the...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/beer-3444480_1280.jpg","width":1280,"height":855},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/trench-talk-paul-kennedy-surety-bonding-agent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/","name":"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC","description":"Helping the Construction Industry!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2dd838cc51863ecc64a3a2a5f150f7ff","name":"Scott Jennings","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6aa973c96470b1e2a45a863ad0118f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6aa973c96470b1e2a45a863ad0118f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scott Jennings"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/author\/sjcivilpodcast\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104086"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104132,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104086\/revisions\/104132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}