Why Hiring a Bond Exoneration Expert Matters
Exonerating surety bonds can many times be an afterthought after construction projects are complete and homebuilders or developers have moved on to other projects. When projects have not been formally turned over to the various agencies holding the bonds this exposes the parties responsible for the improvements to significant liability. Also, when bonds have not been released the homebuilders or developers are subject to premium payments where those funds could be allocated elsewhere if the bonds were to be exonerated. Furthermore, in some cases, surety companies will not be willing to release any additional bonds to homebuilders or developers until the bonds in place have been reduced or released.
Closing out bonds can be a time consuming and complicated task and can have escalating costs if not managed timely and efficiently. There are a variety of issues that are intertwined in the successful exoneration of bonds. Some bonds are rather simple to exonerate, while others involve multiple parties and moving pieces that need to be addressed by an expert.
It is advantageous to have a third-party that has the requisite experience and strong relationships with municipalities, agencies, consultants, and contractors to walk you through not only reducing your bonds but fully exonerating them. Hiring a third-party will often maximize savings in time, cost, and overall resources while freeing up your internal team to work on other projects or pressing issues.
Some of the tasks associated with exonerating bonds include completing pertinent fact-finding and coordinating with agencies and inspectors to determine remaining work necessary to obtain bond release, facilitating agencies to issue punch lists, monitoring and overseeing punch list items, executing on project closeout to make sure bonds can be reduced and/or fully released for the applicable improvement types, and following up with jurisdictions and/or municipalities in order to obtain one or more of the following: Release letters, Acceptance letters, and Notices of Completion.
Ideally, your third-party bond exoneration expert will not only be familiar with the administrative aspect of the bond release process and the various parties involved but also have the construction knowledge and ability to oversee any required work in the field. It can also be beneficial for the third party expert to have the resources and licenses necessary to perform the punch list work needed to exonerate the bonds themselves (such as a general contractor’s license).
A third-party bond exoneration expert will monitor the exoneration of bonds through each stage – including during construction operations, maintenance, all the way through to full bond release. Your bond exoneration expert will coordinate and communicate with local inspectors at said stages of the project, from gathering preliminary punch list items to final walk-through to ensure the full acceptance of applicable improvement types.
Offsetting your team’s internal efforts with a third-party bond exoneration specialist will save you both time and money. You can trust that your bond exoneration efforts will be streamlined and addressed in an effective manner, you will reduce your liability exposure in a timely fashion, and be assured that your third-party bond exoneration expert will see that the project gets completely across the finish line
If you would like to speak with a bond exoneration expert from the Murow|CM team, please feel free to contact James Nelson, Director of Bond Exoneration, at 509.679.8337 or jnelson@murowcm.com
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