If you're an owner, you may be reluctant to hire contractors unless they furnish proper bonds (to secure you against liens and defaults), and unless they are covered by appropriate insurance. If you're a contractor or subcontractor, you will often be unable to get the job without bonds, without insurance, and without subjecting your project to possible liens. If you're a subcontractor or supplier, you may feel uneasy about working for contractors unless they are bonded, or unless you have adequate lien protection.

Bonds, liens, and insurance are permanent guests at the construction feast. And because they are, you must - if you're a participant in the affair (owner, contractor, sub, supplier, surety, or attorney) - know not only something about those subjects, but everything reasonably necessary to prudently play your particular part. Indeed, the degree of your knowledge can bear directly upon the degree of your success ... or failure.

Recognizing this, Bonds, Liens & Insurance has been carefully structured to provide you with the practical information and insight needed for your individual operations. It is even-handed, objectively considered the subject from the standpoint of each of the major players.

We invite you to join us.

BONDS

1. CONTRACTOR BONDS
   1. Origin
   2. Types & scope of coverage
   3. Bid bonds
   4. Payment bonds
   5. Performance bonds
   6. Dual obligee & completion bonds
   7. Appeal bonds
   8. Some key provisions
   9. Future of surety bonding

2. OBTAINING BONDS
   1. Application & indemnity form
   2. Qualification factors
   3. Contractor’s financial statements
   4. Contractor’s past performance
   5. Contractor’s volume of work
   6. Stretching your bonding capacity
   7. Finding the surety
   8. How sureties decide to bond
   9. Use of agents and brokers
   10. Premiums‹amounts & analyses

3. CONTRACTOR DEFAULTS
   1. What is a default?
   2. Effect of bond terms
   3. Analysis of causes
   4. Contractor defenses
   5. Curing a default
   6. Procedural considerations

4. THE OWNER
   1. Requiring contractor bonds
   2. Recognizing contractor defaults
   3. Dealing with defaults-a checklist
   4. Owner rights & options
   5. Owner risks & liabilities
   6. Avoiding loss of rights

5. THE SURETY
   1. Surety’s evaluation of bond risks
   2. Liability similar to contractor’s
   3. Liability different from contractor’s
   4. Before default-rights and options
   5. After default-rights and options
   6. Defenses to liability
   7. Capitalizing to claimants errors
   8. Business considerations

6. THE CONTRACTOR
   1. Payment bond problems
   2. Performance bond problems
   3. Default exposure & liability
   4. Rights & options after default
   5. Defenses
   6. Waivers of liability

7. PAYMENT BOND CLAIMANTS
   1. Bond protection vs. liens
   2. Dealing with bonded contractors
   3. Dealing with the surety
   4. Dealing with the owner
   5. Who to pursue and when
   6. The procedural steps
   7. Avoiding loss of rights
   8. Claims negotiation
   9. Going to court

LIENS

8. BACKGROUND
   1. Origin of liens
   2. Types of liens
   3. Application, scope & limitations
   4. State variations
   5. Effect on work
   6. Abuses-“lien” vs. “lean”
   7. Alternatives to liens

9. MECHANICS’ LIENS
   1. Nature of the lien
   2. Who may assert it
   3. Property subject to lien
   4. Claiming the lien
   5. Duration & extent
   6. Enforcing the lien
   7. Defenses-contractor & owner
   8. Removal of liens
   9. Lien discharge bonds
   10. Recent lien law developments

10. CONSTITUTIONAL LIENS
    1. Source
    2. Comparison with other liens
    3. Principles & procedures
    4. Claims & Defenses

11. EQUITABLE LIENS
    1. Source
    2. Comparison with other liens
    3. Principles & procedures
    4. Claims & Defenses

INSURANCE

12. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
    1. Insurance as a management tool
    2. Risk checklist
    3. What’s insurable & what’s not
    4. Potential laps and gaps in coverage
    5. When to self-insure
    6. Premium ranges & controlling factors
    7. Use of experts
    8. Brokers & their functions
    9. Experience & composite ratings
    10. Retrospective plans
    11. Selecting your insurer

13. CONSTRUCTION INSURANCE
    1. Liability coverage
    2. Property coverage
    3. Integrated project coverage
    4. Cost vs. risk analyses
    5. Shopping the market
    6. New insurance packages
    7. Periodic reviews

14. KEY POLICIES
    1. Worker’s compensation
    2. Comprehensive general liability
    3. Builder’s risk
    4. Errors & omissions
    5. Equipment
    6. Installation floater
    7. Completed operations
    8. New commercial general liability policy
    9. Claims made or occurrence
    10. Pollution exposures
    11. Business interruption
    12. Fidelity
    13. Officers & directors liability
    14. Package policies
    15. What’s in-& what’s out
    16. Recognizing the critical language

15. SPECIAL INSURANCE PROBLEMS
    1. New design-construct concepts
    2. FRC (finance-design-construct)
    3. CM (construction managers)
    4. Developer-contractors
    5. Alternative approaches

16. INSURANCE CLAIMS
    1. Methods of presentation
    2. Documentation
    3. Adjustors-“care & feeding”
    4. Settlement considerations
    5. When to fight
    6. Litigation

Partner in the Minneapolis law firm of Fabyanske, Westra & Hart, specializing in the representation of those involved in construction matters. Engineering degree, with high distinction, from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology, and cum laude graduate of William Mitchell College of Law. Noted speaker and consultant on construction industry insurance and bonding problems. Member of the American Arbitration Association’s Construction Industry Panel of Arbitrators. Registered patent attorney and member of various engineering honor societies.