Ep. 481 Beyond a Single Bond: How We Help Contractors Stay Ahead of Their Surety Needs

Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Matt Gaynor, Director of Surety with Rancho Mesa talk about how we help contractors stay ahead of their surety needs.

Show Notes: ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alyssa Burley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matt Gaynor

Editor: Megan Lockhart

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

© Copyright 2025. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.

I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and today I’m joined by Matt Gaynor, Director of Surety with Rancho Mesa. And we’re going to talk about how we help contractors stay ahead of their surety needs.

Matt, welcome to the show.

Matt Gaynor: Good morning, Alyssa. Great to be back in the studio.

AB: We’re happy to have you. Now, your team recently issued a very large bond for one of your contractor clients which prompted an important discussion with the client. Tell us about the scenario and the discussion that took place.

MG: Like you mentioned, we issued a very large bond for a contractor client. During the underwriting process we were prompted to discuss potentially moving their account to a surety carrier with a larger capacity due to the size of the bond.

However, our client had a strong seven-year relationship with the current bond company and we also received an early indication that they could support the larger bond request, so this provided us with an initial understanding that we might be okay staying with the current carrier.

AB: I’m guessing this isn’t the end of the story. And, I can appreciate the loyalty behind wanting to stay with a surety carrier that has been working with the contractor for the last seven years. So, will you explain why there would even be a question as to whether or not the surety would be a fit if they’re willing to do the larger bond?  

MG: Most bond companies will provide their agency partners, like Rancho Mesa, with a range of support for their typical bond programs. For example, they may indicate they are looking to support established contractors with single bonds up to $40,000,000 range and work programs up to the $80,000,000 range with the caveat that they can go higher for specific accounts. But in this situation the surety would need to go higher and beyond their normal appetite.

AB: So, what happened after you initially heard back from the bond company?

MG: Once we had the initial indication, the next step was to talk to our contractor client about the potential size of their future projects that might require bonding over the next few months. Based on that discussion, we realized it actually was time to find a new bond company with much larger capacity to fit our client’s future needs. So, the discussion turned from support for this particular large bond to ensuring we had support for larger capacity both today and in the future.

AB: Wow, that’s forward thinking that can make a big difference for the client. It’s so much better to find a surety carrier with a larger capacity before it’s needed. In this case, the current carrier was a viable option, but the next time, they may not have been able to accommodate the larger bond, and that’s a terrible situation to be in. So, great job looking out for the client and getting them squared away before they ran into an issue.  It sounds like they are ready to take on larger projects.

MG: That’s correct, we have several large projects coming up down the pipeline, so we successfully placed them with a larger carrier by focusing on really understanding the client’s business over the long term instead of just considering a particular bond at a particular time. As is usually the case, the additional communication was key.

AB: Agreed.  So Matt, if listeners have questions about their bond program, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

MG: I am at mgaynor@ranchomesa.com and the phone number is (619) 937-0165.

AB: All right, well, Matt, thank you for joining me in StudioOne.

MG: Thanks, Alyssa. I appreciate being here.

AB: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter