Simple Answers to Complex Questions.

A bond can be considered as a promise made by a surety (insurance) to fulfill the obligation of payment according to the terms of a contract. Since liens are not allowed on publicly owned property. To protect contractors, the law provides for subcontractors, sub-subcontractors and suppliers to file claim against a bond furnished by the general contractor.

It is the document where a subcontractor, sub-subcontractor or supplier is stating that the job agreed in a contract (oral or written) has been completed and the payment has not been made. The surety (bonding company) is now liable for such debt.Bond claims are required to send a notice that includes a sworn statement of account, which must also be notarized. Both documents are included when you prepare the bond claim with texaseasylien.com.

Any subcontractor or sub-subcontractor who provides work under a written or an oral agreement can file a bond claim to secure payment on unpaid labor or supplied materials on a public project.

No. Unfortunately Texas Easy Lien currently is designed to create bond claim documents only for projects owned by the State of Texas.

To prepare a bond claim, you will need the general information of the project and your contract. Below is a list of some of the necessary information:• Project Information: Owner, name of project, common address (or legal property description);• Contract: Name (or company name) and mailing address of the General (Prime) Contractor, amount, retainage amount and type of agreement;• Bonding company (surety): Name, address and bond number;• Work: Invoices, description of the unpaid work performed and the amount owed per each individual month.

No, you do not need to have a written contract to file a bond claim. The content of the claim will change depending if you have a written or an oral agreement and the documents prepared by Texas Easy Lien provide the required information.

If the general (prime) contractor did not provide the bond information at the time of entering into the contract, you should request it verbally or on writing as soon as possible. Bond claims and liens have very similar deadlines and requirements having all the necessary information at hand is of utmost importance.If you still don’t get the bond information, in most cases you can get it requesting it to the project owner.If you have the bonding company information but not the bond number, you can still file a bond claim.

Deadlines for bond claims are much like those for liens. Subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and suppliers must send a notice of bond claim with a sworn account statement by the 15th day of the third month after the work or material delivery month. These documents should be sent to both the Surety Company and the General Contractor. The charts below categorize contractors and outline necessary documents and submission deadlines.NOTE: IF THE 15th OF THE MONTH FALLS ON A WEEKEND OR A HOLIDAY, THE LAST DAY TO FILE A VALID LIEN WILL EXTEND TO THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY AFTER THAT WEEKEND OR HOLIDAY.Sub-subcontractors and suppliers without a direct contract with the prime contractor (those on the second tier and below) must first send a notice only to the general (prime) contractor by the 15th day of the second month after the work was done. This notice can be copies of your unpaid invoices along with a signed cover letter indicating the outstanding amounts. You don't need to provide a sworn statement of account with this notice.

We have created detailed instructions and a checklist covering what to do, when and where and we have included them with your bond claim documents.

After the claim has been sent to the General Contractor and Bond Company, you cannot file suit on a bond claim for the first sixty days (60).If, however, you are unable to settle your dispute within that time, you must file a lawsuit against the bond before the expiration of one (1) year from the filing date of the bond. If you fail to file suit within this time period, your claim against the bond will expire.