Bond Tables
This article explains what the Bond Table is, how to open it, how to set up your bond rate tiers, and how the resulting bond premium flows into your bid.
What a bond table is
A bond premium is the fee a contractor pays a surety company to issue a performance and payment bond — essentially the cost of the bond itself, usually a small percentage of the contract value. Bond rates typically step down as the contract grows (a lower rate per thousand dollars applies above certain thresholds), so the Bond Table lets you define a tiered rate schedule that mirrors the one your surety gives you. Once it's set up, the bond premium calculates automatically and is added to your bid as a layer in the markup waterfall.
Opening the Bond Table
You can open it two ways:
From the sidebar: with the left sidebar expanded, click Bond Table under Project Tools. A panel slides out with the bond tiers for the current project.
From the Bid tab: open the Bid Tools panel from the bid sheet toolbar, then click the Bond tab. The same tier editor appears.
Understanding the tier structure
Each tier has two fields:
Upper Limit— the maximum contract value this tier's rate applies to. The tier covers from the end of the previous tier (or $0 for the first) up to this amount.Rate per $1K— the charge per $1,000 of contract value within this tier. A rate of 10 means $10 for every $1,000.
The tiers apply in sequence: the premium for each tier covers only the portion of the bid that falls within that bracket, and any amount above the highest tier uses that last tier's rate.
Adding and editing tiers
To add a tier: open the Bond Table, click the + button at the top of the Bond Tiers section, then enter the Upper Limit (type the dollar threshold, e.g., 500000) and the Rate per $1K (e.g., 25). Click away or press Enter to save — the bid recalculates automatically.
To edit: click into either field, type the new value, and press Enter.
To delete: click the trash icon on the tier row. An Undo option appears.
How the bond premium flows into the bid
Once tiers are defined, the premium recalculates automatically whenever bid pricing changes — no extra steps. It appears as Bond Premium, its own line in the Markup Summary panel, after the category markup, overhead, and profit layers (so it's calculated on top of your full marked-up bid). The bond segment also shows in the markup waterfall chart, and the bid total includes it.
Optional — adding profit to the bond: Some estimators apply their profit percentage on top of the bond premium, since the surety's rate is charged against a bid that already includes profit. This is controlled in Project Properties → Options by the Add profit to bond premium checkbox. When enabled, the premium is increased by your profit percentage before being added to the bid.
Exporting a bond submission
Once your table is set and your bid is complete, generate a Bond Submission report from the Reports tab — it includes your project name, bid amount, calculated premium, and full tier schedule, formatted to share with your surety.