Brief Summary
Level 1 is the commercial specialty endorsement for firms whose key employees bring eight years of combined experience, and the $55,000 bond is what the CCB needs on file before it issues or renews it. A surety bond meets the requirement for a premium, and it is written on the CCB's own Commercial Surety Bond form so the board can match it to your license number.
Oregon's Construction Contractors Board requires a $55,000 surety bond for the Commercial Specialty Contractor Level 1 endorsement under ORS 701.084. Bond amounts rose by $5,000 per endorsement on January 1, 2024, so a bond still written at $50,000 does not meet the current figure. The bond names the CCB as obligee, must be filed within 60 days of issuance, and pays amounts the board determines against the contractor.
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Detailed Information About the Oregon Commercial Specialty Contractor Level 1 ($55,000) Bond:
Level 1 or Level 2
ORS 701.084 sets two commercial specialty levels. Level 1 requires a $55,000 bond, general liability insurance of at least $1 million, and key employees with a combined total of at least eight years of experience. Level 2 requires a $25,000 bond, at least $500,000 of general liability insurance, and four years of combined key employee experience. The CCB endorsement chart describes commercial specialty contractors as doing work involving one or two unrelated building trades on small or large commercial projects.
Qualifying experience includes years as a licensed contractor, journeyman, foreperson or supervisor. The chart allows substitutions: an apprenticeship for up to three years, a construction related bachelor's degree for up to three, a business, finance or economics degree for up to two, and a construction associate's degree for up to one.
The 2024 increase
Effective January 1, 2024, every CCB bond amount went up by $5,000 per endorsement type. The CCB notes that many sureties updated bonds automatically and tells contractors who did not hear from their surety to contact it.
Dual endorsements and higher amounts
Under ORS 701.068, a contractor holding both residential and commercial endorsements files a separate bond for each. The statute also lets the board require a larger bond, up to five times the ordinary amount, in situations such as reinstatement after a suspension.
What the bond pays and how it is filed
The commercial bond pays determination orders of the Construction Contractors Board under ORS 701.146. The CCB Commercial Surety Bond form, rev 08/2023, names the State of Oregon Construction Contractors Board as obligee. The surety sends the bond to the applicant, not to the CCB, and it must be filed with the CCB within 60 days of issuance. The surety can cancel on 30 days' written notice to the principal and the CCB.
This license bond is not the public works bond. The CCB lists a separate $30,000 public works bond for projects over $100,000, filed before work begins.
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