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Have a question? +1 815-826-6324 (815-8-BondAI) phil@AmericasSuretyBonds.com
Army Veteran Owned | Expert Surety Bonds Since 2004
The $5,000 bond is what lets the City of Balch Springs issue your excavation or embankment permit. You pay an annual premium instead of posting $5,000 in cash, most contractors are quoted the same day, and the bond is written to the exact conditions in Section 66-32 of the city code so it is accepted the first time.
Balch Springs Code of Ordinances Section 66-32 allows the city to issue an excavation or embankment permit only after it receives a $15 permit fee and a $5,000 surety bond payable to the city, written by a corporate surety authorized to do business in Texas. Public utilities working under a city franchise are exempt, but the bond applies to their independent contractors and subcontractors. The bond carries a two year maintenance and repair obligation on the work.
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This is the point contractors most often get wrong. Section 66-32 excuses a public utility company acting under a city franchise from the bond, and no bond is required when the excavation is done by employees of a franchised utility company or a municipal water district. The same sentence then says the bond applies to independent contractors and subcontractors. If you are a boring, trenching or site contractor hired by a utility, you post the $5,000 bond in your own name.
Under Section 66-31, no person may make any excavation or embankment in any street, avenue, alley or public easement in Balch Springs without first obtaining a written permit from the city. Each day of noncompliance is a separate offense. A franchised utility or municipal water district handling an emergency when a permit cannot be obtained has a defense if it applies within 72 hours.
Section 66-32 then sets the price of admission: a $15.00 permit fee and a surety bond in the sum of $5,000.00 payable to the city, with a good and sufficient corporate surety authorized to do business in the state.
The bond is conditioned that the work will be done in a good and workmanlike manner, that the applicant will strictly comply with the city code, and that the city will be held harmless from costs or damages from injury to any person or property arising from the work. It also requires the applicant, at no cost to the property owner, to maintain, reconstruct or repair the work for two years from the date of construction, to the satisfaction of the director and after ten days' notice. The director's opinion on the need for repair binds both the applicant and the surety.
The bond stays in force for two years after the construction or repair, and one recovery does not exhaust it. It remains a continuing obligation until the full $5,000 is used. Only the bona fide holder of the bond may take out a permit under it, so it cannot be lent to another contractor.
Section 66-33 requires the excavator to return the earth and ram and puddle it to a firm and solid bearing within ten days after the work is finished and to restore paving to the director's satisfaction. Section 66-34 requires guardrails, signal lights or other warnings at any excavation or embankment in or near a street, sidewalk or public easement.
The surety prices the bond from the $5,000 penal sum, the owner's personal credit, the contractor's experience and any prior claims. The premium is an annual charge. Confirm the current bond form and filing steps with the City of Balch Springs before the bond is issued.
Yes, if you are an independent contractor or subcontractor. Section 66-32 exempts the franchised utility and the work done by its own employees or a municipal water district's employees, but states that the bond applies to independent contractors and subcontractors.
Section 66-32 sets a $15.00 permit fee, paid together with the $5,000 surety bond before the city issues the excavation or embankment permit.
The bond requires you to maintain, reconstruct or repair the work for two years from the date of construction, after ten days' notice from the director, and it stays in force for those two years.
No. The code says one recovery does not exhaust the bond. It is a continuing obligation until the entire $5,000 has been paid out.
No. Only the bona fide holder of the bond may take out a permit, and the holder may not let anyone else take one out.
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