Yes, if you're a subcontractor, you need to get a surety bond. But there are two different main category of surety bonds relevant to subcontractors.
In short, as a subcontractor you likely need to get:
Here's how these bond requirements breakdown.
This will depend on your state, county, or city, but most states do require contractor license bonds for all license types.
Examples of this include:
Plus there are so many more across the country on state, county, and local city levels.
In the contracting space, there are a lot of different bonding requirements.
On specific projects, the project owner typically requires the general contractor to purchase a payment and performance bond.
As the general contractor find and hires our subcontracting work, depending on the job, he may require the subcontractor to purchase a performance bond for their portion of the work.
A performance bond is a surety bond that ensures you'll complete your work based on the agreed upon contract.
It's possible, but unlikely that you may need to purchase a retainage bond. In some construction projects the project owner or general contractor may hold payment until the job is complete.
A retainage bond is purchased to release the funds, ensuring the contractor or subcontractor complete the work.
It's hard to give definite answers in the contracting space, but yes subcontractors need to get surety bonds.
In nearly even case a contractor license bond will need to be purchased.
And in rarer cases a general contractor may require subcontractors to purchase additional surety bonds depending on the specifics for that project.