Codell Construction has provided the full insurance required to start building nine new courthouses. Prior to an order by Chief Justice John Minton some construction companies for courthouse construction projects where only posting 5% bonds..
However, the company has not yet bought bonds for the 15 other construction projects that they’re managing for the state judicial system.
Nine Codell projects are now fully bonded — in Grant, Green, Jackson, Laurel, Logan, Marion, Pendleton, Shelby and Trigg counties — are all bout to begin construction.
One company, Trace Creek Construction, provided a 100 percent bond for the Fleming County courthouse projects last week.
The 100 percent bonds on the nine projects probably cost Codell about $1 million in premiums, which are usually about 1 percent of a bond’s costs.
The AOC thinks construction managers’ performance bonds should be in place when the contract is signed, a practice followed by other large public agencies, such as the Finance and Administration Cabinet and the University of Kentucky. The builders had only been providing bonds on the date that construction actually began.