What a maintenance bond is
A maintenance bond, also called a warranty bond, guarantees your finished work is free of defects in materials and workmanship for a set period, often one or two years. Sometimes it's built into the performance bond; sometimes the owner wants it separately.
In Nebraska
Nebraska's public construction bond statute, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-118, requires only a payment bond — in a sum not less than the contract price — covering labor and materials on public projects above the applicable threshold ($15,000 for state projects; $10,000 for local projects). No Nebraska statute separately mandates a standalone maintenance or warranty bond; project owners, including NDOT through its Standard Specifications for Highway Construction, impose warranty or maintenance obligations by contract or specification.
- Nebraska DOT Standard Specifications for Highway Construction (2017 ed.) govern state highway contracts and may include post-completion maintenance or warranty requirements for the contractor, but these are spec-based obligations, not a separate bond statute
- Some Nebraska public agencies and private owners separately require a maintenance bond by contract as a condition of project closeout
You need this bond if you're
- A contractor finishing public works with a warranty period
- A site contractor handing improvements over to a city or county
- Paving, concrete, roofing and landscaping contractors
- A developer whose subdivision bond is being released
What the surety looks at
Your business, credit and the finished project. Often handled together with the performance bond.