The Bonding Myth That Needs to Go There is a piece of conventional wisdom in construction that needs to go: if you are heavily bonded, an ESOP is off the table. I hear it from contractors all the time, and sometimes from advisors who should know better. It is wrong, and it keeps good contractors from even looking at employee ownership. Surety needs to be part of the conversation early in an ESOP conversion, not brought in after the fact. But “real issue” and “dealbreaker” are