A material supplier on a $400,000 California public works project has not been paid by the subcontractor that ordered the materials. To recover from the payment bond required by Civil Code §9550, the supplier should:

Explanation

Civil Code §9550 requires the direct contractor on a public works contract over $25,000 to give a payment bond before starting, and it exists for exactly this claimant: a supplier who dealt with a subcontractor and cannot lien public property. The claim must be made and suit filed within the §9558 window, which closes six months after the stop-notice period ends. A lien on the school or city building (a) is void. The supplier has no contract with the awarding body, so a direct breach claim (b) fails for want of privity. And waiting for retention (c) is the trap: retention released under Public Contract Code §7107 goes to the prime contractor, not to a supplier two tiers down, so the wait runs the §9558 clock out on the only remedy that would have worked.