Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure

Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees

Leases: Minimum rental commitments and minimum royalty requirements under all noncancellable operating leases, primarily of quarry property, in effect at December 31, 2013 were (in thousands):

Years Ending December 31,
2014	$	8,231
2015	6,893
2016	5,866
2017	4,419
2018	2,711
Later years (through 2099)	10,149
Total	$	38,269

Operating lease rental expense was $11.4 million, $9.8 million and $9.0 million in 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. 

Performance Guarantees

As discussed in Note 6, we participate in various joint ventures. We also participate in various line item joint ventures under which each partner is responsible for performing certain discrete items of the total scope of contracted work.

The agreements with our partners for both construction joint ventures and line item joint ventures define each partners’ management role and financial responsibility in the project. The amount of exposure is generally limited to our stated ownership interest. Due to the joint and several nature of the obligation under these agreements, if one of the partners fails to perform, we and the remaining partners would be responsible for performance of the outstanding work. Circumstances that could lead to a loss under these agreements beyond our stated ownership interest include the failure of a partner to contribute additional funds to the venture in the event the project incurs a loss or additional costs that we could incur should a partner fail to provide the services and resources that it had committed to provide in the agreement.

At December 31, 2013, there was $4.4 billion of construction revenue to be recognized on unconsolidated and line item construction joint venture contracts of which $1.2 billion represents our share and the remaining $3.2 billion represents our partners’ share. We are not able to estimate amounts that may be required beyond the remaining cost of the work to be performed. These costs could be offset by billings to the customer or proceeds from our partners’ corporate and/or other guarantees. See Note 10 for disclosure of the amounts recorded in our consolidated balance sheets.

Surety Bonds

We are generally required to provide various types of surety bonds that provide an additional measure of security under certain public and private sector contracts. At December 31, 2013, $1.8 billion of our contract backlog was bonded. Performance bonds do not have stated expiration dates; rather, we are generally released from the bonds after the owner accepts the work performed under contract. The ability to maintain bonding capacity to support our current and future level of contracting requires that we maintain cash and working capital balances satisfactory to our sureties.