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A preliminary notice (also known as a pre-lien, prelim, or notice) is a document that notifies all parties involved of your involvement in the permanent improvement of real property. This document is sent to all parties on the project up to the owner and essentially protects your lien rights should you need to file a lien.

Simply put, without a preliminary notice, a party may lose their lien rights. Which may result in not getting paid for a particular job.

It’s not uncommon for us to receive calls from prospects who are at the point where they need to lien property because they are not getting paid for a job. The first thing we ask when they call is “Did you send a pre-lien?” More often than not, they say they didn’t know that was a necessary step, or they were misinformed as to when to send the prelien, making it difficult for us to help.

The timeline for submitting your preliminary notice varies from state-to-state. You’ll have to check out what the requirements are in your particular state. For most states the require notices, you are required to send a preliminary notice at the beginning of your involvement in the project, either when your labor begins or the delivery of your materials occurs. The general rule of thumb when submitting your preliminary notice is to submit it before starting the project.

All of them. If you are able to send a pre-lien for the work you will be doing on a project or for materials you are supplying, do it. Regardless of how secure you feel on the job you are working. It is a great way to let all parties on the project up the chain know of your involvement with the project, and it can protect you against non-payment.

If your preliminary notice has already been mailed, we can not cancel it. It is a notice, not a recorded document, nor is it a claim against the property or property owner. If it is brought to your attention that there is inaccurate information on the prelien, we can amend the prelien and send it to all parties again with corrected information. You can not “unsend” a preliminary notice, and you probably won’t want to. It is there for your own protection. As long as you are getting paid, there is no reason to act on your preliminary notice. If your client is not familiar with preliminary notices, it can upset them if they do not understand. One option is to offer to provide them with a waiver and release after you are paid for the job. These waiver templates are available on our clients’ own portals.

The information that you’ll put in your preliminary notice will vary based on the state you are in, but in general your preliminary notice should include:

• Your Company Name, address, and phone number
• Contact info for the company that hired you
• Job site address
• Estimated Contract amount
• Your involvement in the project - your scope of work
• Contact info for:
• • General Contractor
  • Property Owner
  • Construction Lender
  • Other important parties
• Specific language required per state statute

Submitting it early helps protect any lien rights you may have. Additionally, it is inexpensive and easy to do, so give us a call and let us take care of it before you start to miss payments.

A Mechanic’s Lien is a document which allows a property to be subject to a claim of lien and attaches directly to the building, structure or improvement enhanced by the liening party’s services, materials or labor. The lien is recorded in the county recorder’s office in the county where the property is located. A mechanic’s lien puts the contractor in an optimal position to get paid for their service. A mechanic’s lien may stop the sale of real property and can disrupt the cash flow of construction projects to benefit the contractor or supplier. Most lien statutes are remedial in nature for the purpose of protecting those who have provided labor or materials that enhance real property.

There are strict time frames around this question based on the state where the project is located. The most important time frame to be aware of is when is it too late to file a lien? For most states this varies from 90 - 120 days from job completion, with several exceptions. Before you start any job, you should know Lien requirements and the strict time frame requirements associated with them.

Once you have a recorded lien you have options to try and collect your debt. There does come a time in each state that the lien becomes unenforceable - so know those time frames and act before it is too late. Some time frames may be as early as 90 days from the last day you provided labor or materials. After the recorded lien is mailed to all parties, you can:

1. Wait and see if it sparks some attention from the parties involved. (Often a payment negotiations follow a lien)
2. Turn your debt over to a collection agency
3. Contact legal counsel familiar with construction law in the state where the project is located.

A lien waiver and release acts similarly to a receipt in the sense that both parties agree that the people performing the work have been paid or will be paid and at that time when funds have cleared their bank account, lien rights are waived and the transaction is complete.

There are Lien Waivers for progress payments as well as for final payments. You want to take caution to complete the correct waiver forms before handing them out to your clients. A lien waiver is used to minimize the risk of a lien being filed against the property owner’s property and waives the contractor’s lien rights for work performed up until the date the waiver refers to.

Many property owners will request a lien waiver along with their invoice for the pay period. It may be a good idea to integrate them into your payment process as a way to show good faith and eliminate any potential lien concerns parties up the project chain may have.

Creating a Lien Waiver is not difficult, but it does require attention. Some state legislation includes suggested language to use within lien waivers. Also, there are qualified resources online that have tips and suggested language based on your state to use in order to protect your interests. It is always best to have an attorney review any agreement that you enter into.

Hands-down our amazing team and customers service. We all love what we do and we are passionate about helping our customers. We work closely with each of them and give them any support they may need. Give it a try! Give us a call and tell us what you think!

Start by clicking the Sign Up button on our website and we’ll get an account created for you. You will be emailed login credentials to our portal, which is where you will submit prelien requests and check on the status of each request. In this same email will be instructions on how to submit requests.

Our prices vary depending on what services you need, but they range from $25 for preliminary notices to $350 for bond claims and liens. For more, see our full price list.