Written for general contractors, remodelers, framers and carpenters, roofers, drywall, masonry and concrete contractors, and kitchen and bath installers in the US, from one-truck outfits to small GCs.
The short version
- Serve every preliminary notice on its deadline.On every job, in the statutory form, with proof of service. Miss one and the lien may be gone.
- Sign unconditional waivers only after funds clear.Until then, use your state's statutory conditional waiver form or a joint check. Signed early, an unconditional waiver gives away the lien for that amount.
- Calendar the lien deadline when you finish.Count from the event your state uses, like your last work or delivery in Florida. A construction attorney licensed there should file it.
When a GC pays late, the first question is not how hard to chase but whether your lien or bond rights are still alive. In California, Florida and Texas they depend on notices served while the work is going on, and then on a filing deadline. Check both before you send the first letter.
The deadlines, state by state
California: a preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing, and a sub's lien within 90 days after completion, or 30 days after a recorded notice of completion (Civ. Code secs. 8204 and 8414). New York: a lien within 8 months, or 4 months for a single-family home (Lien Law sec. 10). As of Oct 2026.
Florida, Texas and federal jobs
Florida: a Notice to Owner within 45 days; miss it and you likely lose the lien, so check for a payment bond and pursue the contractor under the contract. The lien itself is due 90 days after final furnishing. Texas commercial work: a notice by the 15th day of the 3rd month after each month worked. For a sub, the lien affidavit deadline runs from its own last month of work, not from completion of the original contract: a second-tier sub whose notices were timely, whose last work was in March 2026 and who had no later specially fabricated-material date had to file by July 15, 2026, the 15th day of the 4th month after. Federal jobs: a second-tier supplier gives written notice to the prime within 90 days of its last delivery and sues on the Miller Act bond within 1 year. As of Oct 2026.
Fla. Stat. secs. 713.06 and 713.23; Tex. Prop. Code sec. 53.052(b); 40 U.S.C. sec. 3133(b)
- Check your notices.Was the preliminary notice or Notice to Owner served on time, in the statutory form, with proof of service? If not, the lien may be gone, so look to the payment bond and your contract claim.
- Check the payment clause against the state.In California, a GC that is late and cites pay-if-paid is relying on a void clause. If the GC has been paid, demand the 2% monthly penalty and consider a stop payment notice. As of Oct 2026.
- Look for trust fund rights.In Texas, payments on a job are trust funds. If a GC is paying another job's suppliers from this job's draw while you remain unpaid, object in writing and ask for the draw history, citing chapter 162.
- Calendar the filing deadline.Use the event your state counts from: in Texas your own last month of work, in Florida your final furnishing. Have a construction attorney licensed in the state file the lien or bond claim.
Texas trust funds
Construction payments are trust funds. Intentionally or knowingly diverting them is civil misapplication, officers who direct it can be personally liable, and with intent to defraud, $500 or more is a third-degree felony. As of Oct 2026.
Tex. Prop. Code ch. 162, secs. 162.031 and 162.032
An unconditional waiver signed before the check clears gives away the lien for that amount.
In New York, an advance lien waiver is void (Lien Law sec. 34). On private projects covered by Gen. Bus. Law art. 35-E, the owner pays 30 days after approving the invoice, and payment downstream is due 7 days after good funds and the required documents. As of Oct 2026.
If a homeowner withholds over defects
Defect notices in Texas and Florida
Right-to-repair laws make the owner give notice and a chance to inspect and offer a fix before suing, and missing your response deadline can lose that protection. In Texas, a homeowner's notice under the Residential Construction Liability Act gives you 35 days to inspect and 45 days from the notice to make any written offer. In Florida, a chapter 558 notice needs your written response within 45 days, or 75 for an association claim. Forward the notice to your subs and your insurer the same week, preserve evidence and admit nothing. As of Oct 2026.
Tex. Prop. Code sec. 27.004; Fla. Stat. ch. 558
Preliminary notices only protect you if you send them on every job, before anything goes wrong. Make serving them part of starting a job, not part of chasing money.
Asked in Greymill
Instead: sign California's statutory conditional waiver form, or ask for a joint check. Go unconditional only once the funds have cleared.
Preliminary notice: day 12 is inside the 20 days from your first work or delivery (As of Oct 2026), as long as it was in the statutory form with proof of service.
Pay-if-paid: void in California. If the GC has in fact been paid, demand the 2% monthly penalty (As of Oct 2026) and consider a stop payment notice.
Lien deadline: 90 days after completion, or only 30 days after a recorded notice of completion (As of Oct 2026). Check today whether one was recorded, and calendar the date.
Have a construction attorney licensed in California file any lien. I can draft the letter to the GC now.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Contracts & Disputes works it through for your business.
I run a construction or building business in [state], in the US. On [job], a [private or public] project for [owner], the GC [name] owes me [amount] for work from [dates]. I served [which preliminary notices, and when], and my last day of work or delivery was [date]. The contract says [paste the payment clause]. Tell me whether my lien or bond rights are still alive, the deadlines I must meet, and the letter to send the GC now.
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Open the interactive lesson · Every construction and building lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- HB 2237 secs.8, 9 and 11; Tex. Prop. Code secs.53.052(b), 53.055 and 53.056(a-1) (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- secs. 162.031, 162.032 (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- Bus. and Prof. Code secs.7048(a) to (c), 7031 (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- secs. 7108.5, 8412, 8414 (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- secs. 713.06, 713.23, 713.345 (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law secs.756(1), 756-a(3), 756-c; Lien Law sec.34 (Hard cases: liens, CONTRACTS and payment)
- Civ. Code sec. 8204; Fla. Stat. sec. 713.06(2)(a); Tex. Prop. Code sec. 53.056 (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- see "MECHANICS LIENS: THE FOUR-STATE NOTICE AND FILING MATRIX" sources (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- sec. 27.004(a), (b) (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- sec. 558.004(5) (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- 29 C.F.R. sec. 1904.39(a) (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- A201-2017 sec. 15.1.3 (Who must sign off: time-critical steps first)
- DEC Electric v. Raphael Construction, 558 So. 2d 427 (Fla. 1990) (Contracts, pay-if-paid, prompt payment, retainage and bonds)
- secs. 28.002, 28.004 (Contracts, pay-if-paid, prompt payment, retainage and bonds)
- secs. 8812, 8814, 8818 (Contracts, pay-if-paid, prompt payment, retainage and bonds)
- Cal. Civ. Code sec.8811(a), (b)(1) to (3) (Contracts, pay-if-paid, prompt payment, retainage and bonds)
- Pub. Cont. Code sec. 7201(b)(1), (b)(2) (Contracts, pay-if-paid, prompt payment, retainage and bonds)
- Civ. Code secs. 895 to 945.5; sec. 941 (Defects, right to repair and statutes of repose)
- Texas HB 2024 secs.1 to 3; CPRC sec.16.009(a-2) to (a-4) (Defects, right to repair and statutes of repose)
- CCP secs. 337.1, 337.15 (Defects, right to repair and statutes of repose)
- Fla. Stat. sec.95.11(3)(b) (Defects, right to repair and statutes of repose)
- What is new; reporting threshold (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Bus. and Prof. Code sec.7125; CSLB Bulletin 22-12 (Oct.11,2022), four additional classifications from Jan.1,2023 and pre-existing C-39 duty (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Bus. and Com. Code ch. 56 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Termination table, Q1 and Q7; IRC sec.25D(e)(8) (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Notice 2026-11 secs.2.02(1), 3.03, 3.06 and 3.07 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Bus. and Prof. Code sec. 7030.5; Fla. Stat. sec. 489.119(5)(b) (Deliverables in house style)
- sec. 7159; GBL sec. 771; Fla. Stat. sec. 489.1425; Tex. Prop. Code sec. 53.255 (Deliverables in house style)
- Civ. Code secs. 8132 to 8138; Tex. Prop. Code secs. 53.281 to 53.287; Fla. Stat. sec. 713.20 (Deliverables in house style)
- Form WH-347 (Deliverables in house style)