Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

A Preliminary Notice may also be referred to as a Prelien, Prelim, Notice to Owner, Notice of Commencement or 20-day Preliminary Notice depending on which state you are working in. The main purpose of the Preliminary Notice is to announce that you and your company are present and that you have a financial interest in the property being improved. In many cases, though the General Contractor knows that you are providing labor and/or materials to the job, his customer (presumably the property owner) may not know of your involvement. It is your legal responsibility to notify the owner (and all other financially interested parties) that you have this claim.

Filing a Preliminary Notice is the first and most important step that you can take in the protection of your lien rights. Although most business negotiations are made with the best intentions in the Construction Industry of today, it is not hard to understand why so many invoices get overlooked, passed on to the wrong department, or even sent to the wrong company for payment. The fact is, once your invoice becomes past due, everyday that goes by your chances of being paid for your labor or materials becomes smaller and smaller. Although laws vary from state to state, in most states, failure to file a Preliminary Notice will result in the loss of your lien rights against any improved property. What this means is if you dont file a Preliminary Notice within a specified time period of the time you start a job, you will not be able to legally file a Mechanics Lien on the owners property to recoup monies owed you.

Although requirements vary from state to state, a good rule of thumb is to file the Notice the same day you begin work on or ship materials to the jobsite. This will protect your entire investment in the property starting day one.

For the small cost of serving a Prelien, its a good idea. This small investment provides a huge incentive for the paying party to make sure your company is at the top of the list when they start paying invoices

There are many good reasons to use a professional service; these are three of the most important. The first is research. When we prepare your preliminary notice we thoroughly investigate and verify all parties involved. Second, knowledge of individual state requirements. In some states you are required to notify the General Contractor, the Owner, the Lender, the Tenant, the Bonding Agentfailure to notify any one of these parties, or sending the Notice to the incorrect address, or incorrectly identifying the lot parcel number, or even having the margins set incorrectly on the Notice itself can void the entire Preliminary Notice and result in the loss of your right to file a Mechanics Lien on the property. Third, its more cost effective. How long does it take you or one of your employees to access all the county and state records, telephone and verify all parties involved that must be notified, notate all conversations, then find and fill out the correct form and attachments for the state in which your doing business, then travel to the post office to obtain a Certificate of Mailing that must be kept on file as proof of the serving? These are just a few of the reasons we recommend using a professional service.

You can file a Mechanics Lien against the property as soon as you feel youve waited long enough to be paid for your materials and/or labor used in the job named in your Preliminary Notice. In most states there are statutes that determine how long you have from the date of the Notice of Completion or the Notice of Cessation to file a Mechanics Lien, normally 60-90 days after the job has been completed and/or these notices have been filed. To find out what the exact statutes are for the state youre doing business in, please contact one of our representatives, well be happy to help.

Call us. We know the law regarding your lien rights in most situations. We have a Paralegal on staff that specializes in the construction industry and a working relationship with Construction Attorneys in all 50 states.

There are two ways to pay for the service. 1) Pay as go by check and/or credit card. 2) Set up a account and we will bill you once a month and you will have 15 days to pay your bill from date of invoice.