Mechanics' Liens, Stop Notices, and Payment Bonds
Deadlines are the whole game
Mechanics liens attach to private work. A claimant must generally serve a preliminary (20-day) notice on the owner, the direct contractor, and the construction lender within 20 days after beginning work to preserve rights for earlier work; later service protects work performed 20 days before service and after. Direct contractors and laborers are exempt from the preliminary notice.
Recording deadlines follow completion. A direct contractor records a lien within 90 days after completion, or within 60 days after a notice of completion or cessation is recorded. Other claimants have 90 days after completion, or 30 days after the notice is recorded. The foreclosure suit must then be filed within 90 days after recording the lien.
On public works, lien rights are replaced by stop payment notices to the public entity and by claims against the payment bond; a bond claimant must generally notify the surety within 90 days after last furnishing work. Waivers come in statutory conditional and unconditional progress and final forms - an unconditional waiver can erase rights even if the check bounces.
Trap: claimants assume a lien survives because the debt is undisputed; missing the recording or foreclosure deadline kills the right regardless of merit.
Rule of thumb: calendar the 20-90-90 - 20-day preliminary notice, 90-day recording, 90-day suit - plus 90 days to the surety on bonded public work.