Preliminary notices · pre-lien notices
Many U.S. states don't use a recorded Notice of Commencement. Instead, subcontractors and suppliers protect lien rights by serving a Preliminary Notice, Notice to Owner, or similar pre-lien notice on the property owner, general contractor, and construction lender — usually within a strict window after first furnishing labor or materials. Miss the deadline and lien rights are forfeit.
A Notice of Commencement is recorded once, at the start of the job, and it is the owner's document — it announces the project and names the parties. A preliminary notice is served, not recorded, and it is each lienor's own document: it tells the owner that this particular subcontractor or supplier is on the job and intends to preserve lien rights. One project can generate a single NOC and a dozen preliminary notices.
The practical consequence is who carries the risk. If an owner fails to record an NOC, the owner is exposed. If a supplier fails to serve a preliminary notice, the supplier loses its lien rights entirely — and the owner benefits from that failure.
General contractors in direct contract with the owner are usually exempt, on the logic that the owner already knows who they hired. Laborers are commonly exempt too.
Preliminary notice deadlines run from a lienor's first furnishing of labor or materials — not from the invoice date, not from completion, and not from the day payment was refused. California's is 20 days, Florida's Notice to Owner is 45 days, Illinois runs 90 days, and other states differ again. Serving late does not shrink the claim; in most states it extinguishes the lien right for everything furnished outside the window. Courts enforce these dates strictly because the entire scheme depends on owners getting timely warning.
Each page covers the statute, who must serve, the deadline, who receives copies, the permitted service method, and the effect of missing the window.
California Preliminary Notice · Texas Notice to Owner · New York Lien Law Notice · Arizona 20-Day Prelim · Nevada Preliminary Notice · Illinois 90-Day Notice
No, and it is worth telling customers so. A preliminary notice is a routine, forward-looking notice that preserves the right to lien later. It is not a claim, it is not an accusation of non-payment, and on most projects it is served on every job as a matter of course.
Serve it anyway. The deadline runs from your first day on the job, long before you know whether payment will go wrong, and it cannot be cured retroactively. Treating it as routine paperwork at mobilisation is far cheaper than discovering the window closed.
That varies by state, but commonly the general contractor and the construction lender, and in some states anyone the recorded commencement notice designates for service. Sending it to the owner alone is a frequent and fatal mistake.
These pages are reference guides to each state's requirements. The product's document workflow is deepest in Florida, where it handles Notices of Commencement, Notices to Owner, and statutory lien waivers.
General information about preliminary notice statutes, not legal advice. Deadlines are strict and vary by state and by role on the project; consult a licensed construction attorney in the state where the property is located.