Arizona Amended Preliminary Notice Form

Is this a project for the government or a private project? You note that the GC can no longer do projects for the State of Arizona so that brings up this question. This matters. 

Your post then brings up secondary questions. You say the GC terminated your other contracts. Do those contracts allow unilateral termination on notice and without cause by the GC? As for future contracts, the same point is at issue. A contract is enforceable on acceptance and cannot be terminated unless the contract allows that right. If all these contracts allowed the GC to terminate, that was an unfortunate contract term to accept. Have your attorney closely review your contracts. 

With that out of the way, to your question. If this is a private contract, contractors are required to record their notice and claim for lien within the earlier of 120 days after completion or, if a notice of completion has been recorded and served, within 60 days after such recording. ARS § 33-993(A). 

 Completion means the earliest of either 30 days after final inspection and written final acceptance by the governmental body issuing the building permit, or cessation of labor for a period of 60 consecutive days, except when such cessation is due to a strike, shortage of materials, or act of God. ARS § 33-993(C). If your contract was terminated, then this is a cessation of labor. 

Assuming you timely served preliminary notice, make sure to timely file the lien. If you don't have a construction attorney, reach out to a construction attorney for advice. Our office provides free initial consultations

Robert Murillo

robert@pivotallegal.com. 

If this is for the same parcel of property and amends the original contract, then you may have to file an amended preliminary notice. If the updated total price exceeds by 30% (I assume the contract was at or after 2020) the estimated total price provided in your preliminary lien, you must serve an additional preliminary notice. If you do not this, that may result in a monetary limit in your recovery if you must foreclose on the lien. You cannot send some "an additional amount" preliminary notice. It must be an amendment that covers the total new amount, if it hits the threshold noted. 

There is no way around this. Do not do this or do this incorrectly and you risk a recovery amount below the amount that could be at issue. 

Retain an attorney to avoid mistakes. The cost for the attorney to protect your business is a fraction of the cost of mistakes that will be made. 

Feel free to reach out with questions. 

Robert Murillo

robert@pivotallegal.com. 

Thank you for reaching out to our legal community. Your question might be too specific for an attorney to answer in this public forum. You may wish to consider consulting an attorney privately. Here are some attorneys from our directory in your area: https://www.levelset.com/payment-help/experts/construction-lawyer/arizona/

Hope this helps!