How is the Payment Score Calculated?

The types of documents exchanged are key signals for construction payment. Positive signals include preliminary notices and lien waivers. Negative signals include mechanics liens, notices of intent to lien, and Texas monthly notices, each carrying a different weight to the score. To generally improve your score, encourage exchanging preliminary notices and lien waivers.

The number of companies sending a document to the scored contractor matters. Generally, receiving preliminary notices from 5 different companies will help pay score more than receiving 5 preliminary notices from 1 company. Similarly, mechanics liens from 3 different contractors will negatively impact the pay score more than 3 mechanics liens from 1 contractor.

The number of each type of document received will affect the score. Generally, 3 mechanics liens will negatively impact the pay score more than 1 mechanics lien. Similarly receiving 10 preliminary notices will help the pay score more than 2.

The payment score tracks how recent documents were exchanged. This allows the pay score to improve or decline over time. Generally, a mechanics lien 12 months ago will impact the score less than one 6 months ago. 10 positive signals a month ago will help more than 3 positive signals 6 months ago.