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How do I file preliminary notices on a project that is under one contract but 8 separate locations?

CaliforniaPreliminary Notice

We have a contract with a School District for a project that has eight (8) different schools/locations. The contract is one lump sum and pricing is not broken out per school. How do we proceed with our preliminary notice filing? Do we do one for each school - but we would not be able to break out price for each school or do we just list "various locations" or do we do it under the School District address? We are in California - your drop down below where you put the state is not working.

1 reply

Nov 19, 2018

That's a good question. First, it's worth looking at exactly who is required to provide preliminary notice. On California public projects, under § 9300 of the California Civil Code, parties who contract directly with the public entity or the public entity's prime contractor do not need to send preliminary notice. Sending notice, even when not required, can provide a lot of benefits (namely, improving communication and visibility on the job), but when it's not specifically required by statute, a party sending notice can really decide who they'll send notice to. When notice is required and there's one contract for multiple properties, that could certainly be a little confusing. Generally, when only one contract has been signed, only one notice would be required. Further, under § 9300, notice must go to the public entity and the direct contractor to whom the claimant provides work - so where there's only one public entity who's ordered a project for multiple locations, sending notice to that entity is likely sufficient. Plus, under § 8108(b), when a public entity is the one being notified, notice is sent to: "...the office of the public entity or another address specified by the public entity in the contract or elsewhere for service of notices, papers, and other documents." As for the contents of that notice, it would likely make the most sense to include each address where work will be performed - that way, a clear picture of the entire improvement can be given. Not to mention, under § 8102(a)(4), a description of the site of the improvement sufficient for identification (including street address) must be included in a preliminary notice. Using a catch-all such as "various locations" would likely not be sufficient to identify project property.

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