I’ve been on a project for 3 months on Florida is it to late to send notice to owner and if so how do I ensure I will be paid. I think there’s a payment bond on the job it’s a 7 million project?
1 reply
Nov 27, 2019
Florida is very strict when it comes to Notice to Owner requirements. In Florida, parties hired by someone other than the property owner must send a Notice to Owner within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials to the project. Otherwise, the right to later file a mechanics lien will typically be lost.
Note, though, that if a payment bond is present - recovery methods and notice requirements will change a bit.
Notice requirements for Florida private projects that have payment bonds
A claimant must typically still send notice when the project is bonded. Generally, a Notice to Contractor must be sent within 45 days of first furnishing. The notice is very similar to a Notice to Owner, and sometimes even combined with the document. However, this requirement is only in place if a copy of the project's payment bond was included along with the Notice of Commencement filed for the job.
If a copy of the bond was not included along with the Notice of Commencement, then the claimant will only need to send notice within 45 days of their receiving a copy of the bond. Of course, the traditional bond claim deadline will apply. And, a claimant must make their bond claim ("Notice of Nonpayment") within 90 days of last furnishing labor or material to the job.
Filing a bond claim on a private construction project
They aren't terribly common, but payment bonds on private projects aren't unheard of either. When a private project is bonded, recovery will come against the payment bond rather than filing a mechanics lien claim against the property, itself.
Generally, this means that a notice of the claim is sent to the relevant parties (i.e. the owner, contractor, and surety) so they're aware of a payment issue. Upon receipt of the claim, the surety will generally initiate an investigation into the situation and make a determination as to whether payment must be made. You can read more about that here: How to Get Paid – Next Steps After Filing a Bond Claim.