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Last Date of Furnishing w/Warranty work

It is my understanding that the last date of furnishing is the last day worked on the job. However, for us, we are obligated to do warranty work for 1yr after the date of sale of the house. So if we need to file a lien, are we supposed to wait until the 1yr is up? Or can we use the last date we were on the job site? Because, in reality, we could visit the job site multiple times within that warranty year or we may never visit that job again. If we never have to visit the job site again, the Last Date of Furnishing would be more than the 90 days from the last day we were there and therefore would no t be able to file a lien and we would loose our payment. How should we proceed in instances such as this?

1 reply

Dec 26, 2018

That's an interesting question. First, I should mention that I won't be able to advise you on how to proceed, and what a company should do is based heavily on the interests of that individual company as well as the other circumstances present - such as business relationships. Regardless, that's a good point - in Michigan, the deadline to file a mechanics lien is 90 days after the last furnishing of labor and/or materials. Generally speaking, this date will run from the last furnishing of substantial labor and/or materials - meaning, mere punch list work or warranty work will typically not serve as the basis for the mechanics lien deadline. We explore that topic more in this post: I Returned to a Job – Does that Change the Lien Deadlines? Further, it's worth noting that payment disputes and issues relating the project should likely be resolved sooner than later. So, in a situation where there has been nonpayment at the end of the job, pursuing payment (via lien claim or some other remedy) should likely be resolved without worrying about later warranty work that may or may not become necessary. The deadline to file a lien is the deadline - and the potential that more work may be needed further down the line will have no bearing on that deadline. Now, if additional work is later required, there's a chance that work could be lienable if payment would be owed for that work. But the deadline for that work, if it were lienable, would run from the completion of that work - not prior work performed. But, as mentioned in the article above, it's not a good idea to count on the potential for warranty work to reopen the deadline for filing a lien for prior work completed. Here's another article that explores the topic: Punchlist or Warranty Work Can Be A Risk To Your Mechanics Lien Deadlines.

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