I'm a subcontractor, cabinet painting, that wasn't paid for a job and would like to get an idea of the process and timeframe I could expect. Considering the undisputed facts below, could I do this myself, could i do it with help of levelset or do I need a local attorney. This is the first time in 6 years of paitning that I didn't get paid and I have always followed the lien law timing requirements perfectly. In this case my work was on time and the quality perfect, the notice to owner was served on time and acknowledged and the claim of lien was filed on time. NOW LISTEN TO THIS. The owner never filed a notice of commencement and as it turns out the contractor was unlicensed and about 6 months back was served a stop work order from the DBPR. Consequently no building permits or inspections were done. The job should have had one for the remodel and the major plumbing; I learned all this when I went to the county to get information for my NTO. I told the owner all of this immediatly and gave him info from the county building department. So, the owner actually knew all this before making the final payment, so you can imagine how shocked I was when he made the final payment to the contractor and never asked for or received the final payment affidavid. Our best guess the contractor somehow bullied his way into getting paid by the owner and as you might expect left town the very next day and has not been seen since. Direction Please