Menu
Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>What date do we use for first furnishing materials/labor in Florida?

What date do we use for first furnishing materials/labor in Florida?

Florida

In Florida the Preliminary Notice is due within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials for all parties who did not contract with the owner. I would like a bit of clarification to apply this to our business. After we receive a purchase order and deposit, we have to go to the property, which is typically a hotel, to field measure the windows included in the order. It is these measures that we use to fabricate the product in our factory. This field measure is typically built into the price of the total purchase order. Do we use the first date of field measure as the date for first furnishing materials or the date that we start installing materials at the property?

2 replies

May 12, 2020
In Florida, the "preliminary notice" is called a Notice to Owner (NTO). The NTO must be served upon the Owner (and any other persons/entities listed in the Notice of Commencement). The statute allows for the NTO to be served "before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish his or her labor, services, or materials, but, in any event, before the date of the owner’s disbursement of the final payment after the contractor has furnished the affidavit under subparagraph (3)(d)1." 713.06(2) So, one can send the NTO upon signing the contract with the GC is desired, but no later than 45 days after beginning work. I typically advise subcontractors and suppliers to serve the NTO once the subcontract agreement has been signed.
0 people found this helpful
Helpful
May 12, 2020
Windows that you custom fabricate for the project per the field dimensions of the window openings are considered "specially fabricated materials" under Florida's lien law. Chapter 713 specifically excludes "any design work, submittals, or the like preliminary to actual fabrication of the materials" from the definition of "furnishing" for purposes of specially fabricated materials. So under this definition, you would exclude the field measurement work as "preliminary to actual fabrication of materials" and run your 45-day clock from the date your company actually starts manufacturing the windows.
0 people found this helpful
Helpful