when sending a 3 month notice which month is supposed to getting notice? the first, second, or third month?

Hello,

First month notice is due by the 15th day of the second month after you finish work. So if you finished work any time in July, first notice is due to GC and Property Owner by September 15.

You may continue to send notices after that but I frequently tell my clients to just go ahead and file the lien if all the paperwork is in order. No sense in waiting longer.

E. Aaron Cartwright III
214.799.0776
Info@EACLawyer.com

Is the notice for July or September?

If you are a subcontractor to the original contractor (typically called the general contractor, the contractor who contracted with the owner) and your project is a commercial (and not a residential) project, then your first notice would be by certified mail to the owner and original contractor (general contractor) by the 15th day of the third month after each month in which you performed work but have not been paid. So, if your unpaid work occurred in June, 2021, then your notice to the owner and original contractor would have to be mailed by certified mail by September 15, 2021, to provide notice of non-payment with a request that the owner trap funds from its payments to the original contractor.

You should include in the notice a request that you be paid retainage with a listing of the amount of the retainage.

Retain a construction attorney to evaluate your legal rights and to provide advice. The legal analysis would start with a review of your subcontract, and then extend to any communications which have occurred. The original contractor may or may not be entitled to withhold payment to you based on not receiving payment from the owner -- it depends on how that provision was worded, and whether it satisfies the Texas paid-if-paid requirements.

Under the circumstances, you want to make sure that you perfect your mechanic's lien rights to induce the owner to make payment for your work.

Good luck.