Washington Preliminary Notice Guide and FAQs

If you did not contract directly with the owner, you are required to provide the owner with a “Notice to Owner.”

If you contracted directly with the owner, you are required to provide the owner a “Model Disclosure Statement” when your work involves the repairing, altering or building of 4 or fewer residential units on residential property and the bid price is $1,000 or more, or when the work to be done is on a commercial building and the bid price is between $1,000 – 60,000. A detailed discussion of this is found in the article, “Deliver the Model Disclosure Statement or Else.”

Note that if you are only furnishing labor, you need not send a Washington preliminary notice (though a Model Disclosure statement will still be required if you contracted directly with the owner). However, if there is any material component to the contract or furnishing, preliminary notice is required to protect your full mechanics lien rights. In the circumstance when you are providing labor and materials, it may be possible to file a lien for the labor portion of the work (and exclude the materials cost) without a preliminary notice…however, it is a best practice to avoid this need.  For more, see:  You Don’t Need Preliminary Notice in Washington for Labor Portion of Work.

As you can see, there are a few nuances associated with the preliminary notice requirements in Washington. We published this helpful article way back in 2007 (!), yet it is still useful in evaluating all of these nuances and helping you understand if notice is required on a Washington project:  Is Notice Required Before Filing A Construction Lien? Washington Law.

If you did not contract directly with the owner, the “Notice to Owner” can be sent at any time, but it only protects your rights to claim a lien for a limited period of time prior to delivery of the notice. To fully preserve your lien rights, the Notice to Owner must be delivered within 60 days of the date labor or materials were first furnished to the property for all commercial cases, and on a remodel, alteration, or repair of an owner-occupied single-family residence. If your work was the new construction of a single-family home, the Notice to Owner should be delivered within 10 days of first providing labor or materials to the project.

If you contracted directly with the Owner, the “Model Disclosure Statement” must be delivered prior to the initiation of work. The statement must be signed by the Owner, and you must retain a copy of the signed document for at least three years.

If you miss the required date and deliver the Notice to Owner late, all is not necessarily lost.

A late notice in all commercial cases, and on a remodel, alteration, or repair of an owner-occupied single-family residence will protect your lien rights for 60 days prior to the date the Notice was delivered.

In the case of new construction of a single-family home, a late notice will protect your lien rights for the 10 days preceding the delivery of the notice.

If you did not contract directly with the prime contractor, notice must also be given to the prime contractor.

An interesting situation arises when working on condominium projects in Washington state. At the start of a condo project, it’s possible that the entire facility is owned by a single development company. However, this may not be the case, and if work is being performed on common elements after the units have already been sold, the condominium project may be owned by an assortment of different parties. This creates a complicated legal question about who must receive the preliminary notice. This head scratcher is discussed in more detail to help you determine which parties should and should not receive notice in the article “Who Gets Preliminary Notice When Working On A Condominium Complex in Washington?”

If sent by registered or certified mail, the notice is considered delivered three days after mailing, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

It depends. Washington requires any party furnishing materials, supplies, or provisions to any subcontractor to send preliminary notice to the general contractor to preserve the right to prosecute a bond claim.

When required, the preliminary notice must be delivered or mailed to the general contractor no later than 10 days from the date of claimant’s first furnishing of labor and/or materials to the project.

When required, failure to give the preliminary notice timely is fatal to a bond claim in Washington.

Washington statutes provide no concrete answer to how the preliminary notice must be sent. However, it appears that actual receipt is necessary. It is likely advisable to send the notice via certified or registered mail, or have it served personally.

The preliminary notice, when required, must be delivered to the general contractor.