You may have noticed we’ve spent the past two weeks doing a pretty comprehensive series on material suppliers and the mechanic lien laws. Here’s a roundup of all those posts, which acts as a nice resource for material suppliers interested in learning more about their mechanic lien rights.
Top 4 Mechanic Lien Law Challenges For Material Suppliers
More than any other construction participant, complying with mechanic lien and bond claim laws is most burdensome for building material suppliers. This post examines the lien and notice challenges specific to those in the building material supply business.
Should Material Suppliers Wait Until An Account Is Overdue Before Sending Preliminary Notice?
Since material suppliers furnish to so many projects, they often inquire if there’s an easy strategy to sending preliminary notices: just send it when the account is overdue. The approach has problems, because by the time an account is overdue, preliminary notice is frequently too late. This post examines when this may work, and when it won’t.
Special Mechanic Lien Rules for Specially Fabricated Materials
When materials are fabricated specifically for a job, the manufacturer or supplier may be interested in filing a mechanics lien even if the materials are never actually incorporated into the project (i.e. the order is cancelled). While liens are generally not allowed for materials not used in a project, this post examines why specially fabricated materials are frequently an exception to this rule.
Suppliers to Suppliers Usually Can’t File A Mechanics Lien
In a world where there are few universal rules, the rule that suppliers to suppliers cannot file a mechanics lien is pretty universal. When supplying to a prime contractor, a subcontractor, or just about anyone who furnishes some type of service other than the strict delivery of materials, the supplying party has mechanic lien rights. If furnishing materials to someone else who just furnishes materials, however, laws consider the supplier’s supplier as too far removed to qualify. This post examines why, and how prevalent the rule actually is.
The Material Suppliers Guide To Creating A Mechanic’s Lien Policy
The mechanics lien is really just a credit and collections tool, and just like companies need a credit / collections policy, they also need what we’ve termed a “mechanics lien policy.” This post defines the concept of a mechanics lien policy, and discusses the things to contemplate when constructing such a policy so that the material supply company consistently protects and perfects its mechanic lien rights.
How Material Suppliers Prove Its Materials Were Incorporated Into The Property When Filing A Lien
Material suppliers only qualify to file a mechanics lien if their materials were incorporated into the project (except for specially fabricated materials, see above). That begs the question: how does one prove its materials were actually incorporated into the jobsite. This post examines how courts address this issue, and what a material supplier needs to do to ensure it can meet its burden.
How Zlien Can Help Material Suppliers
The Supplier Series posts conclude with an article about how a mechanics lien and preliminary notice service like Zlien can help material supply companies and materialmen with the challenges and issues discussed in the preceding posts. This post actually refers back to the first post (about material supplier challenges), and discusses how Zlien can help with each one.
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