Recovering from Hurricane Harvey will take all hands on deck. Contractors, subs, and laborers coming in from out of state should keep track of Texas licensure regulations as well as Texas lien and notice laws.

Because of these issues, we’ve put together a guide based on the Las Vegas Raiders stadium project to show Nevada-based construction companies some ways to secure their project payments.

I’ve noticed a lot of bad information floating around the internet with some companies positing that a new preliminary notice should be sent in every state as a general rule “when contracts increase by 20% or more.” Please be aware – this is dangerous advice.

Since the deadlines are so crucial to protecting lien rights, what happens if you miss one? The answer depends on many factors, one of which is the “flexibility” of the deadline itself.

Not only is the construction industry as a whole somewhat behind other industries when it comes to new technology, given the slow state of technology adoption, implementing new technology in the field or back office of a construction company can be an especially tall task.

One common reason that mechanics liens are rejected by county recorders is that the required attachments are not included with the lien when submitted for filing, or are not presented in a format that the recorder deems acceptable.

Documents have certain requirements that are necessary for recording. Outside of these requirements, the county recorder generally should NOT reject a document for recording based on their interpretation of the information on the document. The reality though is that it happens all the time.

Any attempt to preemptively limit the right to file mechanics liens becomes a battle between the right of freedom of contract on one side, and centuries old public policy on the other. How that battle shakes out can depend on many different factors.

Many construction companies occupy both sides of the credit fence. That is, they both extend credit to other parties on the project, and provide labor and/or materials on credit themselves.

Preliminary notices were originally developed for the benefit of property owners and upper-tier participants in order to provide visibility into the project and bring some of the potentially hidden project participants to light.

Sending notices is simply more professional and shows to other project stakeholders that you’re running a tight ship, and that when it comes to securing your payments, you know what you’re doing, and you mean business.

Despite the potentially higher initial costs, and the issues surrounding mechanics liens, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) can be useful in getting construction disputes handled efficiently.