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Preliminary Notice

What is a Preliminary Notice?

A Preliminary Notice is a construction notice that subcontractors, equipment lessors, and material suppliers must send at the start of a construction job in order to secure their lien and/or bond claim rights.

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Prelien secures your lien and bond claim rights
Secures your Lien and
Bond Claim rights
Prelien Protects your equity
Protects your equity interest in the property
Preliminary notice notify all parties in the project
Notifies all parties that your company is on the project
Prelien ensures cashflow
Ensures cashflow for your present and future projects

Does your state require a Preliminary Notice? 

43 states  have a required notice in order to secure Lien and Bond Claim rights. Every state has different Preliminary Notice deadline. Does your state require a Preliminary Notice? Check it out on the map below, along with specified deadlines.

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Both private and public projects - statutory notice required.
Private projects- statutory notice required.
No notice required , but it is recommended to send a notice.

How to send a Preliminary Notice?

Some states require you to send a Preliminary Notice within a specific period of time in order to secure your lien and/or bond claim rights.

Preliminary Notices are named differently in different states. For example, in Florida a preliminary notice is called a Notice to Owner (NTO), in Texas it's called a Fund Trapping notice, and in Georgia it's called a Notice to Contractor.

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STEP 1

First, you need the basics

To send a preliminary notice, you need to have your job information like the job address, your first day on the job, the company/person that hired you and the contract amount.

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STEP 2

The second step is easy!

Once you have the information ready with you, sign up to send your preliminary notice in less than 5 minutes. Once your account is active, you can put in all the information and submit your request in a few steps. Easy peasy!

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STEP 3

Relax! We take it from here

A dedicated account manager from SunRay will be assigned to send your preliminary notice within 5 business days.

SunRay’s research team and application provides the following solutions:

Construction Bond Claim Steps
Research the property owner, legal property description, NOCs and bonding information when applicable.
Construction Bond Claim Steps
Mail your preliminary notices.
Construction Bond Claim Steps
Track your preliminary notice deadlines.
Construction Bond Claim Steps
Retain records of all your preliminary notices and USPS tracking details.
Construction Bond Claim Steps
Provide you with Free Waivers and Releases of Liens
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Secure your lien rights
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Preliminary Notice FAQs

Frequently asked questions on preliminary notice or pre-lien

How do I know how many Notices to Owners (NTOs) to send if there are multiple NOCs?

The rule for a blanket NTO vs. multiple NTOs is based off whether there is 1 contract between the GC and the owner of the project. If they do not know if there is 1 contract and there are multiple NOCs, then we would send multiple NTOs.  

For multiple residential lots that have separate NOCs even though there is 1 contract (between GC and Owner), it would be best to send multiple NTOs as well, one NTO for each NOC/lot in case they start selling the lots as they get finished.

For example, there are 10 lots being built, there is one contract between the owner and the GC but each lot has its own NOC, if the owner/developer sells only lots 1 & 2, you shouldn't do one lien to reflect all the lots and all the owners. The best business practice is to do one lien for lot 1 with the old and new owner, one lien for lot 2 with the old and new owner and the other lien for the other lots that have not been sold and are still owned by the developer. As there were separate Notice to Owner forms for each lot, you may file such separate liens.

There are other facts to take into consideration, such as the NOCs being terminated when the lots are completed and so that they can be sold, regardless, if you are within the 30 days from the notice of termination you can still lien for that specific lot.

Another case, if you got paid for each lot separately, you may file separate liens only on the lots that you did not get paid for, because you secured your lien rights for each lot, by doing separate NTOs.

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