California construction: subcontractors and suppliers

Miss the twenty days and the lien only reaches back twenty days. The notice is the whole claim.

On a private job in California, a subcontractor or a material supplier keeps the right to record a mechanics lien, serve a stop payment notice or claim on a payment bond by giving a preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing work. Civil Code section 8200 says who has to give it, section 8110 says it goes by certified or registered mail or an overnight carrier, and section 8118 says what you must be able to produce afterwards to prove it went. The notice itself is a form; the proof is the part people find out they never kept.

Who has to give it, and to whom

Civil Code § 8200 puts the duty on the claimant who is not in direct contract with the owner: the subcontractor, the sub-subcontractor, the equipment lessor, the material supplier. Before any of them can record a lien, give a stop payment notice or claim against a payment bond, the preliminary notice has to have gone to three people:

1. The owner or reputed owner of the property.
2. The direct contractor the claimant is working under, or the reputed direct contractor.
3. The construction lender, if there is one, or the reputed construction lender.

A direct contractor, the one with the contract with the owner, only has to notify the construction lender, and only if there is one. A laborer is not required to give the notice at all. Everyone else in the chain is, on every private job, whether or not payment looks like a problem on the day the work starts. That is what makes it a monthly volume of mail for a busy subcontractor rather than an occasional precaution.

Public works have their own version of this notice under the public works chapter; this page is about private works.

The twenty days, and what a late notice is still worth

Civil Code § 8204 sets the clock: the notice is to be given not later than 20 days after the claimant first furnishes work on the improvement. Work means labor, services, equipment or material, so the clock usually starts with the first delivery or the first day on site, whichever comes first, not with the first invoice.

A notice given late is not void. It is worth less. The claimant who gives it on day 45 can still record a lien, but only for work furnished in the 20 days before the notice and afterwards. The first 25 days of labor and material are unsecured, and on a job that goes bad those are usually the days that never get paid.

The practical rule that follows: send it on the first day, from the office, before anyone has an opinion about whether the general contractor is good for the money. The notice does not accuse anyone of anything. Its own statutory text says so, in capitals.

Which address, and where it comes from

Civil Code § 8108 decides the address, and it is a rule rather than a lookup. Notice to a person may be given at the person’s residence, place of business, or the address shown on the building permit, the direct contract, or a recorded document for the improvement; notice to a construction lender may be given at the address on the construction loan agreement or the recorded deed of trust. The documents that carry those addresses are the ones a claimant can actually read:

1. The building permit, on file with the city or county building department, names the owner and the contractor and carries an address for each.
2. The direct contract, or the subcontract, names the direct contractor and usually the owner.
3. The county recorder holds the deed and, where there is a construction loan, the deed of trust naming the lender and its address.
4. The Contractors State License Board record for any licensed contractor carries the address of record for that licence.

Where the owner is unknown, the statute lets the notice go to the reputed owner, which is why the permit and the recorder matter more than the sign on the fence. When in doubt send to every address the documents give you, and keep a record of each. A notice that went to one wrong address is a defect an owner’s lawyer will find; four notices to four documented addresses are not.

How it has to be sent

Civil Code § 8106 allows personal delivery or mail, and § 8110 says what mail means here: registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier. Ordinary first-class post does not satisfy the section. Under § 8116, notice by mail is complete when it is deposited, so the date that matters for the twenty days is the mailing date, and the mailing date is something you have to be able to prove.

What section 8118 asks you to produce afterwards

This is the part that decides disputes. Civil Code § 8118 says proof that notice was given is made by a declaration stating what was sent, when, where and how, and to whom, and that where the notice went by mail the declaration is to be accompanied by documentation from the Postal Service. The section names the forms that documentation may take: a receipt showing payment was made to send the notice by certified or registered mail, a return receipt, a delivery or signature confirmation, a tracking record, or the returned envelope where it was not delivered.

Read that list against what a subcontractor’s office usually has eighteen months later: a copy of the notice, and a memory of having mailed it. The receipt from the counter is gone, the tracking number was never written down, and the person who mailed it has left. The claim then rests on the declaration alone, against an owner who will say nothing arrived.

• The exact notice that was mailed, unchanged, with a fingerprint showing it is the same file.
• The address exactly as printed on the envelope, for each of the three recipients.
• The USPS article number and every delivery scan, added as they are reported.
• The signature of whoever accepted it, where the electronic return receipt was bought.
• A USPS Certificate of Mailing for the mailing date, where the evidence pack was bought, which is the section 8118 receipt for the mailing itself.

Piloxa keeps those together on one record for each letter, and the evidence pack, at $24.21 all in for a one-page notice, adds the Certificate of Mailing and keeps the whole record for seven years, which is longer than any lien claim or payment bond dispute will run. The sample record shows the incomplete states too, because a record that only looks good when everything worked is not evidence.

For subcontractors and suppliers sending these on every job

There is no subscription, no minimum and no setup fee. Each notice is priced as a letter, the three copies to the owner, the contractor and the lender are three letters, and the record for each one stands on its own. Firms that send a preliminary notice on every job can send them one at a time from the web app today, or from an assistant with the connector; the business page covers volume sending and what is not automated yet.

This page is about California private works. Other states have their own preliminary notice rules with their own deadlines, and several require nothing of the kind; check the statute for the state the property is in before assuming this sequence applies.

What you end up holding

• The exact letter that was approved, kept unchanged, with the fingerprint that shows it is the same file.
• The recipient address as it was printed, after the postal check.
• The mailing record: the service that was bought, when the letter was handed over to be printed and mailed, and the reference the printer gave it.
• The sentence you authorized, and the time you authorized it.

You are buying USPS Certified Mail, so the Postal Service keeps its own delivery record. Piloxa asks the printing partner for that history on its own, without anyone pressing anything, and adds each scan to your record as it is reported, naming where it came from. If you chose the return receipt, the signature of whoever accepted the letter is recorded the same way once USPS releases it. Where nothing has come back, the record says “no record yet” rather than guessing. The sample record shows every state, including the incomplete ones.

Certified Mail proves that something was delivered. It does not prove what was inside. Keeping the approved letter beside the mailing record is what closes that gap, and it is the whole reason this exists. See a filled-in record.

Common questions

Where does a California preliminary notice get mailed?

To the owner or reputed owner, the direct contractor, and the construction lender if there is one, at the addresses Civil Code 8108 allows: the person’s residence or place of business, or the address on the building permit, the direct contract or a recorded document for the job, and for a lender the address on the loan agreement or the recorded deed of trust.

Does it have to go by certified mail?

Civil Code 8110 says notice by mail is given by registered or certified mail, express mail, or overnight delivery by an express service carrier. Ordinary first-class post does not satisfy it. Personal delivery is also allowed under section 8106.

What happens if I miss the 20 days?

The notice is still worth giving, but under Civil Code 8204 the lien, stop payment notice or bond claim then reaches only work furnished in the 20 days before the notice and afterwards. Everything furnished earlier is unsecured.

Does a direct contractor have to send one?

Only to the construction lender, and only if there is one. The duty to notify the owner and the contractor falls on subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, equipment lessors and suppliers. A laborer is not required to give the notice.

What proof do I need to keep?

Civil Code 8118 asks for a declaration of what was sent, when, where, how and to whom, accompanied for a mailed notice by Postal Service documentation: a receipt showing payment for certified or registered mail, a return receipt, a delivery or signature confirmation, a tracking record, or the returned envelope. Keep the notice as sent beside that documentation.

Does this apply outside California?

No. Sections 8200 to 8216 are part of the California Civil Code and apply to private works of improvement in California. Public works and other states have their own notice rules and deadlines.

What does it cost to send?

$12.97 all in for a one-page notice by USPS Certified Mail, $15.97 with the electronic return receipt, or $24.21 with the evidence pack, which adds the USPS Certificate of Mailing and keeps the record for seven years. Each recipient is one letter. Printing, envelope and postage are included, with no subscription, no minimum and no setup fee.

Primary sources

• California Civil Code § 8200 — who gives preliminary notice, and to whom
• California Civil Code § 8202 — contents of the preliminary notice
• California Civil Code § 8204 — the 20-day period and the effect of a late notice
• California Civil Code § 8108 — where notice may be given
• California Civil Code § 8110 — notice by mail
• California Civil Code § 8118 — proof of notice
• USPS Postal Explorer: what Certified Mail and the Certificate of Mailing document

Statutory references last reviewed September 24, 2026. The mechanics lien chapters were recodified in 2012 and are amended from time to time; read the current text of each section before relying on it, and have counsel review your notice form.

Other notices with an address fixed by law

• HOA pre-lien notice
• Finding a company’s legal address
• Demand letter to a contractor
• Mortgage notice of error
• Sending in volume
• Send a certified letter