Nobody likes paperwork. Whether it’s filing your taxes, renewing your car registration, or sending preliminary notices, when it comes to paperwork, we’d all probably rather be doing something else. If you work in the office of a construction company, then you probably have a lot on your plate already. Therefore, sending preliminary notices on your projects might seem like an easy task to put off since you’re already so busy.
However, while they may seem trivial, preliminary notices are actually very important, and there are a number of reasons why you shouldn’t waste any time getting your notices in the mail. Read on to learn four reasons why folks in the construction industry shouldn’t wait when it comes to sending their preliminary notices.
What’s so important about preliminary notices, anyway?
Before reading an article about sending preliminary notice faster, you might be wondering why sending preliminary notice is important to begin with. Watch the video below to hear about the time that “Al,” a subcontractor with decades of experience, learned the importance of sending preliminary notices on every project.
4 Reasons to Send Your Preliminary Notices on Day 1
1. Deadlines creep up faster than you think
Preliminary notice deadlines vary by state, but no matter where you are, there’s a very good chance of a notice deadline sneaking up on you. In California, for example, you have 20 days from your first day on the job to send a notice. This sounds like a long time, but once you start getting into the thick of things on the job, you could easily lose sight of the deadline.
Weekends, holidays, and other distractions count as part of this timeline, so that 20-day window will close faster than you might think. If you send your notice too close to the deadline, other parties will likely try and argue the validity of your notice, so get your notice out ASAP to avoid any disputes or missed deadlines.
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2. Waiting to Send a Revised Notice Can Be a Big Mistake
A lot of contractors wait to send notices because they anticipate the terms of their contract will change. However, in almost every situation in most any state, sending a revised preliminary notice is a balancing act that could go very wrong, for very little added benefit.
First of all, if the notice deadline has already passed, then forget about it – sending a revised or additional notice after the deadline has passed is pointless. Other changes in the project (i.e., the contract value of the services provided increasing by 10% or 20%) don’t necessarily require a revised notice. In general, it is unlikely that any change in the project would render the original preliminary notice invalid, so take great before sending out a revised notice on any project.
3. The USPS is not going to cater to your deadline
While the United States Postal Service has come a long way since the Pony Express, it is still far from a well-oiled machine. Weather, holidays, and general bureaucratic gridlock can all delay the mail, and if you’re sending documents out of state, you never really know how long it will take to reach the destination. Notice deadlines are generally met based on when the document was received rather than when it was postmarked. If you don’t want to put your lien rights in the fickle hands of the USPS, send your notices as soon as you can to make sure it reaches its destination on time.
4. You’re Not Going to Upset Your Customer or the Notice Recipient
We frequently hear from contractors that put off sending notices until the last minute because they don’t want to upset their customers. This belief is a misconception; your customer won’t be mad, and they’ll probably even thank you. Preliminary notices are non-adversarial, and sending them early shows professionalism, not ill will.
On top of that, recipients above your customer on the payment chain (typically, the project/property owner) need these notices to know who is on the job. In fact, preliminary notices were first created to protect the property owner on a project. Preliminary notices exist to increase visibility and transparency on a project, so make sure you get them out early to put yourself first in line to get paid.
Magicians aren’t supposed to reveal their secrets.
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