Mechanics liens, stop payment notices and payment bonds: the deadlines that decide whether you get paid
In one paragraph
A mechanics lien makes the property itself security for your unpaid bill, which is why it works when a lawsuit against a broke customer would not. It also dies on a calendar. As a direct contractor you record after completing your contract and before 90 days after the project is complete (60 if a notice of completion is recorded); as a subcontractor, 90 days, or 30 after a notice of completion, and only if your 20-day preliminary notice went out. Then you have 90 days to sue on the lien or it expires. Stop payment notices freeze money in the owner's hands; on public work, the payment bond replaces the lien. Here is the whole sequence with the dates.
The rule
A direct contractor may enforce a lien only if the claim of lien is recorded after completing the direct contract and before the earlier of 90 days after completion of the work of improvement or 60 days after the owner records a notice of completion or cessation (Civil Code 8412); any other claimant records after ceasing work and before the earlier of 90 days after completion or 30 days after such a notice (8414), and only if it gave preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing work (8200, 8204). The claimant must commence an action to enforce the lien within 90 days after recording or the lien expires (8460(a)). A stop payment notice is valid only after preliminary notice and before the lien deadline (8508). Public works contracts over $25,000 carry a payment bond of at least 100% (9550, 9554).
Why it matters
The lien is the strongest collection tool a contractor has and the easiest to lose: a preliminary notice never sent, a lien recorded on day 91, a foreclosure suit filed on day 92 after recording. Each one is a permanent forfeiture of the right, and the case in this phase shows how ordinary the mistakes are. Put the dates on the calendar the day the job starts and the tool is always there.