Florida Construction Lien Deadline Calculator, Two Clocks
Florida gives a subcontractor two deadlines and they do not run together. The notice to owner is 45 days from the first day you furnished anything, under section 713.06(2)(a). The claim of lien is 90 days from the last, under 713.08(5). On any job that lasts more than about six weeks the first deadline has already passed while you are still on site and the second has not started. Put both dates in and this gives you the notice date, the earlier date to post it by, the recording date, and the two that come after it.
Worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with and the answer it gives. Change anything above and every number below moves with it.
- Who you are on this jobSubcontractor, supplier, or sub-subcontractor
- Days since you FIRST furnished labor or materials here38 days
- Days since your FINAL furnishing, 0 if you are still on site12 days
- Notice to owner already servedNot yet
- Was the original contract terminated under 713.07(4)No
- Days since that termination20 days
- Days of slack you want before the deadline5 days
Days left to serve the notice to owner7 days
A week or less on the notice. The notice to owner is the cheap document and the lien is the expensive one, and 713.06(2)(a) makes the cheap one a prerequisite to perfecting a lien under this chapter and recording a claim of lien. Do it before anything else on this page.
Recording the lien is the middle of the job, not the end of it. Under 713.08(4)(c) the recorded claim of lien is served on the owner before recording or within 15 days after, or it is voidable so far as the delay did somebody harm. Then 713.22(1) gives one year from recording to commence an action, and 713.22(2) lets the owner cut that to 60 days by recording a notice of contest of lien: a lienor who fails to sue within 60 days after service of such notice is extinguished automatically. Nobody has to warn you twice.
| Your rule | 713.06(2)(a) and 713.08(5)not in privity with the owner, so both clocks are yours |
|---|---|
| Notice to owner, day 45 | 7 days leftday 38 of 45, counted from your first day here |
| Post it by day 40 | 2 days left713.18(2), mailed inside 40 days and service counts from the day you post it |
| Claim of lien, day 90 | 78 days leftday 12 of 90, counted from your last day here |
| What each clock counts from | first day, then last day45 from the day you started, 90 from the day you finished, never both from one date |
| Serve the notice by | 2 days from nowkeeping 5 in hand, off a window that closes in 7, and the claim of lien is a separate date, 78 days out |
| Serve the recorded lien | 15 days after recording713.08(4)(c), before recording or within 15 days after, or it is voidable |
| Then sue by | 1 year after you record713.22(1), or 60 days if the owner records a notice of contest |
What this calculator assumes
- Two clocks, two different starting days. Forty five days for the notice to owner runs from the first day you furnished anything on the job, under 713.06(2)(a). Ninety days for the claim of lien runs from your last, under 713.08(5). Neither one waits for the other, and on a long job the first has closed before the second opens.
- Final furnishing is your last day, and 713.01(12) says it may not be measured by other standards, such as the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or the issuance of a certificate of final completion. Going back to fix your own defective work does not restart it either.
- Chapter 713 contains no rule extending a deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Texas has one and Florida does not, so nothing on this page is rolled forward. Treat every date here as hard and record before the weekend rather than after it.
- Recording means recording the claim of lien with the clerk of court in the county where the property sits, and in every county it sits in if it straddles two. Sending it to the general contractor is not recording.
- This is Florida private work under part I of chapter 713. Public work runs on a payment bond under 255.05 instead, on its own dates.
Two clocks, and they start on different days
Almost every other state counts one lien deadline from one event. Florida counts two from two. Section 713.06(2)(a) says the notice to owner must be served before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish labor, services, or materials. Section 713.08(5) says the claim of lien may be recorded at any time during the progress of the work or thereafter but not later than 90 days after the final furnishing.
Read them side by side and the trap is obvious, but nobody reads them side by side. The 45 days is counted from the day you started. The 90 days is counted from the day you finished. They are not the beginning and the end of one window, they are two windows that barely touch. On a four month job the notice deadline falls in month two, while you are still working and long before there is anything to record.
That is why the subcontractor who says he will deal with the lien when the job is over has usually already lost it. The document he needed was due while he still had a crew on site.
A late notice to owner is not a small problem
The same sentence in 713.06(2)(a) that gives you 45 days also takes everything away: the failure to serve the notice, or to timely serve it, is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person. Not a reduced lien. Not a lien for part of the work. A complete defense.
This is where Florida and California part company, and copying a habit across state lines is how the mistake happens. California's Civil Code 8204(a) says a late preliminary notice still reaches work performed in the 20 days before service and everything after it, so a late notice there is worth serving because it saves part of the claim. Florida has no equivalent. A notice served on day 46 does not perfect a lien for anything.
Serve it anyway if you are late, because the owner has to raise the defense and may not, and a stamp is cheaper than the alternative. But treat a missed notice as a reason to call a Florida construction attorney rather than as a reason to hurry the lien.
Day 40 matters more than day 45
The deadline is 45 days. The date you actually have to work to is 40, and that number is in a different section, which is why it gets missed.
Section 713.18(2) says service of a notice to owner is effective as of the date of mailing, and the requirements for service have been satisfied, if the notice is mailed by registered, Global Express Guaranteed, or certified mail, if it is mailed within 40 days after the date the lienor first furnishes labor, services, or materials, and if the sender keeps a mail log or Postal Service tracking showing the date.
Inside 40 days, posting it is serving it and the postmark is your proof. Outside 40 days that safe harbor is gone, and the notice has to actually get there by day 45. Mail something on day 43 and you are betting the lien on two days of delivery. Between day 40 and day 45, hand it over or use something that will prove receipt.
Final furnishing is your last day, and nothing else
The 90 days is the part people think they understand, and the definition is where it goes wrong. Section 713.01(12) says final furnishing means the last date that the lienor furnishes labor, services, or materials, and then rules out the substitutes by name: such date may not be measured by other standards, such as the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or the issuance of a certificate of final completion.
It also says the term does not include the correction of deficiencies in the lienor's previously performed work or materials supplied. So going back in week eleven to fix your own punch list does not buy a fresh 90 days. The clock started on the last day of the real work.
For rental equipment the same subsection puts the date on when the equipment was last on the site of the improvement and available for use, which is not the day it was collected and not the day the invoice ran out.
One thing does cut the 90 days shorter. Section 713.08(5) says that if the original contract is terminated under 713.07(4), a claim for a lien attaching before the termination may not be recorded after 90 days following the date of such termination or 90 days after the final furnishing, whichever occurs first.
Nothing here moves for a weekend
Texas prints a rule for this. Property Code 53.003(e) extends a deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday to the next day that is not one. Chapter 713 has no such provision, and this calculator does not invent one.
So treat every date on this page as hard. If day 90 is a Sunday, the working assumption is day 88, not day 91. Clerk offices keep their own hours, a claim of lien has to be sworn and notarized before it is recorded, and a recording that happens on Monday because Friday got away from you is not a risk worth taking for two days.
Recording the lien is the middle of the job
Two more dates start the moment the lien is recorded, and both of them have ended liens that were filed perfectly on time.
Section 713.08(4)(c) says the claim of lien shall be served on the owner, and that failing to serve it before recording or within 15 days after recording renders the claim of lien voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial. Recording it is not telling the owner about it.
Section 713.22(1) then says the lien does not continue for a longer period than 1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded unless within that time an action to enforce it is commenced. And 713.22(2) lets the owner take that year away: by recording a notice of contest of lien, the owner shortens it, and the lien of any lienor upon whom such notice is served and who fails to institute a suit to enforce his or her lien within 60 days after service of such notice is extinguished automatically. Automatically means no hearing and no second warning.
Questions people ask
When exactly does the Florida 45 day notice to owner start running?
From the first day you furnished labor, services, or materials on that job, not from the contract date and not from your first invoice. Section 713.06(2)(a) says the notice must be served before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing, to furnish. If you delivered material one afternoon in March and did not come back until May, the clock started in March.
Do I have to serve a notice to owner if my contract is with the owner?
No. Section 713.06 is headed Liens of persons not in privity, and 713.06(1) ends by saying no person may have a lien under this section except those lienors specified in it. A contractor whose contract is with the owner liens under 713.05 instead and has no notice to owner to serve. Laborers are excused too, by the opening words of 713.06(2)(a), all lienors under this section, except laborers.
I served the notice to owner on day 50. Is the lien gone?
Assume it is in trouble. Section 713.06(2)(a) says the failure to serve the notice, or to timely serve it, is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person. Florida has nothing like California's rule that a late notice still covers recent work. The defense has to be raised by the other side to matter, and the date you first furnished is often arguable, so this is a question for a Florida construction attorney rather than one to answer from a web page.
Why does this calculator show a day 40 as well as a day 45?
Because 713.18(2) only lets service date from the postmark if the notice was mailed within 40 days of first furnishing, by registered, Global Express Guaranteed or certified mail, with a mail log or tracking kept. After day 40 the notice has to arrive by day 45 rather than merely be sent by it, so those five days are the difference between proving a postmark and proving a delivery.
Does a certificate of occupancy start the 90 days for the claim of lien?
No, and the statute rules it out by name. Section 713.01(12) says final furnishing may not be measured by other standards, such as the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or the issuance of a certificate of final completion. It is the last date you furnished labor, services, or materials, full stop.
If I go back to fix my own work, does the 90 days start again?
No. Section 713.01(12) says final furnishing does not include the correction of deficiencies in the lienor's previously performed work or materials supplied. Warranty and punch list work on your own defects does not reset the clock, which is why a contractor who returns in week eleven can find the lien window closed.
Does a Florida lien deadline move if it falls on a weekend?
Nothing in chapter 713 says it does. Texas has an express rule for this in Property Code 53.003(e) and Florida does not, so this calculator never rolls a date forward. Work to the date before the weekend.
How long do I have to sue after recording the lien?
One year from recording under 713.22(1), unless the owner shortens it. Section 713.22(2) lets an owner record a notice of contest of lien, and a lienor who fails to institute a suit within 60 days after service of that notice has the lien extinguished automatically. Watch for that document arriving from the clerk.
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