Washington Construction Lien Deadline Calculator: Notice to Owner, Ninety Days to Record, Eight Months to Sue

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.

What this calculator assumes

• Every period on this page is counted the way RCW 1.12.040 says: the first day is excluded and the last day is included, unless the last day is a holiday, Saturday or Sunday, and then it is also excluded. Chapter 60.04 has no counting rule of its own. The code reviser's note to 1.12.040 lists court decisions that treat it as being of general application.
• RCW 1.12.040 does not say in so many words which day takes the place of an excluded last day, or what happens when the next day is a holiday, Saturday or Sunday as well. This page moves the date to the next day that is none of the three.
• RCW 1.12.040 says holiday and does not define it. This page uses the state legal holidays listed in RCW 1.16.050(1), moved the way subsection (5) says: a holiday other than Sunday that falls on a Sunday is kept on the following Monday, and one that falls on a Saturday is kept on the Friday before. The days listed in subsection (7) may not be considered legal holidays for any purpose, so they are not holidays here.
• The holiday list is the one in force when this page was built. The page applies it to every year it counts and does not check whether the list read differently in an earlier year.
• Months are calendar months, RCW 1.16.060. When the recording date is a day number the eighth month does not have, such as August 31 into April, neither 60.04.141 nor 1.16.060 says which day ends the count. The page uses the last day of the shorter month and says so in a warning when it happens.
• The ninety days in 60.04.091 run from the day you ceased to furnish labor, professional services, materials or equipment, or from the last date on which employee benefit contributions were due. The page counts from the last day you enter.
• On two or more separate residential units, 60.04.101 starts the time for filing against each unit when furnishing on that unit stops. Run the page once for each unit.
• The notice to owner may be given at any time, 60.04.031(1). Its look-back of sixty days, or ten on new construction of a single-family residence, marks which supplies it protects rather than a day by which to act, and the section does not say whether a holiday, Saturday or Sunday moves it. The page does not move it.
• The subcontractor exception in 60.04.031(2)(c) uses the word as 60.04.011(16) defines it: a general contractor or specialty contractor as defined by chapter 18.27 or 19.28 RCW, or one otherwise required to be registered or licensed by law. The page treats anyone that does not describe as anyone else.
• If credit is given and its terms are stated in the claim of lien, 60.04.141 runs the eight calendar months from the expiration of the credit instead. The page does not compute that, and it does not add time for an owner's bankruptcy petition, which 60.04.141 says tolls the period.

Ninety days to record the claim of lien, RCW 60.04.091

RCW 60.04.091 says every person claiming a lien under RCW 60.04.021 shall file for recording, in the county where the subject property is located, a notice of claim of lien not later than ninety days after the person has ceased to furnish labor, professional services, materials, or equipment, or the last date on which employee benefit contributions were due. The page counts the ninety days from the last furnishing day you enter.

The same section says the period for recording is a period of limitation, and that no action to foreclose a lien shall be maintained unless the claim of lien is filed for recording within the ninety-day period. It also requires a copy of the claim of lien to the owner or reputed owner, by certified or registered mail or by personal service, within fourteen days of the time the claim of lien is filed for recording. Failing to give that copy forfeits any right the claimant may have to attorneys' fees and costs against the owner under RCW 60.04.181. The page counts the fourteen days from the recording date you enter, or from the last day to record if you have not recorded yet.

Where the work is the construction of two or more separate residential units, RCW 60.04.101 starts the time for filing against each unit when the furnishing on that unit stops. A separate residential unit is one residential structure together with any garages or other outbuildings appurtenant to it. Enter the last furnishing day for the unit you are filing against.

RCW 60.04.091, the first sentence

Every person claiming a lien under RCW 60.04.021 shall file for recording, in the county where the subject property is located, a notice of claim of lien not later than ninety days after the person has ceased to furnish labor, professional services, materials, or equipment or the last date on which employee benefit contributions were due.

Ninety days from the day you ceased to furnish, or for employee benefit contributions from the last date they were due. The page counts from the date you enter as your last furnishing day.

The notice to owner and its sixty day reach, RCW 60.04.031

RCW 60.04.031(1) says every person furnishing professional services, materials, or equipment for the improvement of real property shall give the owner or reputed owner notice in writing of the right to claim a lien, by certified or registered mail, or by personal delivery with evidence of delivery. The notice may be given at any time, but it only protects the right to claim a lien for what was supplied after the date which is sixty days before the notice is mailed or delivered. On new construction of a single-family residence, the notice only protects what was supplied after a date which is ten days before the notice is given.

The page shows the date sixty days, or ten days, before your notice date, and the last day to give the notice so that it reaches back to the day you began furnishing. The subsection describes a reach, not a deadline, and the page does not move either of those dates for a holiday, Saturday or Sunday.

RCW 60.04.031(2) says the notice is not required of persons who contract directly with the owner or the owner's common law agent, of laborers whose claim of lien is based solely on performing labor, or of subcontractors who contract for the improvement directly with the prime contractor, except as provided in subsection (3)(b). RCW 60.04.031(6) says a lien authorized by the chapter shall not be enforced unless the lien claimant has complied with the applicable provisions of the section.

If the prime contractor is in compliance with RCW 19.27.095, 60.04.230 and 60.04.261, subsection (1) says the notice shall also be given to the prime contractor, unless the potential lien claimant has contracted directly with the prime contractor. The page cannot tell whether the prime contractor is in compliance, so it shows this as a warning.

RCW 60.04.031(1), the reach of the notice

The notice may be given at any time but only protects the right to claim a lien for professional services, materials, or equipment supplied after the date which is sixty days before: (a) Mailing the notice by certified or registered mail to the owner or reputed owner; or (b) Delivering or serving the notice personally upon the owner or reputed owner and obtaining evidence of delivery in the form of a receipt or other acknowledgment signed by the owner or reputed owner or an affidavit of service.

The sixty days are counted back from the day the notice is mailed or delivered. What was supplied before that date is outside what the notice protects.

Remodel of an owner-occupied house: a notice that has to be received, RCW 60.04.031(3)

RCW 60.04.031(3) covers the repair, alteration, or remodel of an existing owner-occupied single-family residence or appurtenant garage. RCW 60.04.011(9) defines owner-occupied as a single-family residence occupied by the owner as his or her principal residence.

Under subsection (3)(a), a person who contracts directly with the owner-occupier or their common law agent is not required to send a written notice of the right to claim a lien, and has a lien for the full amount due under the contract. Under subsection (3)(b), a person who does not contract directly with the owner-occupier shall give the notice to the owner-occupier, and that lien may only be satisfied from amounts not yet paid to the prime contractor by the owner at the time the notice is received. Subsection (2)(c) points to (3)(b), so on this kind of job a subcontractor who contracts with the prime contractor owes the notice.

For that subsection, received means actual receipt of notice by personal service, or registered or certified mail, or three days after mailing by registered or certified mail, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays. When you choose this kind of job, the page counts those three days from your notice date, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and the state legal holidays in RCW 1.16.050(1), and shows the day the notice counts as received if it was mailed that day. It does not work out any amount.

Subsection (3)(b) does not say whether the sixty day reach in subsection (1) also applies to its notice. The page still shows the subsection (1) dates on this kind of job and says so in a warning.

RCW 60.04.031(3)(b), the last sentence

For the purposes of this subsection "received" means actual receipt of notice by personal service, or registered or certified mail, or three days after mailing by registered or certified mail, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays.

Three days after mailing, with Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays left out of the three. The lien can only be satisfied from amounts not yet paid to the prime contractor when the notice is received.

Eight calendar months to sue, RCW 60.04.141

RCW 60.04.141 says no lien binds the property for longer than eight calendar months after the claim of lien has been recorded, unless an action is filed by the lien claimant within that time in the superior court in the county where the property is located, and service is made upon the owner within ninety days of the date of filing the action. The page counts the eight months from the recording date you enter, or from the last day to record if you have not recorded yet, and the ninety days from the last day to file.

RCW 1.16.060 says month or months means calendar months. Eight calendar months after a day late in a month can land in a month that has no such day: eight months after August 31 is in April. Neither RCW 60.04.141 nor RCW 1.16.060 says which day ends that count. The page uses the last day of the shorter month, then applies RCW 1.12.040, and prints a warning with the date the other reading would give.

Three parts of the section are not computed here. If credit is given and its terms are stated in the claim of lien, the eight calendar months run from the expiration of the credit. The period is tolled by the filing of a petition under Title Eleven, United States Code, by an owner of the property. And if the action is not prosecuted to judgment within two years after it is commenced, the court may dismiss it for want of prosecution.

RCW 60.04.141, the opening of the section

No lien created by this chapter binds the property subject to the lien for a longer period than eight calendar months after the claim of lien has been recorded unless an action is filed by the lien claimant within that time in the superior court in the county where the subject property is located to enforce the lien, and service is made upon the owner of the subject property within ninety days of the date of filing the action;

Two periods in one sentence: eight calendar months from recording to file the action, and ninety days from filing to serve the owner.

The notice to a real property lender, RCW 60.04.221

RCW 60.04.221 applies to any lender providing interim or construction financing where there is not a payment bond of at least fifty percent of the amount of construction financing. Under subsection (1), a potential lien claimant who has not received a payment within five days after the date required by the contract, invoice, employee benefit plan agreement, or purchase order may, within thirty-five days of the date required for payment, give the notice described in subsections (2) and (3).

The section says may. The page shows the day five days after the payment due date you enter, and the last day of the thirty-five, moved under RCW 1.12.040 when it falls on a holiday, Saturday or Sunday. It shows them only when you say there is a construction lender and no payment bond of at least fifty percent of the financing.

Subsection (3) says the notice shall be given in writing to the lender at the office administering the interim or construction financing, with a copy given to the owner and appropriate prime contractor, by certified or registered mail or by personal delivery with evidence of delivery. Under subsection (5), after the receipt of the notice the lender shall withhold from the next and subsequent draws the amount claimed to be due as stated in the notice, or may instead obtain a payment bond from the prime contractor or borrower, and it is obligated to withhold only to the extent that sufficient interim or construction financing funds remain undisbursed as of the date it receives the notice.

RCW 60.04.221(1)

(1) Any potential lien claimant who has not received a payment within five days after the date required by their contract, invoice, employee benefit plan agreement, or purchase order may within thirty-five days of the date required for payment of the contract, invoice, employee benefit plan agreement, or purchase order, give a notice as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section of the sums due and to become due, for which a potential lien claimant may claim a lien under this chapter.

Both windows are counted from the date payment was required, not from the day you noticed you had not been paid.

How the days are counted: RCW 1.12.040 and the state legal holidays

Chapter 60.04 RCW has no counting rule of its own. RCW 1.12.040 says the time within which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, and then it is also excluded. So day one is the day after the date you enter, and when the last day is a holiday, Saturday or Sunday the page moves to the next day.

RCW 1.12.040 does not say what happens when the day after an excluded last day is also a holiday, Saturday or Sunday. The page keeps moving forward until it reaches a day that is none of those.

RCW 1.12.040 says holiday and does not define it. The page uses the state legal holidays listed in RCW 1.16.050(1): Sunday, New Year's Day, the third Monday of January, Presidents' Day on the third Monday of February, Memorial Day on the last Monday of May, Juneteenth on June 19, the fourth day of July, Labor Day on the first Monday in September, Veterans Day on November 11, Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November, Native American Heritage Day on the Friday immediately following it, and Christmas Day on December 25. Under RCW 1.16.050(5), when a holiday other than Sunday falls on a Sunday the following Monday is the legal holiday, and when a holiday falls on a Saturday the preceding Friday is the legal holiday.

RCW 1.16.050(7) lists days that are recognized but may not be considered legal holidays for any purpose, and the page does not treat them as holidays. The code reviser's note under RCW 1.16.050 says it was amended by 2025 c 30 and by 2025 c 58. The page applies the list as it reads now to every year you enter.

RCW 1.12.040

The time within which an act is to be done, as herein provided, shall be computed by excluding the first day, and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, and then it is also excluded.

Exclude the first day, include the last, and exclude a last day that is a holiday, Saturday or Sunday. The section does not define holiday.

Questions people ask

Related paperwork

• Washington notice of right to claim a lien
• Washington notice of furnishing professional services
• Washington claim of lien
• Washington notice to real property lender
• Preliminary notice deadlines by state
• Washington lien waiver rules
• Notice of intent to lien template

Related calculators