How to file a mechanics lien in Florida

Step by step

19 steps for a subcontractor in Florida.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm your license covers this work before the contract is signed

   Before you sign. The statute looks at the effective date stated in the original contract, or if no date is stated, the date the last party signed it.

   Florida measures your license on the day the original contract took effect. If your license was lapsed, missing, or did not cover this scope on that day, the contract is unenforceable and you get no lien and no bond claim — no matter how perfectly you hit every deadline afterward.

   Where it goes

   Your own file. Nothing is filed with anyone at this stage.

   How

   Verify your own license status and scope for the work described in the contract, and keep a dated record of it.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the signed contract showing its effective date, plus documentation that your license was active and covered this scope on that date.

   If you miss it: No lien exists in your favor, and no bond claim either. Every other step in this guide becomes irrelevant.

   Fla. Stat. § 489.128(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Check that the direct contract price is more than $2,500

   At the start, before you spend money on notices. Ask what the owner's direct contract price is — it is the owner's contract, not yours.

   On a job where the owner's direct contract price is $2,500 or less, the whole construction lien law switches off except the section covering people who contracted directly with the owner. If you are a sub or a supplier on a job that small, you have no lien no matter what you serve or record.

   Where it goes

   No filing. This is a go / no-go check.

   How

   Ask the contractor or the owner, or read the Notice of Commencement, which an owner does not have to record at all on a job that is exempt under this section.

   Proof to keep

   Whatever you were told or shown about the owner's direct contract price, dated.

   If you miss it: You spend money serving notices and recording a lien that cannot be enforced, and you expose yourself to the other side's attorney's fees.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.02(5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: On a public job, work the payment bond instead of a lien

   As soon as you learn the owner is a public body, before you serve anything.

   When the owner is the State of Florida, a county, a city or another political subdivision, the prime contractor had to execute and record a payment and performance bond in the amount of the contract price, conditioned on promptly paying everyone who furnishes labor, services or materials. That bond is your security. There is no lien to record and the lien deadlines in this guide do not apply to you — the public bond steps do.

   Where it goes

   The public entity that let the contract. The contractor must give the public entity a certified copy of the recorded bond before the entity can pay it.

   How

   Ask the governmental entity for a copy of the contract and the recorded bond. The bond states on its front page the contractor, the surety, the owner, the contract number, the bond number and a description of the project.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the recorded payment bond including the front page with the surety's name and address, and a copy of the prime contract.

   If you miss it: You spend the project chasing a lien remedy that does not exist on public land, and you blow the bond notice deadlines while doing it.

   Fla. Stat. § 255.05(1)(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Pull a fresh copy of the Notice of Commencement before you serve anything

   Immediately before you serve your Notice to Owner, and again any time you are about to serve something important.

   The owner records a notice of commencement before starting work and posts a copy at the site. It tells you who the owner is, who the contractor is, who the lender and surety are, and whether the owner designated an extra person to receive copies of your notices. Serving the wrong people is the same as serving nobody — so get a current copy, not one somebody handed you months ago.

   Where it goes

   The Official Records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is.

   How

   Pull the recorded notice of commencement from the county Official Records. You can also read the copy posted at the job site.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the recorded notice of commencement showing its recording date, and a note of the date you pulled it.

   If you miss it: You serve the wrong parties. A notice of commencement is void and of no further effect if the improvement was not actually commenced within 90 days after it was recorded, and it is not effectual after 1 year from recording unless a later date is stated in it. The owner can also record a notice of termination that ends its effect 30 days after recording. Any of those three leaves you serving a stale document.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.13(1)(a), (1)(d), (2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Serve the Notice to Owner — mail it by day 40, not day 45

   Before you start, or within 45 days of your first day furnishing labor, services or materials — and mail it within 40 days to get the benefit of the mailing date. For rental equipment the clock starts when the equipment is delivered to the site. Separately, and regardless of the 45 days, the notice must be served before the day the owner disburses final payment to the contractor after the contractor delivers its final payment affidavit. Your real deadline is whichever of those two comes first.

   If you did not contract directly with the owner, serving this notice is a prerequisite to having a lien at all. The written deadline is 45 days from the day you first furnished labor, services or materials. But the rule that makes your mailing count as of the date you dropped it in the mail only works if you mailed it within 40 days. Mail on day 43 and you now have to prove the owner actually received it inside the 45 days.

   Where it goes

   On the owner, at the address in the notice of commencement.

   How

   Serve it by hand delivery to the person (a partner if a partnership, an officer or director if a corporation, a member or manager if an LLC); or by common carrier delivery service or by registered, Global Express Guaranteed, or certified mail with postage prepaid and evidence of delivery; or, only if neither of those can be accomplished, by posting on the site of the improvement. Certified mail is the practical default because of the mailing-date rule.

   Proof to keep

   A mail log showing the postal tracking number, the name and address of the person served, and the date of postmark — or USPS-approved tracking records showing the tracking number and verification of delivery receipt. Keep the green card or delivery confirmation, a copy of the notice exactly as served, and your records fixing the date you first furnished.

   What the document must contain

   • The warning headed 'WARNING! FLORIDA'S CONSTRUCTION LIEN LAW ALLOWS SOME UNPAID CONTRACTORS, SUBCONTRACTORS, AND MATERIAL SUPPLIERS TO FILE LIENS AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY EVEN IF YOU HAVE MADE PAYMENT IN FULL.'
   • Your name and address as the lienor
   • A description of the property sufficient to identify it
   • A general description of the services or materials you are furnishing
   • The name of the person who ordered the work from you

   If you miss it: Failure to serve the notice, or to serve it on time, is a complete defense to enforcement of your lien by anyone. There is no cure.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a); Fla. Stat. § 713.18(1)-(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Serve the extra copies your tier requires

   Same deadline as the Notice to Owner itself — within 45 days of first furnishing, mailed by day 40.

   Serving the owner is not always enough. If you are a sub-subcontractor, or a supplier to a subcontractor, you must also serve a copy on the contractor — and that copy is itself a prerequisite to perfecting your lien. If you are a supplier to a sub-subcontractor you serve the subcontractor too when you know its name and address. And if the owner named an additional person in the notice of commencement to receive copies, that person gets one as well.

   Where it goes

   Sub-subcontractor or supplier to a subcontractor: a copy on the contractor. Supplier to a sub-subcontractor: the subcontractor, if you know its name and address. Plus any additional person the owner designated in the notice of commencement.

   How

   Same service methods as the Notice to Owner. Send the copies the same day you send the owner's.

   Proof to keep

   A separate mail log entry and tracking number for each recipient, with delivery confirmation for each.

   What the document must contain

   • A copy of the same Notice to Owner you served on the owner

   If you miss it: For the copy to the contractor, this is fatal — it is a prerequisite to perfecting a lien, and failure to serve or to timely serve is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person. The copy to the owner's designated person is different: failing to serve that one does not invalidate an otherwise valid lien.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a), (2)(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Public job: serve the Notice to Contractor within 45 days

   Before you start, or not later than 45 days after you start furnishing labor, services or materials.

   On a public job, if you did not contract directly with the prime contractor, you must tell the prime in writing that you intend to look to the bond for protection. This is the first of two separate bond notices — it is not the same paper as the notice of nonpayment that comes later.

   Where it goes

   On the prime contractor named on the bond.

   How

   Serve it in writing on the contractor.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of service on the contractor with a date, a copy of the notice as served, and your records of the date you first furnished.

   What the document must contain

   • A written statement that you intend to look to the bond for protection on the work

   If you miss it: You lose your claim against the payment bond. Laborers are excepted from this notice, and so is anyone who is in privity with the contractor.

   Fla. Stat. § 255.05(2)(a)2.(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Private bonded job: serve the Notice to Contractor within 45 days

   Before beginning, or within 45 days after beginning to furnish labor, materials or supplies.

   If a payment bond was recorded on a private job, that bond exempts the owner's property from liens and becomes your security instead. A copy of the bond is attached to the notice of commencement when it is recorded. If you are not in privity with the contractor, you must give the contractor written notice that you will look to the bond.

   Where it goes

   On the contractor.

   How

   Serve written notice on the contractor. If you need the bond itself, the owner, contractor or surety must furnish a true copy to any lienor who demands it, at the cost of reproduction.

   Proof to keep

   Proof and date of service on the contractor, and your copy of the recorded bond showing the surety's name and address.

   What the document must contain

   • A written statement that you will look to the contractor's bond for protection on the work

   If you miss it: You lose the bond claim, and the bond — not the property — was your only security. Laborers are excepted, and so is anyone in privity with the contractor.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.23(1)(a), (1)(c)(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Answer a sworn demand for your account within 30 days

   Within 30 days after the demand is served on you.

   The owner can serve you a written demand for a sworn statement of your account — what you did, what you still have to do, what materials you furnished and still owe, what has been paid, what is due, and what will become due. Ignore it for 30 days and you lose your lien. This is one of the quietest ways a Florida lien dies.

   Where it goes

   Back to whoever served the demand. The demand itself is served at the address and to the person you designated in your Notice to Owner — so keep that address current.

   How

   Answer in writing, under oath.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of the demand you received, a dated copy of your sworn response, and proof you sent it inside 30 days.

   What the document must contain

   • The nature of the labor or services performed and still to be performed
   • The materials furnished, and the materials still to be furnished if known
   • The amount paid on account to date
   • The amount due
   • The amount to become due, if known, as of the date of the statement
   • Your oath

   If you miss it: Failing or refusing to furnish the sworn statement within 30 days after the demand — or furnishing a false or fraudulent statement — deprives you of your lien.

   Fla. Stat. § 713.16(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Record the Claim of Lien within 90 days of your own last day

    Not later than 90 days after your own final furnishing. Going back to correct deficiencies in your own previously performed work or materials does not count as final furnishing and does not buy you a new 90 days. For rental equipment, final furnishing is the date the equipment was last on the site and available for use, or 2 business days after you as lessor receive written notice from the owner or lessee to pick it up, whichever comes first. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, a holiday under s. 110.117(1), or a day the clerk's office observes as a holiday, you get until the end of the next business day; and if the clerk's office is closed for an emergency, the period is tolled and extended by the number of days it was closed.

    This is the document that creates the lien. The 90 days runs from YOUR last day furnishing labor, services or materials on that job — not from when the building was finished, and not from the day you went back to fix your own bad work. It has to be sworn to or affirmed, and it gets recorded in the county's Official Records.

    Where it goes

    Record it in the Official Records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is. If the property sits in two or more counties, record it in the clerk's office in EACH of those counties. The statutory service charge is $5.00 for the first page, $4.00 for each additional page, and $1.00 per indexed name over four (Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)); counties publish their own current schedule and in practice charge more — Hillsborough County lists $10.00 first page and $8.50 each additional. Check your county clerk's published schedule before you go.

    How

    Prepare it in the statutory form, sign it and swear to or affirm it before a notary. The claim of lien may be prepared by you, your employee or your attorney, and must be signed and sworn to or affirmed by you or your agent who is acquainted with the facts stated in it.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded claim of lien showing the clerk's recording stamp, book and page, and date. Also keep the daily reports, delivery tickets or invoices that establish your true first and last furnishing dates, and backup for every dollar claimed.

    What the document must contain

    • Your name and the address where notices or process may be served on you
    • The name of the person you contracted with or who employed you
    • The labor, services or materials furnished and the contract price or value — with specially fabricated materials not yet incorporated stated separately, with their contract price or value
    • A description of the real property sufficient for identification
    • The name of the owner
    • The time when the first and the last item of labor, services or materials was furnished
    • The amount unpaid to you for the labor, services or materials, and unpaid finance charges
    • If you are not in privity with the owner, the date and method of service of your Notice to Owner, and of any copy served on the contractor or subcontractor
    • The statutory warning beginning 'THIS LEGAL DOCUMENT REFLECTS THAT A CONSTRUCTION LIEN HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE REAL PROPERTY LISTED HEREIN'
    • Your signature, sworn to or affirmed
    • The notary jurat: 'Sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me this ___ day of ___, ___ (year), by ___'

    If you miss it: Record it on day 91 and there is no lien. Watch for a second, earlier deadline: if the original contract is terminated under s. 713.07(4), a lien that attached before the termination may not be recorded later than 90 days following the termination or 90 days after your own final furnishing, whichever occurs FIRST. Also do not inflate the number — willfully exaggerating the amount, including work not performed, or compiling the claim with willful and gross negligence amounting to willful exaggeration makes it a fraudulent lien, which is a complete defense to enforcement, exposes you to punitive damages, and is a felony of the third degree.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.08(1)-(3), (5)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Serve a copy of the recorded lien on the owner within 15 days

    Before you record it, or within 15 days after you record it.

    Recording is not the end. You have to put a copy of the claim of lien in the owner's hands. This is a separate deadline from the 90 days and it is the one people forget after they walk out of the clerk's office.

    Where it goes

    On the owner.

    How

    Serve it the same way as any other notice: hand delivery to the person (a partner, an officer or director, or an LLC member or manager); or common carrier delivery service or registered, Global Express Guaranteed, or certified mail with postage prepaid and evidence of delivery; or posting on the site only if neither of those can be accomplished.

    Proof to keep

    The green card or delivery confirmation dated within 15 days of the recording date, plus a mail log entry with the tracking number.

    What the document must contain

    • A copy of the claim of lien as recorded

    If you miss it: Failure to serve the claim of lien before recording or within 15 days after recording renders the claim of lien voidable to the extent the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial to any person entitled to rely on the service.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Public job: serve the sworn Notice of Nonpayment — not before day 45, not after day 90

    Not earlier than 45 days after you first furnished labor, services or materials, and not later than 90 days after your final furnishing. For rental equipment, not later than 90 days after the date the equipment was last on the site.

    On a public job this second notice is what preserves your bond claim. It has a floor as well as a ceiling: serving it too early kills it just as dead as serving it too late.

    Where it goes

    On the contractor, and a copy on the surety.

    How

    Serve it in writing, under oath.

    Proof to keep

    Proof and date of service on both the contractor and the surety, a copy of the sworn notice as served, and records fixing your first and last furnishing dates.

    What the document must contain

    • A written statement of the labor performed or materials or supplies delivered, and of the nonpayment
    • Your oath

    If you miss it: Serve it on day 30 and it is void because it was too early. Serve it on day 91 from final furnishing and it is void because it was too late. Either way the bond claim is gone. And a claimant who serves a fraudulent notice of nonpayment forfeits its rights under the bond.

    Fla. Stat. § 255.05(2)(a)2.(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Private bonded job: serve the sworn Notice of Nonpayment within 90 days

    During the progress of the work or after, but not later than 90 days after your final furnishing of labor, services or materials. For rental equipment, not later than 90 days after the date the equipment was on the site of the improvement and available for use.

    On a private job with a recorded payment bond, this is the notice that preserves your claim against the bond. Unlike the public version, there is no earliest date — you can serve it during the progress of the work.

    Where it goes

    On the contractor, and a copy on the surety.

    How

    Serve it in writing, under oath.

    Proof to keep

    Proof and date of service on the contractor and on the surety, and a copy of the sworn notice as served.

    What the document must contain

    • A written statement of the labor, services or materials furnished and of the nonpayment
    • Your oath

    If you miss it: The bond claim is lost, and on a bonded job the bond was your security instead of the property. Serving a fraudulent notice of nonpayment forfeits your rights under the bond and is a complete defense to your claim against it.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.23(1)(d)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Watch for a Notice of Contest of Lien — it cuts your year to 60 days

    60 days from the DATE OF SERVICE of the notice on you, not from the date the owner recorded it.

    After you record, the owner or the owner's attorney can record a Notice of Contest of Lien. The clerk then serves it on you at the address shown in your claim of lien. From the date you are served, you have 60 days to sue — not a year. This is the single biggest way a Florida lien dies on a contractor who thought they had time.

    Where it goes

    The notice is recorded in the Official Records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and served on you by the clerk.

    How

    Check the county Official Records for your property periodically after you record, and open everything the clerk mails you the day it arrives. Keep the address in your claim of lien current, because that is where the clerk sends it.

    Proof to keep

    The envelope and the notice showing the date of service, and a calendar entry for day 60 made the day you receive it.

    If you miss it: The lien of any lienor who is served and who fails to institute a suit to enforce the lien within 60 days after service is extinguished automatically. No court order is needed and no one has to tell you.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.22(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: Watch for a show-cause summons — it cuts your time to 20 days

    20 days after the summons is served on you.

    Any interested party can file a complaint and have the clerk issue a summons ordering you to show cause why your lien should not be enforced by action or vacated and cancelled of record. This is even shorter than the notice of contest and almost nobody sees it coming.

    Where it goes

    The circuit court that issued the summons.

    How

    Respond to the court, or commence the action to enforce your lien, by the return date on the summons.

    Proof to keep

    The served summons showing its date of service and return date, and your filed response or your filed enforcement action.

    If you miss it: If you fail to show cause or do not commence the action by the return date, the court shall order cancellation of the lien.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.21(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
16. 16

    Step 16: Watch for a recommencement affidavit — 30 days to protect your priority

    Within 30 days after the owner records the recommencement affidavit.

    If construction stopped and the owner wants to restart, the owner can record an affidavit in the clerk's office stating an intention to recommence construction. Thirty days after that recording, anyone who takes an interest in the property or works on the recommenced construction jumps ahead of your lien on the earlier work — unless you record your claim of lien inside those 30 days.

    Where it goes

    The Official Records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is.

    How

    Record your claim of lien in that window, following the claim-of-lien step above.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the recorded recommencement affidavit showing its recording date, and your recorded claim of lien showing a recording date inside the 30 days.

    If you miss it: You do not necessarily lose the lien, but the rights of later interest holders and of lienors on the recommenced construction become paramount to your lien on the prior construction — which on a property with no equity left is the same thing as losing.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.07(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
17. 17

    Step 17: File suit to enforce the lien within 1 year of recording it

    Within 1 year after the claim of lien is recorded. If you recorded an amended claim of lien showing a later date of final furnishing, the year runs from the recording of the amendment instead. Remember the two shorteners above: a recorded notice of contest of lien cuts this to 60 days from service, and a show-cause summons cuts it to 20 days from service.

    A Florida construction lien does not last longer than 1 year after the claim of lien is recorded, unless you commence an action to enforce it in that time. Recording the lien does not collect the money — the lawsuit does.

    Where it goes

    A court of competent jurisdiction — ordinarily the circuit court in the county where the property is.

    How

    Commence an action to enforce the lien in a court of competent jurisdiction.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint showing a filing date inside the year, and your recorded claim of lien showing its recording date.

    If you miss it: The lien expires. It does not continue for a longer period than 1 year after recording unless the action is commenced within that time. And note that the losing side pays: in any action to enforce a lien, or to enforce a claim against a bond, the prevailing party is entitled to recover a reasonable attorney's fee for trial and appeal or for arbitration, taxed as part of that party's costs.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1); Fla. Stat. § 713.29(opens the statute in a new tab)
18. 18

    Step 18: Public job: sue on the bond within 1 year of your last day of work

    Within 1 year after the performance of the labor or completion of delivery of the materials or supplies. The statute says plainly that the time periods for service of a notice of nonpayment and for bringing an action against a contractor or a surety are measured from the last day you furnished labor, services or materials.

    The bond clock is not the lien clock. On a public job there is no recording to count from — your year runs from when you finished the work or completed delivery.

    Where it goes

    A court of competent jurisdiction.

    How

    Institute or prosecute the action against the contractor or against the surety on the payment bond.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint, records proving your last day of furnishing (that is the date the year runs from), and proof that both bond notices were served on time.

    If you miss it: The bond claim is time-barred. Do not count 1 year from a lien recording — on a public job there is no lien and no recording, and counting from a recording date would put you up to 90 days late.

    Fla. Stat. § 255.05(2)(a)2., (10)(opens the statute in a new tab)
19. 19

    Step 19: Private bonded job: sue on the bond within 1 year of your last day of work

    Within 1 year after the performance of the labor or completion of delivery of the materials and supplies. If a notice of contest of your claim against the payment bond is served on you, the time within which you may file suit to enforce your claim drops to 60 days after the date of service of that notice.

    Same principle as the public bond: your year runs from your last day on the job, not from any recording. And the contractor has a shortener of its own here.

    Where it goes

    A court of competent jurisdiction.

    How

    Institute or prosecute the action against the contractor or against the surety on the bond.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint, records proving your last day of furnishing, and any notice of contest you were served with its date of service.

    If you miss it: The bond claim is time-barred, and on a bonded job the bond was your only security because the recorded bond exempts the owner's property from liens.

    Fla. Stat. § 713.23(1)(e)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Florida

Where you file

Office

Clerk of the Circuit Court — Official Records

Recording fee

$10–$40

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn or affirmed before notary

How it is served

Certified mail

Copies

1

Fees and office procedures change; confirm them with the recording office before you file.

What trips people up in Florida

• Mailing the Notice to Owner on day 43 and feeling safe. The rule that makes service effective on the day you mail it only applies if you mailed it within 40 days of first furnishing and kept a mail log with the tracking number and postmark date, or USPS-approved tracking records. Mail after day 40 and you have to prove the owner actually received it inside 45 days. Treat day 40 as your deadline (Fla. Stat. § 713.18(2)).
• Serving a perfect Notice to Owner on day 30 — after the owner already paid out. The notice must be served, in any event, before the date of the owner's disbursement of the final payment following the contractor's final payment affidavit. Your real deadline is the earlier of 45 days or the day before that disbursement, and you usually cannot see the disbursement coming (Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a)).
• Counting the 90 days from a warranty callback. 'Final furnishing' is the last date you furnished labor, services or materials and expressly does not include correcting deficiencies in your own previously performed work or materials. Go back to fix your own work, count from that trip, and you record on what you think is day 20 and is really day 95 (Fla. Stat. § 713.01(12)).
• Serving the owner but not the contractor. If you are a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor, the copy to the contractor is itself a prerequisite to perfecting the lien, and failing to serve it or serve it on time is a complete defense to enforcement by anyone (Fla. Stat. § 713.06(2)(a)).
• Believing a flat 1-year foreclosure date. The owner or the owner's attorney can record a Notice of Contest of Lien, the clerk serves it on you, and your window drops to 60 days from the date of service — after which the lien is extinguished automatically (Fla. Stat. § 713.22(2)). Any interested party can also file a complaint and have the clerk issue a show-cause summons, dropping it to 20 days (Fla. Stat. § 713.21(4)). If you are relying on a calendar date set the day you recorded, you are relying on a number the other side can unilaterally invalidate.
• A general contractor recording a timely lien, filing suit on day 364, and losing anyway because it never delivered the final payment affidavit to the owner at least 5 days before filing. It is a prerequisite to the action, not a formality (Fla. Stat. § 713.06(3)(d)1.).
• Ignoring a written demand for a sworn statement of your account. Fail or refuse to furnish it within 30 days after the demand — or furnish a false or fraudulent one — and you are deprived of your lien (Fla. Stat. § 713.16(2)).
• Recording the lien and never serving a copy on the owner. The 15-day service window is a separate deadline from the 90-day recording deadline, and missing it makes the lien voidable to the extent the delay is shown to be prejudicial (Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c)).
• Relying on an old copy of the Notice of Commencement. It is void if the improvement was not actually commenced within 90 days after it was recorded, and it is not effectual after 1 year from recording unless a later date is stated. The owner can also record a notice of termination that ends its effect 30 days after recording, after serving it on direct-contract lienors and on every lienor who timely and properly served a Notice to Owner. Pull a fresh copy from the clerk before you serve anything (Fla. Stat. §§ 713.13(1)(d), (2); 713.132).
• Assuming 90 days from your own last day is always the outside recording date. If the original contract is terminated under s. 713.07(4), a lien that attached before the termination cannot be recorded later than 90 days after the termination or 90 days after your final furnishing, whichever occurs FIRST. The termination can happen before your last day on the job (Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5)).
• An equipment lessor leaving a machine on site for weeks after a pickup notice and counting 90 days from removal. Final furnishing for rental equipment is the date the equipment was last on the site and available for use, or 2 business days after the lessor receives written notice from the owner or lessee to pick it up, whichever occurs first (Fla. Stat. § 713.01(12)).
• Serving a public-works Notice of Nonpayment too early. It may not be served earlier than 45 days after your first furnishing. On a public job, early is as fatal as late (Fla. Stat. § 255.05(2)(a)2.).
• Counting a bond deadline from a recording date. On both public bonds and private payment bonds, suit runs 1 year from the performance of the labor or completion of delivery — from your last day, not from any recording. Since a private claim of lien can legitimately be recorded up to 90 days after last furnishing, counting a bond year from a recording date can put you roughly 90 days past the real deadline (Fla. Stat. §§ 255.05(10), 713.23(1)(e)).
• Selling to another supplier and serving notices anyway. A materialman is defined as someone who furnishes materials under contract to the owner, contractor, subcontractor or sub-subcontractor. Sell to a supplier and no notice creates rights you never had (Fla. Stat. § 713.01(21)).
• Working on a $2,200 job as a sub and perfecting flawlessly. An improvement with a direct contract price of $2,500 or less is exempt from the whole of this part except the section covering privity claimants — so only someone who contracted with the owner has a lien at all (Fla. Stat. § 713.02(5)).
• Recording a lien when your license was lapsed on the contract date. If the contract is unenforceable for want of a license, no lien and no bond claim exists in your favor, measured on the effective date of the original contract (Fla. Stat. § 489.128).
• Rounding the number up, or adding disputed change orders you cannot document. Willfully exaggerating the amount, including work not performed, or compiling the claim with willful and gross negligence amounting to willful exaggeration makes it a fraudulent lien — a complete defense to enforcement, grounds for punitive damages, and a felony of the third degree. Then the owner is the prevailing party and collects its attorney's fees from you (Fla. Stat. §§ 713.31(2)-(3), 713.29).
• Signing an unconditional release before the check clears. A right to claim a lien may not be waived in advance and may be waived only to the extent of labor, services or materials already furnished — but the statutory progress-payment and final-payment forms are different documents and are not interchangeable (Fla. Stat. § 713.20).
• On a tenant improvement, assuming the lien reaches the landlord. If the lease, or a short form or memorandum containing the specific prohibiting language, was recorded before the notice of commencement and the lease expressly prohibits liability for liens, your lien reaches only the leasehold. A contractor can serve a written demand on the lessor for a verified copy of that provision; if the lessor does not serve one within 30 days, or serves a false or fraudulent copy, the lessor's interest becomes subject to the lien (Fla. Stat. § 713.10).
• Hard-coding a strict calendar date. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, a holiday under s. 110.117(1), or a day the clerk's office observes as a holiday, the period runs to the end of the next business day; and if the clerk's office is closed for an emergency, the recording or filing period is tolled and extended by the number of days it was closed. After a hurricane closure, people file late believing they had no extension (Fla. Stat. § 713.011).
• Recording in only one county when the property straddles two. If the property is situated in two or more counties, the claim of lien must be recorded in the clerk's office in each of them (Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5)).

After you file

• Serve a copy of the recorded claim of lien on the owner, before recording or within 15 days after recording. This is separate from the recording deadline and is the most commonly missed step in Florida (Fla. Stat. § 713.08(4)(c)).
• Start monitoring the county Official Records for the property. Two owner filings can collapse your one-year window without warning: a recorded Notice of Contest of Lien, which the clerk serves on you and which limits you to 60 days from the date of service before the lien is extinguished automatically (Fla. Stat. § 713.22(2)); and a complaint by any interested party producing a clerk-issued summons to show cause within 20 days, after which the court shall order cancellation (Fla. Stat. § 713.21(4)).
• Keep the address in your claim of lien current. The clerk serves a notice of contest at the address shown in the claim of lien or the most recent amendment, and an owner's demand for a sworn statement of account goes to the address and person you designated in your Notice to Owner. A stale address means the clock runs while the mail sits somewhere else (Fla. Stat. §§ 713.22(2), 713.16(2)).
• If the owner or a contractor transfers your lien to security, the property is released and your lien moves to the security. Transfer is made by depositing money with the clerk or filing a surety bond in the amount demanded in the claim of lien, plus interest at the legal rate for 3 years, plus the greater of $5,000 or 25 percent of the amount demanded. Your claim now runs against that security instead of the land (Fla. Stat. § 713.24).
• If you later discover a genuinely later final furnishing date, an amended claim of lien showing it restarts the 1-year enforcement period from the recording of the amendment (Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1)).
• If you contracted directly with the owner, get the final payment affidavit executed and delivered well before you file — at least 5 days before instituting the action, and practically no later than day 360 of the year (Fla. Stat. § 713.06(3)(d)1.).
• Answer any sworn demand for a statement of your account within 30 days. The demand can arrive after you record, and failing to answer it deprives you of the lien you just perfected (Fla. Stat. § 713.16(2)).
• File suit within the year. A lien does not continue longer than 1 year after the claim of lien is recorded unless an action to enforce it is commenced within that time (Fla. Stat. § 713.22(1)).
• Know that the fee-shifting runs both directions. In any action to enforce a lien, or to enforce a claim against a bond, the prevailing party recovers a reasonable attorney's fee for trial and appeal or for arbitration, taxed as costs. A lien that is untimely or exaggerated can leave you paying the owner's legal bill on top of the money you were owed (Fla. Stat. § 713.29).