How to file a mechanics lien in Oklahoma

Step by step

15 steps for a subcontractor in Oklahoma.

1. 1

   Step 1: Pin down who actually signed your contract

   Before you start, and again before you count any deadline.

   This one fact sets your whole timetable. A claimant in direct contract with the property owner files under § 142 and gets four calendar months. Everybody else files under § 143 and gets 90 days - a full month less - and has to send a pre-lien notice on top. What you call yourself does not matter. Who signed the paper does.

   Where it goes

   Your own contract file, and the county clerk's land records for the county where the property sits.

   How

   Read your contract and look at the name on the other side. Then check the county clerk's land records to see who actually owns the land. A developer, a construction manager, a tenant, or a GC is not the owner unless the deed says so.

   Proof to keep

   The signed contract or purchase order showing exactly who you contracted with. The deed or county record showing who owns the land. And your own dated records of the first and last day you supplied labor, material or equipment.

   If you miss it: If you assume you have four months and you are really a § 143 claimant, you file about a month late and there is no lien. When you are not certain, 90 days is the shorter of the two.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 §§ 142, 143(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Send the pre-lien notice to the original contractor AND an owner

   Send it as soon as you start supplying the job. Do not wait. The statute's outside limit is 75 days after the last day you supplied material, services, labor or equipment, and it has to be sent before you file your lien statement.

   This is the notice that keeps your lien alive. You only ever send one - the statute says no more than one pre-lien notice is required during a project, and a compliant notice protects your lien rights for everything you supply afterward. That is exactly why there is no reason to sit on it. An original contractor (someone in direct contract with the owner) is not a 'claimant' under this section and does not send one. There are narrow carve-outs for retainage held by agreement, for a 1-4 unit residential project with no owner living in it, and for an aggregate claim under $10,000 - but read the next step before you rely on any of them.

   Where it goes

   The last-known address of the original contractor, and the last-known address of an owner of the property. Both. Sending it only to the company that hired you is not compliance.

   How

   Any of three methods creates a rebuttable presumption that you complied: hand delivery backed by a delivery confirmation receipt; an automated transaction under 12A O.S. § 15-115; or certified mail, return receipt requested. Certified mail is effective on the date you mail it, not the date it arrives.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt showing the date mailed, the return receipt or delivery confirmation, and a dated copy of the notice itself for each of the two recipients. Keep them - you will swear to this in an affidavit when you file.

   What the document must contain

   • A statement that the notice is a pre-lien notice
   • Your complete name, address and telephone number (or your representative's)
   • The date of supply of the material, services, labor or equipment
   • A description of the material, services, labor or equipment
   • The name and last-known address of the person who requested that you supply it
   • The address, legal description, or location of the property it went to
   • A statement of the dollar amount furnished or to be furnished
   • Your signature (or your representative's)

   If you miss it: The portion of your lien claim for which no notice was sent is invalid and unenforceable. And if the property is a home someone owns and lives in, the consequence is far harsher - see the next step.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 142.6(A)(1), (B)(1), (B)(2), (B)(3), (B)(4), (B)(5), (D)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: On a home an owner lives in, treat the pre-lien notice as make-or-break

   The notice must have been sent within 75 days of your last furnishing of material, services, labor or equipment.

   This is the single most dangerous rule in Oklahoma lien law. Section 142.6(B)(1) says no lien affecting property then occupied as a dwelling by an owner is valid unless the pre-lien notice was sent in that window. That is the whole lien, not just the unnoticed part. The two exemptions people reach for - the 1-4 unit residential project and the claim under $10,000 - both open with the words 'Except as otherwise required in paragraph 1', and paragraph 1 is this rule. Notice that the residential exemption itself is written for a project 'none of which are occupied by an owner'. So a $900 claim on a house the owner lives in still needs the notice.

   Where it goes

   The last-known address of the original contractor and of an owner of the property.

   How

   Same methods as the pre-lien notice: certified mail return receipt requested, hand delivery with a delivery confirmation receipt, or an automated transaction under 12A O.S. § 15-115.

   Proof to keep

   Proof of the mailing date, plus your dated record of your last day on the job, so the 75 days can be counted.

   If you miss it: No valid lien on that property at all. Not a reduced lien - no lien.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 142.6(B)(1) (second sentence), (B)(3)(a), (B)(3)(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: If you cannot find out who the owner is, ask the original contractor in writing

   Optional

   As soon as you realise you do not have the owner's name and address - and early enough that the 5-day response window still leaves you inside your 75 days.

   The statute gives you a way out of the dead end. You can ask the original contractor in writing for the name and last-known address of an owner of the property. If they do not give it to you within 5 days from the date they receive your request, the requirement to send the pre-lien notice to the owner becomes unenforceable.

   Where it goes

   The original contractor.

   How

   Send the request the same way you would send the notice: certified mail return receipt requested, hand delivery with a delivery confirmation receipt, or an automated transaction under 12A O.S. § 15-115.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the request, proof of how you sent it, and proof of the date they received it - the 5 days run from receipt, so the receipt date is the one that matters.

   What the document must contain

   • A written request for the name of an owner of the property
   • A written request for that owner's last-known address

   If you miss it: Nothing is automatically forfeited by not asking. But if you never learn who the owner is and you never made the request, you have no answer when someone argues your notice to the owner was missing.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 142.6(B)(6)(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: On a government job, give written notice to the prime and the surety within 90 days

   Within 90 days from the date you last performed labor or last furnished material or parts.

   There is no mechanics lien on public property in Oklahoma. Your remedy is the prime contractor's payment bond, which is required before an award of a contract exceeding $100,000 for construction or repair of a building, structure or improvement on public real property. This notice is only required if you have a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor (any tier) but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor who furnished the payment bond. If you contracted directly with the bonded prime, you do not send it.

   Where it goes

   The prime contractor who furnished the payment bond, plus the surety. The bond itself is on file with the agency, institution, department, commission, municipality or government instrumentality that let the contract, and the officer holding it must furnish you a copy if you claim rights under it.

   How

   Mail it by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business, together with a copy to the surety or sureties on the payment bond.

   Proof to keep

   The registered or certified mail receipts for both the contractor and the surety, showing the date mailed, and a copy of the notice.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount claimed, stated with substantial accuracy
   • The name of the party to whom the material or parts were furnished, or for whom the labor was done or performed

   If you miss it: You have no right of action on the payment bond. And a mechanics lien filed against the public property in the meantime does nothing.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 61 §§ 1, 2(A), 2(B)(1)(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: File your lien statement with the county clerk within 90 days

   Within 90 days after the date material or equipment used on the land was last furnished, or labor last performed, under your own subcontract. Count from YOUR last day under YOUR contract - not from when the project finished, and not from when somebody else finished.

   This is the lien itself. Filing it is what creates the record claim against the property. Your priority does not date from the filing though - it relates back to the first item of material, the first labor, or the first use of rental equipment on that land, and compliance with the act is constructive notice to everyone who buys or takes a mortgage after that date.

   Where it goes

   The office of the county clerk of the county in which the land is situated. Not the court clerk - those records and powers were transferred to the county clerk back in 1977 and people still get this wrong.

   How

   File the statement, verified by affidavit. That means sworn, so in practice you sign it in front of a notary. If you are a corporation, any officer or agent can sign and verify it without attestation, seal or acknowledgment.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped copy with the recording date, the book and page or instrument number, and the clerk's receipt. Keep the filing date somewhere you will see it - your one-year enforcement clock runs from that exact day.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount due from the contractor to you, and the items of it as nearly as practicable
   • The name of the owner
   • The name of the contractor
   • Your name as claimant
   • A legal description of the property you claim a lien on - a street address is not a legal description
   • Verification by affidavit

   If you miss it: You have no mechanics lien. There is no late filing and no extension in the statute.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 §§ 143, 141, 141.1, 154(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: On an oil or gas well, you get 180 days - and the lien only reaches the leasehold

   Within 180 days after the date material, machinery or supplies were last furnished, or labor or services last performed, under the relevant contract or subcontract. That is the deadline for contractors and subcontractors alike.

   Oilfield work is a different lien with different rules. The pre-lien notice section, § 142.6, does not apply to these liens at all. And the lien affects only the oil and gas leasehold estate - it is not a lien on any other interest in the real property. The one exception: if the owner of an oil, gas or other mineral interest also owns a working interest in a well located there, the lien attaches to that working interest too.

   Where it goes

   The office of the county clerk of the county where the property is situated.

   How

   File the statement in the same manner as §§ 141 through 143.4 provide, verified by affidavit.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped copy and your dated record of the last day of work or supply under the contract or subcontract.

   What the document must contain

   • The same statement elements as a § 143 lien: amount and items, owner's name, contractor's name, claimant's name, legal description, verified by affidavit

   If you miss it: Past 180 days there is no lien. And a claim written against the land itself rather than the leasehold estate does not reach what the statute actually gives you.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 146 (liens created under §§ 144, 145)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: On coal mine work, the deadline is only 45 days

   Within 45 days after the date the labor was last performed.

   This is the shortest construction-side lien deadline in Oklahoma, and it covers miners and other employees developing and opening coal mines, sinking shafts, constructing slopes or drifts, driving entries and mining coal - plus every mechanic, builder, artisan, workman or laborer who performs work in and about such mines. The lien reaches the buildings, machinery, equipment, income, franchises, leases and subleases and other property of the person or company owning, constructing or operating the mine.

   Where it goes

   The office of the county clerk of the county in which the land or property is situated.

   How

   File the statement, verified by affidavit.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped copy and your dated record of the last day of labor.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount claimed and the items of it as nearly as practicable
   • The names of the managers, lessees, sublessees, operators, mortgagees, trustees and beneficiaries under trusts, or owners
   • The name of the contractor
   • The name of the claimant
   • The legal description of the property
   • Verification by affidavit

   If you miss it: No lien after 45 days. Note also that the enforcement rule for this lien is different: suit must be brought within one year after the lien accrued (§ 149), not one year from filing.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 §§ 148, 149, 150(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Hand the clerk your notarized pre-lien-notice affidavit at the moment you file

   At the time of the filing of the lien statement. Not the next day, not when someone asks for it.

   Every claimant who is not an original contractor has to furnish the county clerk a notarized affidavit verifying that they complied with the pre-lien notice requirements. Get it notarized at the same sitting as the lien statement so it is in the same envelope.

   Where it goes

   The county clerk of the county in which the land is situated.

   How

   Signed and notarized, handed to the county clerk together with the lien statement.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the notarized affidavit and the clerk's acknowledgment that it was filed with the lien, together with the mailing proof the affidavit is based on.

   What the document must contain

   • Verification that you complied with the pre-lien notice requirements of § 142.6

   If you miss it: You have not done what § 142.6(C) requires at filing. And falsifying the affidavit is a crime: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, up to 30 days in the county jail, or both - with a Class D1 felony tier added at higher values by the amendment effective January 1, 2026. Only swear to notices you actually sent.

   Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 142.6(C)(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Give the clerk both mailing addresses and pay the notice fee - the clerk mails the lien, not you

    At filing. The clerk has 5 business days from the filing date to get the notice out.

    Oklahoma is unusual here. Within 5 business days after your lien statement is filed, notice of the lien is mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the property - and the county clerk is the one who mails it. But the clerk can only do that if you furnish the last-known mailing address of the person or persons against whom the claim is made AND of the owner of the property, and you pay the fee.

    Where it goes

    The county clerk of the county in which the land is situated.

    How

    Supply both addresses in writing with your filing and pay the fee to the clerk.

    Proof to keep

    Your fee receipt and a copy of the address information you gave the clerk. Follow up with the clerk's office and get confirmation the notice actually went out.

    What the document must contain

    • The last-known mailing address of the person or persons against whom the claim is made
    • The last-known mailing address of the owner of the property
    • The notice the clerk sends must contain: the date of filing; the name and address of the person claiming the lien, of the person against whom the claim is made, and of the owner; a legal description of the property; and the amount claimed

    If you miss it: If you do not give the clerk the addresses and the fee, there is nothing for the clerk to mail and the statutory notice never goes out.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 143.1(A), (B); Okla. Stat. tit. 28 § 32(A)(11), § 32(C)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: If the owner or your debtor genuinely cannot be found, use the 60-day backup service

    Optional

    Within 60 days of the filing of the lien statement.

    If, with due diligence, the person you are claiming against or the owner of the property cannot be found, there is a substitute route. You file an affidavit setting out those facts, and then you either serve the occupant or post the notice. This is a hard 60-day window measured from the filing date, with no extension written into the statute.

    Where it goes

    The affidavit goes to the county clerk; service or posting happens at the property.

    How

    File an affidavit setting forth the due-diligence facts. Then serve a copy of the notice on the occupant of the property, or the occupant of the improvements, in the same manner as service on the owner. If the property is unoccupied, post a copy in a conspicuous place on the property or on any improvements on it.

    Proof to keep

    The filed affidavit, your written record of the search you actually did, and dated proof of service on the occupant or dated photographs of the posted notice in place.

    What the document must contain

    • An affidavit setting forth the facts showing that with due diligence the owner or the person against whom the claim is made cannot be found

    If you miss it: The statute gives 60 days from the filing of the lien statement and does not provide a cure after that.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 143.1(B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: If someone bonds your lien off, you have 10 days to object

    Optional

    Within 10 days after the county clerk mails you the notice of the deposit.

    This is the lever the other side can pull, and it moves fast. Any property owner or other interested party - including mortgagees, contractors and subcontractors - may at any time discharge your lien by depositing with the county clerk either cash equal to 125% of your claim, or a corporate surety bond with a penal amount equal to 125%. The clerk must serve you written notice within 3 business days of the deposit, at the address shown on your lien claim. If cash was deposited, the clerk shows the lien released immediately and there is nothing to object to. If a surety bond was deposited, you have 10 days from the mailing of that notice to file a written objection with the county clerk, or the clerk shows the lien released of record. The grounds for objection are a short closed list about the surety and the bond form - the surety is not authorised to transact business in this state, the bond is not properly signed, the penal amount is under 125%, the attorney-in-fact's power of attorney does not authorise execution, no power of attorney is attached where one is needed, or a cease and desist order has been issued against the surety. The merits of your claim are not grounds.

    Where it goes

    The county clerk in whose office your lien claim was filed.

    How

    File a written objection with the county clerk. If you object in time, the clerk sets a hearing within 10 days and notifies both sides by ordinary mail, then rules within 2 business days after. If your objection is sustained, that ruling is conclusive for release purposes unless appealed to the district court within 10 days.

    Proof to keep

    The clerk's notice with its mailing date, your file-stamped objection, and the hearing notice. Also make sure the address on your lien claim is one you actually monitor - that is where this notice goes.

    What the document must contain

    • A written objection, on one or more of the statutory grounds relating to the surety's authorisation, the bond's signing, the penal amount, the power of attorney, or a cease and desist order

    If you miss it: If a written objection is not filed in time, the county clerk shows the lien released of record. Either way, the cash or bond stands in place of your lien and you still have to proceed against it in the same time and manner as a lien foreclosure - the one-year clock does not pause.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 42 § 147.1(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Sue to foreclose within one year of the day you filed

    Within one year from the time of the filing of the lien with the county clerk. Not one year from your last day of work, and not one year from when they stopped answering the phone - one year from the filing date stamped on your lien.

    Filing the lien only preserves the claim. Enforcing it means a civil action. If you are not the original contractor, the original contractor has to be made a party defendant, and they have to defend against your claim at their own expense - if they fail to, the owner may defend at the contractor's expense. One thing to get right before you file rather than after: the lien statement can be amended by leave of court in furtherance of justice, but not as to the amount claimed. The amount is the one thing you cannot fix later.

    Where it goes

    The district court of the county in which the land is situated.

    How

    Civil action in the district court. Practice, pleading and proceedings follow the code of civil procedure.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped lien with its filing date, the petition with its own file stamp showing it was filed inside the year, and everything behind your amount - contracts, invoices, delivery tickets, daily reports.

    If you miss it: If no action to foreclose or adjudicate the lien is instituted within one year from the filing, the lien is canceled by limitation of law. The owner may then file an affidavit attesting to the cancellation with the county clerk, on a form prescribed by the Office of the Administrative Director of the Courts, and the clerk attaches it to your lien and notes it in the mechanics' lien journal. There is no extension in the statute and settlement talks do not stop the clock.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 42 §§ 172, 173, 177(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: On a government job, sue on the bond within one year of your last day

    Within one year from the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material or parts were furnished for which the claim is made. Note the trigger: your last day on the job, not the date you filed anything.

    Anyone owed money for labor, material or repair to machinery or equipment furnished on a bonded public job may file a claim or bring an action on the bond. There is a longer outside limit, but it is conditional: if a prior claim was filed within one year of that last day, no action may be brought after two years from that day. Do not plan around the two years - it only exists if the claim was filed inside the first year.

    Where it goes

    The agency, institution, department, commission, municipality or government instrumentality that entered into the contract holds the bond. The action goes to court.

    How

    File a claim or bring an action on the payment bond. The officer holding the bond must furnish a copy to any person claiming rights under it.

    Proof to keep

    Dated records of your last day of labor or last delivery, your bond claim with its date, and the 90-day notice proof if you were required to send one.

    If you miss it: No action may be brought on the bond.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 61 § 2(A)(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: If your lien window is gone, the money itself may still be trust funds

    Optional

    Independent of the lien deadlines. This obligation attaches when the money is received.

    Oklahoma has no stop notice, but it does have a trust fund statute, and it is worth knowing about because it survives a missed lien deadline. Three pots of money are held as trust funds for the payment of lienable claims: the amount payable under any building or remodeling contract, once a contractor or subcontractor receives it; money received under a mortgage given for the purpose of constructing or remodeling a structure, once the mortgagor receives it; and the amount a seller of real property receives under a warranty deed, for valid lienable claims arising from improvements made on the property within four months before the deed was delivered. Section 153 says those funds must be applied to valid lienable claims and no part may be used for any other purpose until all lienable claims due or to become due have been paid. If the party holding the money is an entity with limited liability, the natural persons with the legally enforceable duty to manage it are liable for proper application of the funds and are subject to punishment under 21 O.S. § 1451 - for a corporation that means the managing officers, for an LLC the managers. Filing or enforcing a lien does not release the holder from these obligations, and the existence of the trust funds does not stop you filing a lien.

    Where it goes

    District court.

    How

    This is a claim you bring in court, not something you file with the county clerk. Talk to a lawyer about it.

    Proof to keep

    Your contract and invoices, and whatever shows what the contractor, subcontractor, mortgagor or seller received and where it went.

    If you miss it: Nothing is forfeited by not using this route. It is listed here because a missed lien deadline is not automatically the end of the matter, and contractors are often told it is.

    Okla. Stat. tit. 42 §§ 152, 153(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Oklahoma

Where you file

Office

County Clerk

Recording fee

$28–$75

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Affidavit

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 Oklahoma

• Calling yourself 'the contractor' and taking four months. The four-month window in § 142 belongs only to a claimant in direct contract with the property owner. A sub who works for a GC is a § 143 claimant with 90 days, and files a month late. The question is not what you call yourself - it is whose name is on the other side of your contract.
• Computing 'four calendar months' as 120 days. It is a calendar-month offset and lands anywhere from 120 to 122 days out depending on the start date. Count March 10 to July 10 on a calendar; do not do day arithmetic and hope.
• Counting your deadline from when the project finished, or from the last activity by anyone on the job. Both §§ 142 and 143 run from the date material or equipment was last furnished or labor last performed under YOUR contract or subcontract. On a long job those dates are months apart and the project-completion date is always the later, deadlier one.
• Sitting on the pre-lien notice for 75 days. One notice covers the whole project (§ 142.6(B)(2)(b)), so waiting buys you nothing, and § 142.6(D) voids the portion of the claim for which no notice was sent. Send it when you start.
• Sending the pre-lien notice only to the company that hired you. Section 142.6(B)(1) requires it to go to the original contractor AND an owner of the property. One out of two is not compliance.
• Relying on the under-$10,000 exemption or the 1-4 unit residential exemption on a house someone owns and lives in. Both exemptions in § 142.6(B)(3) open with 'Except as otherwise required in paragraph 1', and paragraph 1 says no lien affecting property then occupied as a dwelling by an owner is valid without the notice. The residential exemption's own text requires that none of the units be occupied by an owner. Small residential claims are exactly where people assume no notice is needed and lose everything.
• Filing the lien statement without the notarized pre-lien compliance affidavit. Section 142.6(C) requires it at the time of filing. And swearing to notices you did not send is a crime - a misdemeanor, with a felony tier effective January 1, 2026.
• Filing with the court clerk. Those records and powers moved to the county clerk in 1977 (§ 141.1). It is the county clerk of the county where the land is.
• Putting a street address where the statute requires a legal description. Sections 142 and 143 both require a legal description of the property. This is the most common facial defect in a self-prepared Oklahoma lien.
• Filing and then assuming the owner got notice. Under § 143.1 the county clerk mails the notice - but only if you furnished the last-known mailing address of the owner AND of the person you are claiming against, and paid the fee. Leave those out and nothing goes out.
• Getting the amount wrong. Section 172 lets the court allow the lien statement to be amended in furtherance of justice 'except as to the amount claimed'. The amount is the one element you cannot correct later, and § 176 gives the party the judgment goes for a reasonable attorney fee taxed as costs - so an inflated lien can end with you paying the owner's lawyer.
• Ignoring a bond-off notice. Under § 147.1 anyone can discharge your lien at any time with cash or a surety bond at 125% of the claim. On a surety bond you get 10 days from the mailing of the clerk's notice to file a written objection, on a narrow list of technical grounds only, or the lien is released of record. Make sure the address on your lien claim is one you actually watch.
• Treating the one-year enforcement deadline as soft. Section 177 says the lien is canceled by limitation of law if no action to foreclose or adjudicate it is instituted within one year of filing, and lets the owner record an affidavit of cancellation. Settlement negotiations do not toll it.
• Filing a mechanics lien on a public project. It does nothing, and while it sits there the real remedy runs out: the 90-day written notice to the prime and surety under 61 O.S. § 2, then suit on the bond within one year of your last day.
• Renting equipment onto a homestead or a farm and expecting lien rights. Sections 143.3 and 143.4 give leased and rented equipment no lien against homestead-exempt property, agricultural property, property used to grow or produce agricultural products, or equipment used for oil or gas development or production except as § 144 allows.
• Applying the 90-day construction deadline to oilfield work. Oil and gas leasehold liens run 180 days under § 146 and § 142.6 does not apply to them - but the lien reaches only the leasehold estate and, where the mineral owner also holds one, the working interest. A claim written against the surface fee has claimed the wrong thing.
• Delivering a pre-construction 'warning statement' to a homeowner and thinking it preserves something. Former 42 O.S. § 142.1 was repealed effective November 1, 2011. Stale forms and stale advice still circulate.
• Assuming a missed lien deadline is the end. Sections 152 and 153 make contract proceeds, construction and remodeling mortgage proceeds, and warranty-deed proceeds trust funds for lienable claims, with personal exposure for the managers of an LLC and the managing officers of a corporation.
• Treating a warranty visit, a punch-list return or a free service call as a new 'last furnishing' that restarts the clock. The Oklahoma statutes do not address this either way and I found no Oklahoma authority on it - a deadline computed from a warranty visit is not a deadline you should rely on.

After you file

• Confirm the clerk's notice actually went out. Within 5 business days after your lien statement is filed, the county clerk is to mail notice of the lien by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner. Ring the clerk's office and confirm - you paid for it, and it only happens if your addresses and fee were complete (42 O.S. § 143.1(A)).
• If the owner or your debtor could not be found with due diligence, the backup route closes 60 days after the lien statement was filed: file an affidavit of those facts, then serve the occupant, or post a copy conspicuously on the property or improvements if unoccupied (42 O.S. § 143.1(B)).
• Watch your mail at the address shown on your lien claim. That is where the county clerk sends notice if anyone deposits cash or a 125% surety bond to discharge your lien, and on a bond you have only 10 days from the mailing to file a written objection (42 O.S. § 147.1).
• If your lien is replaced by a cash deposit or a bond, that security stands in place of the lien and you must proceed against it in the same time and manner as a lien foreclosure. The one-year clock keeps running (42 O.S. § 147.1).
• Expect the owner to be able to move first. If a lien is filed and no foreclosure action has been commenced, the owner can file a petition in district court naming you as defendant and asking the court to adjudicate the lien - and if you fail to establish it, the court may tax against you the whole or part of the costs of that action (42 O.S. § 177).
• Diary the one-year date the day you file. Suit to enforce goes in the district court of the county where the land is, within one year from the filing of the lien with the county clerk (42 O.S. § 172).
• If you are not the original contractor, the original contractor must be made a party defendant to your foreclosure action and must defend against your claim at their own expense. Until all such claims, costs and expenses are adjudicated and defeated or satisfied, the owner is entitled to hold back that amount from the contractor (42 O.S. § 173).
• Know the ceiling on what you can collect from the owner. The owner of land affected by a subcontractor's lien does not become liable to any claimant for a greater amount than the owner contracted to pay the original contractor, and an owner who pays a subcontractor directly gets credit for that payment against the original contract (42 O.S. § 143).
• If several enforcement actions are pending at once, the court may order them consolidated; and where the building is still under construction, the court may stay the trial for a reasonable time to let other parties file their lien statements (42 O.S. § 174).
• If the property is sold on judgment and the proceeds are not enough to pay everyone, the court orders claimants paid in proportion to the amount due each (42 O.S. §§ 175, 178).
• Attorney fees run both ways. In an action brought to enforce any lien, the party for whom judgment is rendered recovers a reasonable attorney fee, fixed by the court and taxed as costs (42 O.S. § 176).
• On a public job there is nothing to record and nothing to release - track the bond dates instead: the 90-day notice to the prime and surety if you were not in privity with them, and suit on the bond within one year of your last day of labor or last delivery (61 O.S. § 2).