How to file a mechanics lien in South Carolina

Step by step

14 steps for a subcontractor in South Carolina.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check your residential licence or registration before you sign

   Before you enter into the contract. The statute ties the bar to the contract you entered into in violation of the licensing chapter, not to what your licence looks like later.

   South Carolina is one of the few states that takes lien rights away outright for being unlicensed. If you do residential building or residential specialty contracting without a licence or registration from the Residential Builders Commission when the law requires one, § 40-59-30(B) says you may not file a mechanics' lien and may not bring an action to enforce the contract. You are a "residential builder" if the job exceeds $5,000 and the building is not over three floors and has no more than sixteen units in a single apartment building. You are a "residential specialty contractor" if you contract with a licensed residential builder, a general contractor or an owner for specialized trade work exceeding $500 that is not regulated under Chapter 11 (§ 40-59-20(6), (7)).

   Where it goes

   Your own records and the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation / Residential Builders Commission file for your licence.

   How

   Nothing is filed. Check your own paperwork: that the licence or registration is current, and that the name on it is the exact name you will sign the contract in.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the licence or registration certificate showing the number and the exact name, dated on or before the contract date, kept with the signed contract.

   What the document must contain

   • Current, unexpired, unrevoked, unsuspended licence or registration
   • Licence held in the same name that will appear on the contract

   If you miss it: You cannot file a mechanics' lien on that job at all, and you cannot sue to enforce the contract. It does not matter how good the work was or how clearly you are owed.

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 40-59-20(6)-(7), 40-59-30(B)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Check your general or mechanical contracting licence before you sign

   Before you enter into the contract.

   Separate from the residential rule. If the total cost of construction is more than $10,000 for general contracting, or more than $10,000 for mechanical contracting, you need a licence under Chapter 11 (§ 40-11-30 — the threshold was raised from $5,000 to $10,000 by 2023 Act No. 69). Without it, § 40-11-370(C) says you may not bring an action at law or in equity to enforce the contract. The same bar applies if you contracted under a name other than the exact name on your licence (§ 40-11-370(B)-(C)).

   Where it goes

   Your own records and the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation contractor's licence file.

   How

   Nothing is filed. Confirm the licence is valid and that the contract is signed in the exact licensed name — not a d/b/a, not an abbreviation.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the current licence and the contract showing the matching name.

   What the document must contain

   • Valid Chapter 11 licence for the work being performed
   • Contract executed in the exact name appearing on the licence

   If you miss it: You cannot bring an action to enforce the contract. Because a lien foreclosure depends on the underlying debt, losing the right to sue on the contract guts the lien claim.

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 40-11-30, 40-11-370(B), (C)(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Send the owner a written Notice of Furnishing on day one

   There is no deadline. The S.C. Supreme Court has said this notice "may be given at any time." But every day you wait can cost you money, so send it the first day you work or the first time you deliver.

   If you were hired by anyone other than the owner, your lien does not attach against the owner's property until the owner receives this written notice (§ 29-5-40). Your lien can never exceed what the owner still owes on the contract price. After the owner has your notice, payments the owner makes to the contractor no longer reduce what you can recover (§ 29-5-50) — but payments made before it already did. In Ferguson Fire the Court confirmed the notice can go out before you have finished delivering and does not have to demand payment.

   Where it goes

   The owner of the real estate. If you are working in leased space, identify who actually owns the real property before you send it.

   How

   In writing, to the owner. The statute requires only that you "in writing notify the owner" and does not name a delivery method. What matters later is proving the date the owner received it, because that date sets how much you can collect.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of the notice and proof of the date the owner received it. That receipt date, not the lien date, controls how much money is still reachable.

   What the document must contain

   • That you are furnishing labor and/or material for the improvement of the property
   • The amount or value of that labor and/or material

   If you miss it: Without it, the lien given by § 29-5-20 never attaches against the true owner. Send it late and you can still end up with a technically valid lien — worth only whatever the owner had not yet paid out when it arrived. On a job the owner has already paid in full, that is zero.

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 29-5-40, 29-5-50 (content and timing confirmed in Ferguson Fire & Fabrication, Inc. v. Preferred Fire Protection, L.L.C., 409 S.C. 331 (2014))(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Send the general contractor a Notice of Furnishing by certified or registered mail

   No deadline in the statute, but it only works going forward. Send it when you start.

   This is a completely different document from the owner notice above, and it goes to a different person. If you were hired by a subcontractor rather than by the general contractor, § 29-5-20(B) caps your lien at whatever the GC still owes that subcontractor. Sending this notice lifts the cap going forward: after the GC receives it, payments the GC makes to that subcontractor no longer reduce what you can recover. This cap only exists at all if a Notice of Project Commencement was filed for the job (§ 29-5-23) — check the county's separate NPC index before you assume it applies.

   Where it goes

   The general contractor.

   How

   Certified or registered mail. Those are the only two methods the statute names.

   Proof to keep

   The certified or registered mail receipt and return card, plus a copy of the notice as sent.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name, as the sub-subcontractor or supplier claiming payment
   • The name of the person you contracted with or were employed by
   • A description of the labor, services or materials furnished, and the contract price or value — with specially fabricated material made by someone other than you stated separately
   • A description of the project, sufficient to identify it
   • The date the first and the last item of labor, service or material was actually furnished or is scheduled to be furnished
   • The amount claimed to be due, if any

   If you miss it: Your lien is still valid — this is not a condition of it. But it stays capped at what the GC still owed your customer. If the GC has already paid that subcontractor in full, the cap is zero. One exception: an individual laborer whose lien is under $2,000 is not subject to this cap at all (§ 29-5-20(D)).

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 29-5-20(B), 29-5-20(D), 29-5-23(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: If the job is public or bonded, find out which bond statute covers it

   Early — before you count any deadline. The bond statutes have their own clocks and they are not the lien clocks.

   On public work the statute requires a payment bond for the protection of everyone supplying labor and material to the contractor or its subcontractors, and gives you a direct right of action on it. Which statute applies depends on who owns the job: state agency construction under the Consolidated Procurement Code runs on § 11-35-3030(2)(c)-(d); a county, city, public service district, school district or other political subdivision whose bond is not governed by § 11-35-3030 or § 57-5-1660 runs on § 11-1-120; SCDOT highway construction runs on § 57-5-1660(b); and private bonded jobs run on § 29-5-440. The 90-day notice rule is the same across all four. The suit deadline is not: three of them run one year from your last furnishing, but § 57-5-1660(b) runs one year from the date of final settlement of the contract.

   Where it goes

   The governmental body that awarded the contract, or the bonded contractor.

   How

   Ask the owner or the prime for a certified copy of the bond. On state procurement jobs § 11-35-3030(3)(b) entitles you to one from the governmental body for the cost of reproduction and postage, and a certified copy is prima facie evidence of the bond's contents, execution and delivery.

   Proof to keep

   The certified copy of the bond and your request for it.

   What the document must contain

   • A certified copy of the payment bond
   • The identity of the bonded contractor and the penal sum of the bond

   If you miss it: You count the wrong clock. Mixing up the SCDOT trigger (final settlement of the contract) with the others (your own last furnishing) can be the difference between a timely and an untimely bond suit.

   S.C. Code Ann. § 11-35-3030(2)(a)(ii), (2)(c), (2)(d), (3)(b); see also §§ 11-1-120, 57-5-1660(b), 29-5-440(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Write down your last day on the job — both clocks start there

   The day you last performed labor on, or last furnished labor or materials for, that building or structure.

   This one date drives everything. § 29-5-90 gives you 90 days from it to serve and record. § 29-5-120(A) gives you six months from the SAME day to sue and file a lis pendens. The two run at the same time, not one after the other. Note that the statute says "after HE ceases to labor" — it is your own last day, not the completion or abandonment of the whole project.

   Where it goes

   Your own file.

   How

   Nothing is filed. Pull the paperwork that proves the date before anyone's memory fades.

   Proof to keep

   Signed delivery tickets, signed daily reports, timesheets, the final invoice, dated site photos — anything a third party signed or dated.

   What the document must contain

   • The calendar date of your last labor or last delivery on that building or structure

   If you miss it: If you cannot prove the date, you cannot prove your filing was timely. A date even a few days off can put you outside the 90 days with no way to fix it.

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 29-5-90, 29-5-120(A)(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: On a bonded or public job, notify the bonded contractor within 90 days

   Within 90 days from the day you last performed labor or last furnished material or rental equipment.

   This only applies if you are a "remote claimant" — you have a direct contract with a subcontractor or supplier of the bonded contractor, but no contract, express or implied, with the bonded contractor itself. If you contracted directly with the bonded contractor, you need no notice. There is a second, separate notice in the same statutes: if you want to lift the cap that limits your bond claim to what the bonded contractor still owes your customer, you also send a notice of furnishing that must generally conform to the six items in § 29-5-20(B).

   Where it goes

   The bonded contractor, at any place it maintains a permanent office for the conduct of its business, or at the current address shown on the records of the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

   How

   Written notice by certified or registered mail (§ 29-5-440; § 11-1-120; § 57-5-1660(b)). On state procurement jobs, § 11-35-3030(2)(c) allows it to be served personally or mailed registered or certified, postage prepaid.

   Proof to keep

   The certified or registered mail receipt and return card, and a copy of the notice.

   What the document must contain

   • The amount claimed as unpaid, stated with substantial accuracy
   • The name of the party to whom you furnished the material or rental equipment, or for whom you did the labor
   • For the separate cap-lifting notice of furnishing: the six items listed in § 29-5-20(B)

   If you miss it: A remote claimant has a right of action on the payment bond ONLY on giving this notice. Miss it and there is no bond claim. Sending only the 90-day notice and not the § 29-5-20(B)-style notice of furnishing leaves you capped at what the bonded contractor still owed your customer.

   S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-440; parallel provisions at §§ 11-35-3030(2)(c), 11-1-120, 57-5-1660(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Prepare the sworn Statement of Account and have it notarized

   As soon as your last day is fixed. It has to be served and recorded inside the same 90 days, so build in time for the notary.

   This is the lien document itself. § 29-5-90 calls it a statement of a just and true account of the amount due you, with all just credits given. It is a different document from the § 29-5-40 notice of furnishing — the Supreme Court in Ferguson Fire said courts and parties routinely confuse the two. Unlike the notice of furnishing, this one is filed after you have stopped work and states a specific amount then owing.

   Where it goes

   Nothing is filed yet — this is preparation for the two acts that follow.

   How

   Sign it and swear to it in front of a notary or other officer authorized to administer an oath. § 29-5-90 requires the certificate be "subscribed and sworn to" by you or someone on your behalf, and § 30-5-30 requires an instrument be acknowledged or proved before it can be recorded in South Carolina. County recording checklists require a notary: Anderson County requires the "Statement of Account sworn before Notary Public"; Greenville County lists "Notarized" as a requirement for a mechanics lien.

   Proof to keep

   A conformed copy of the signed, notarized statement before you hand the original to the county.

   What the document must contain

   • A just and true account of the amount due you, with all just credits given
   • A description of the property intended to be covered by the lien, accurate enough for identification
   • The name of the owner of the property, if known
   • Your signature ("subscribed") and a sworn oath / notary jurat
   • Your contractor licence number or registration number, recorded on the lien document itself, if you are required by law to be licensed or registered (§ 29-5-15(A))
   • Greenville County also lists: signature of the attorney or party claiming the lien, property description, statement of accounts, notarization, and an affidavit of service (which may be recorded separately)
   • Anderson County also lists: plaintiff and defendant names, amount of the debt, the date of last work performed or materials furnished, and a legal description of the property as it appears on the current deed

   If you miss it: § 29-5-15(A) makes recording the licence or registration number a condition of filing — this is the single most common counter rejection. Counties reject documents that are not notarized. § 29-5-100 forgives an inaccuracy in the property description or the amount due IF the property can be reasonably recognized — but not if you "wilfully and knowingly claimed more than is your due."

   S.C. Code Ann. §§ 29-5-90, 29-5-15(A); S.C. Code Ann. § 30-5-30(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Serve the sworn statement on the owner — within 90 days

   Within 90 days after your last day of labor or delivery. This is the same 90 days as the recording. Both have to be done inside it.

   § 29-5-90 dissolves the lien unless you do TWO things in the 90 days: serve the owner, and file with the county. Recording without serving completes only half the statute and the lien is gone.

   Where it goes

   The owner. If the owner cannot be found, the person in possession of the property.

   How

   The statute says "serves upon the owner" and does not name a method. The only fallback it gives is this: if neither the owner nor the person in possession can be located after a diligent search, and that fact is verified by affidavit of the sheriff or his deputy, the lien may be preserved by filing the statement together with that affidavit. Greenville County's recording checklist accepts a separate Affidavit of Service of Mechanics Lien signed by a process server. No South Carolina appellate decision was located deciding whether certified mail alone is "service" for this section.

   Proof to keep

   A signed, notarized affidavit of service naming who was served, where, and on what date. Greenville County will record it with the lien or separately for $10, which timestamps it in the public record.

   What the document must contain

   • The full sworn Statement of Account, as prepared

   If you miss it: The lien is dissolved. There is no cure, no extension, and no second window.

   S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-90(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Record the sworn statement with the county — inside that same 90 days

    Within 90 days after your last day of labor or delivery — the same window as service, not a separate one.

    The second of the two acts § 29-5-90 requires. The statement is recorded in a book the register or clerk keeps for the purpose, and delivery to the register or clerk for filing is the delivery that gives your lien its recording priority under Title 30.

    Where it goes

    The Register of Deeds for the county in which the building or structure is situated. In counties with no Register of Deeds, the Clerk of Court.

    How

    Record the notarized original. The statewide uniform statutory fee for "a notice of a mechanic's lien" is $25 (§ 8-21-310(A)(2)(j)); Greenville County's published schedule also lists $25.

    Proof to keep

    The recorded copy showing book and page and the recording date, plus the fee receipt.

    What the document must contain

    • The sworn Statement of Account with all elements listed above
    • Your contractor licence or registration number on the document (§ 29-5-15(A))

    If you miss it: The lien is dissolved. Serving the owner without recording fails for exactly the same reason recording without serving fails — § 29-5-90 requires both.

    S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-90; fee at S.C. Code Ann. § 8-21-310(A)(2)(j)(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: File suit to foreclose the lien — within six months of your LAST DAY

    Within six months after the day you ceased to labor on or furnish labor or material. NOT six months from the day you recorded the lien.

    This is the deadline South Carolina contractors lose liens on. § 29-5-120(A) runs the six months from cessation of labor — the same event that started the 90 days. Recording the lien does not restart anything. If you recorded on day 88 of the 90, you have roughly three months left, not six. "Six months" means calendar months; the shortest real six-month span is 181 days, so there is no cushion above 180.

    Where it goes

    The court of common pleas for the county in which the building or structure is situated.

    How

    By petition to the court of common pleas. The petition may be filed in term or in the clerk's office in vacation, and the date of filing is the date the suit is commenced (§ 29-5-140). If the claim does not exceed $100 it may instead be enforced by petition to a magistrate (§ 29-5-130).

    Proof to keep

    The stamped-filed petition showing the filing date — that date is your commencement date.

    What the document must contain

    • A brief statement of the contract the claim is founded on
    • The amount due on that contract
    • A description of the premises subject to the lien
    • All other material facts and circumstances
    • A prayer that the premises be sold and the proceeds applied to discharge the demand

    If you miss it: The lien must be dissolved. § 29-5-120(B) then lets the defendant's attorney or the bond holder's attorney clear it off the record by written affidavit.

    S.C. Code Ann. §§ 29-5-120(A), 29-5-140, 29-5-160(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: File the notice of pendency (lis pendens) — in that same six months

    Within the same six months from your last day. § 15-11-10 allows it up to twenty days before the complaint is filed, or at any time afterwards.

    Filing suit alone does not save the lien. § 29-5-120(A) dissolves the lien unless suit is commenced AND notice of pendency of the action is filed inside the six months. Two acts, one window — the same trap as the 90-day step.

    Where it goes

    The clerk of each county in which the property is situated.

    How

    File the notice with the clerk of each county in which the property is situated. The recording fee for a notice of pendency of an action to enforce a mechanic's lien is $10 (§ 8-21-310(B)(17)).

    Proof to keep

    The stamped or recorded lis pendens showing its filing date, and the $10 receipt.

    What the document must contain

    • The names of the parties
    • The object of the action
    • A description of the property in that county affected by the action

    If you miss it: The lien is dissolved even though you sued on time. § 29-5-120(B)(1) lets an attorney release the lien by affidavit stating that six months has passed and no suit OR notice of pendency has been filed.

    S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-120(A); S.C. Code Ann. § 15-11-10; fee at § 8-21-310(B)(17)(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: On a bonded or public job, sue on the bond within one year

    No suit may be commenced after one year from the last date you furnished or provided labor, services, materials or rental equipment. Separately, nobody can sue on the bond until 90 days have passed since their own last day — that waiting period applies to every claimant, remote or not.

    The bond claim is its own track with its own clock, completely separate from the lien. Everyone who furnished labor, material or rental equipment to a bonded contractor or its subcontractors and has not been paid in full by the end of the 90 days may sue on the bond for the unpaid balance. Claims against the bond in the aggregate cannot exceed the penal sum of the bond.

    Where it goes

    Court of competent jurisdiction; for state procurement jobs, the county or circuit where the contract was to be performed.

    How

    A suit on the bond. On state procurement jobs § 11-35-3030(2)(d) requires it be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction for the county or circuit where the construction contract was to be performed, and says the obligee named in the bond need not be joined.

    Proof to keep

    The stamped-filed complaint, the certified copy of the bond, and your 90-day notice with its mail receipt.

    What the document must contain

    • The amount, or balance, unpaid at the time the suit is instituted

    If you miss it: The bond claim is time-barred. Watch the trigger: §§ 29-5-440, 11-35-3030(2)(d) and 11-1-120 all run the year from your own last furnishing, but SCDOT highway work under § 57-5-1660(b) runs the year from the date of final settlement of the contract.

    S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-440; parallel provisions at §§ 11-35-3030(2)(c)-(d), 11-1-120, 57-5-1660(b)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Record the discharge or release once you are paid

    When the debt secured by the lien is fully paid.

    § 29-5-430 puts the duty on you, at the debtor's expense. You either enter a discharge on the margin of the registry where the statement is recorded, or execute a release that is recorded in the same place.

    Where it goes

    The Register of Deeds or Clerk of Court where the lien is recorded.

    How

    Record the release with the office that holds the lien. The fee for recording a release or discharge of a mechanic's lien is $10 (§ 8-21-310(B)(17)).

    Proof to keep

    The recorded release showing book and page, and your record of the payment that triggered it.

    What the document must contain

    • Greenville County lists for a Mechanics Lien Release: book and page of the original document, names of parties, signature of the party releasing the property, two witnesses, S.C. probate or acknowledgement, and a description of the property being released
    • Greenville County lists for a Satisfaction of Mechanics Lien on a separate document: date of satisfaction, signature of the attorney or party claiming the lien, book and page of the original mechanic's lien, and the names of all parties from the original lien

    If you miss it: The statute makes it your obligation once the debt is paid. A satisfied lien left on the record clouds the owner's title and keeps you exposed in a dispute over it.

    S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-430; fee at § 8-21-310(B)(17)(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in South Carolina

Where you file

Office

County Register of Deeds (Clerk of Court in counties with no Register of Deeds), in the county in which the building or structure is situated

Recording fee

$25

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn statement

How it is served

Personal service

Copies

2

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

What trips people up in South Carolina

• COUNTING SIX MONTHS FROM THE DAY YOU FILED THE LIEN. This is the biggest one in South Carolina. § 29-5-90's 90 days and § 29-5-120(A)'s six months both run from the same event — your last day of labor or delivery. They overlap; they do not stack. Record on day 88 and you have about 92 days left to sue, not 180. Any calendar or software showing "six months after filing" is simply wrong.
• MISREADING § 29-5-120(B)(1). That subsection lets an attorney release a lien by affidavit stating "six months has passed since the lien was attached and no suit or notice of pendency has been filed." Read alone it sounds like the clock runs from attachment. It does not. Subsection (A) is the rule that dissolves your lien, and it runs from cessation of labor. (B) is only a mechanism for clearing the record.
• RECORDING THE LIEN AND NOT SERVING THE OWNER. § 29-5-90 requires both acts inside the same 90 days. Either one alone dissolves the lien.
• SUING ON TIME BUT NOT FILING THE LIS PENDENS. § 29-5-120(A) requires suit commenced AND notice of pendency filed within the six months. Winning the race to the courthouse and forgetting the lis pendens loses the lien anyway.
• ASSUMING CERTIFIED MAIL IS "SERVICE" UNDER § 29-5-90. The statute says "serves upon the owner" and names no method. Its only non-service fallback is an affidavit of the sheriff or his deputy after a diligent search. Greenville County's checklist contemplates a process server's affidavit. Commercial lien guides contradict each other on whether mail alone suffices, and no South Carolina appellate decision on it was located. This is an open question, and South Carolina construes this purely statutory remedy strictly.
• LEAVING THE LICENCE NUMBER OFF THE LIEN DOCUMENT. § 29-5-15(A) requires a contractor required by law to be licensed or registered to give the clerk or register proof of it and to record the licence or registration number on the lien document itself. This is a hard filing prerequisite.
• FILING AT ALL WHILE UNLICENSED ON RESIDENTIAL WORK. § 40-59-30(B) bars it outright, notwithstanding § 29-5-10 or any other provision of law, and it ties the bar to the contract you entered into in violation of the chapter.
• SENDING THE § 29-5-40 OWNER NOTICE ONLY WHEN THE INVOICE GOES UNPAID. This is how a valid South Carolina lien ends up worth nothing. The lien is capped at what the owner still owes on the contract price, and § 29-5-50 only stops the owner's payments from counting against you AFTER the notice arrives. Every payment the owner makes before your notice lands is money you can no longer reach. Ferguson Fire confirms the notice can be sent before you finish delivering and need not demand payment — there is no reason to wait.
• SENDING ONE NOTICE AND BELIEVING YOU SENT BOTH. The § 29-5-40 notice goes to the OWNER and is what makes the lien attach against the true owner; its content is minimal. The § 29-5-20(B) notice goes to the GENERAL CONTRACTOR by certified or registered mail, has six mandatory content items, and only lifts a payment cap. They are different documents to different people doing different jobs.
• ASSUMING THE § 29-5-20(B) CAP APPLIES WHEN NO NOTICE OF PROJECT COMMENCEMENT WAS FILED. § 29-5-23 says failure to file an NPC renders §§ 29-5-20(B) and 29-5-60(B) inapplicable — and also renders the bond notice-of-furnishing requirement in §§ 29-5-440, 11-35-3030(2)(c), 57-5-1660(b) and 11-1-120 inapplicable for a claim against the prime's payment bond. The clerk or register keeps a separate book and index of NPCs; check it before you assume anything about caps.
• NOT SEEING THE OWNER'S NOTICE OF NON-RESPONSIBILITY COMING. Under § 29-5-80, an owner who is NOT the party that contracted for the labor or materials — a landlord where the tenant hired you, for instance — can prevent any lien from attaching for labor not yet performed or materials not yet furnished, simply by giving you written notice that they will not be responsible. It is prospective only, so it cannot undo work already done, but from the moment it lands it stops the meter. If you get one, everything you do after it is unsecured.
• THINKING A BOND-OFF BUYS TIME. Under § 29-5-110 the owner can discharge the property by filing an undertaking at one and one-third times the amount claimed. The cash, securities or surety bond stands in the property's place — but the statute is explicit that unless suit is commenced as required by § 29-5-120, the undertaking is null and void and the principal can have it cancelled. Your six months does not move.
• ASSUMING YOU OUTRANK THE CONSTRUCTION LOAN. § 29-5-70 says the lien is not enforceable against any mortgage recorded before you file the § 29-5-90 statement, except as provided in § 29-3-50. On most financed jobs the lender recorded first.
• COUNTING ON WARRANTY, CALLBACK, PUNCH-LIST OR CORRECTIVE WORK TO RESTART THE CLOCK. Commercial lien services disagree on this and no controlling South Carolina authority was located. The safe reading of "ceases to labor" is the last day of original contract or approved change-order work.
• READING "SIX MONTHS" AS GENEROUS. It means calendar months. The shortest real six-month span is 181 days, so 180 is a safe floor and there is nothing above it.
• INFLATING THE CLAIM. § 29-5-100 forgives inaccuracies in the property description and the amount — unless you "wilfully and knowingly claimed more than is your due," which invalidates the proceedings. § 29-5-15(B) exposes a contractor who files a frivolous lien to a fine up to $5,000, loss of registration or licence, or both. And attorney's fees and costs go to whichever side prevails — if the OWNER prevails, the owner is awarded them from you (§ 29-5-10(a), § 29-5-20(A)), capped at the amount of the lien.
• TRYING TO LIEN A PUBLIC PROJECT. The statutes route public work through a mandatory payment bond with its own 90-day notice and one-year suit deadlines, not through Chapter 5's lien. Filing a lien against government-owned land is not a remedy the statutes provide.
• LANDSCAPE WORK WITHOUT A WRITTEN OWNER AGREEMENT. § 29-5-26 gives a landscape-service lien only where the service exceeds $5,000 AND is performed by virtue of a written agreement with the owner of the real estate. An oral deal or a $4,000 job does not qualify.

After you file

• Nothing resets when you record. The six-month suit clock has been running since your last day on the job, and the 90 days you just used came out of it. Calculate the enforcement date from your last furnishing date, then work backwards.
• Keep the affidavit of service with the recorded lien. It is the proof that you did the second of the two acts § 29-5-90 requires, and it is the piece most likely to be attacked.
• The owner can bond off at any time after service and filing, under § 29-5-110, with an undertaking equal to one and one-third times the amount claimed — cash, pledged U.S. or South Carolina securities, or a surety bond. The property is discharged and the security takes its place. You still have to commence suit as § 29-5-120 requires, or the undertaking becomes null and void and is released.
• If six months pass with no suit AND no notice of pendency, the defendant's attorney or the bond holder's attorney can release the lien by written affidavit under § 29-5-120(B) — as they can on your failure to take any other timely action required by the chapter. The affidavit must be in the form approved by the local office where the lien was filed and must reference the lien's recording information.
• Enforcement is a petition to the court of common pleas for the county where the building or structure sits (§ 29-5-140). The date of filing is the commencement of the suit. The petition may be served with the summons or filed with the clerk (§ 29-5-150).
• If several lienors are chasing one short fund, § 29-5-60(A) makes it the owner's duty to prorate among all just claims the amount due the contractor. § 29-5-60(B) makes the contractor prorate among the sub-subcontractors and suppliers of a subcontractor when what is owed that subcontractor will not cover them all.
• Offers of settlement decide who pays the lawyers. Under § 29-5-10(b) and § 29-5-20(C), either party may file and serve an offer of settlement not less than fifteen days before the first term of court at which trial is set, with ten days to respond. The party whose offer is closer to the verdict is the prevailing party for the fee award. If you make no written offer, the amount prayed for in your complaint is treated as your final offer. Fees and costs cannot exceed the amount of the lien.
• A prior recorded mortgage beats your lien (§ 29-5-70, except as § 29-3-50 provides). Know where the construction loan sits before you spend money enforcing.
• The lien is security, not your only remedy. § 29-5-420 says nothing in the chapter prevents a creditor from maintaining an action on the contract as if there were no lien.
• A lis pendens can be cancelled by court order after the action is settled, discontinued or abated (§ 15-11-40), or by you without a court order after the action is settled, discontinued, abated or dismissed, by submitting a written notice of cancellation to the clerk of each county where it was filed.
• When you are paid in full, record the discharge or release (§ 29-5-430), $10 under § 8-21-310(B)(17).