How to file a mechanics lien in South Dakota

Step by step

13 steps for a subcontractor in South Dakota.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check the courthouse index and walk the job site before you start

   Before your first day, and check the index again about a month in. The owner has 30 days from the commencement of work to file the Notice of Project Commencement, so it may not be there yet on day one.

   Two pieces of paper decide how much work you have to do to protect yourself. A 'Notice of Project Commencement' filed at the county register of deeds, together with a matching notice posted at the job site, switches on a 60-day notice duty for everyone below the first tier. Separately, a 'notice of nonliability' posted on the premises, or handed to you, is somebody with an interest in the land saying the work is not being done at their instance - your lien will not reach that interest.

   Where it goes

   Register of deeds of the county the property is in, plus the job site itself.

   How

   Ask the register of deeds for the county's Notice of Project Commencement index. Every register of deeds in South Dakota is required by statute to keep one. At the site, look for a posted sign naming the contractor and pointing to the courthouse filing, and look for any posted nonliability notice. Photograph whatever is up, with the date.

   Proof to keep

   Dated photographs of anything posted at the site (and of a bare site if nothing is posted). A printout or screenshot of your index search with the date you ran it, or a written response from the register of deeds.

   What the document must contain

   • The posted location notice must say: 'The contractor on this project has filed a notice of project commencement at the county courthouse. Any sub-subcontractor and any supplier to a subcontractor shall comply with the notice provisions of 44-9-53 before filing liens in connection with this project.'
   • The Notice of Project Commencement itself must contain: the name and address of the person filing it; the name and address of the owner or developer; a general description of the improvement; and the location of the project including the legal description.

   If you miss it: If a Notice of Project Commencement was filed and the site notice posted, and you are a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor, you cannot record a lien at all unless you mailed the 60-day Notice of Furnishing. Not knowing the notice was filed is not an excuse. If you cannot confirm either way, send the 60-day notice anyway - it costs a certified-mail stamp. Separately, if a nonliability notice was posted before you started, your lien will not reach that person's interest in the land.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-50, 44-9-51, 44-9-4, 44-9-2(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: Write down your first day and your last day, and keep an itemized account

   From day one, and every day you are on the job.

   Almost everything in South Dakota hangs on two dates: the first item you furnished and the last. Your 120-day filing clock, your 60-day notice clock and your six-year lawsuit clock ALL run from your last day. The lien statement has to state both dates and must carry an itemized account of what you are owed. If you later sue, you have to attach a sworn bill of the items all over again.

   Where it goes

   Your own records.

   How

   Daily tickets, signed delivery slips, dated photographs, dated invoices. Do not rely on memory, and do not rely on the general contractor's schedule for your own dates.

   Proof to keep

   Signed delivery tickets and time sheets tied to specific dates, and the invoices that add up to the itemized account. Keep them separated by job.

   What the document must contain

   • The date the first item of your contribution was made
   • The date the last item of your contribution was made
   • An itemized statement of the account on which you claim
   • A description of the improvement the work was done or the materials supplied for
   • The name and post office address of the person for or to whom you performed or furnished

   If you miss it: A wrong last-furnishing date makes every one of your deadlines wrong. Stretching it with a warranty callback, a small punch-list return or a re-delivery is a common way liens get attacked. And if you end up in court and cannot produce a verified bill of the items when the judge asks, your pleading is struck out and your claim is disallowed.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-16(4), 44-9-16(7), 44-9-31(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: Read the back of any joint check before you endorse it

   Every single time you are handed a joint check, before you sign the back of it.

   In South Dakota, endorsing a joint check can wipe out your lien. Two things have to happen together for that: the check must carry a conspicuous provision on the reverse referring to a separate written waiver agreement, AND you must actually sign that separate waiver agreement. If both happen, you have expressly waived all your Title 5 and Title 44 rights against the owner, the contractor and the surety, up to the amount of that check and as of its date. Worse: if you endorse the check and then let the contractor walk off with the money, that is your loss - the statute says releasing the funds is at your peril and the waiver still stands.

   Where it goes

   Wherever the check is handed over - there is no filing involved.

   How

   Photocopy both sides of the check before you deposit it. Read the reverse. Do not sign a separate waiver agreement without reading exactly what work and what dates it covers.

   Proof to keep

   A photocopy of both sides of every joint check before deposit. A signed copy of every waiver agreement you sign, and a note of which invoices and dates it covered.

   What the document must contain

   • For the waiver to take effect: a conspicuous provision on the reverse of the joint check referring to a separate written agreement of waiver between the maker and you
   • AND an executed separate written agreement of waiver
   • If both are not present, this chapter's express waiver has not happened - though other, ordinary contract waivers can still bind you

   If you miss it: You lose your lien to the extent of, and as of the date of, that check - potentially for the very work the check was supposed to pay for. Letting the other payee take the cash does not undo the waiver.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9A-2, 44-9A-3, 44-9A-4, 44-9A-5(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Mail the 60-day Notice of Furnishing

   Within 60 days after YOUR LAST day of work or last delivery. Not 60 days after you started. Most states run this kind of notice from your first day on the job - South Dakota runs it from your last. Calendar it the day you finish.

   If the owner (or someone in direct contract with the owner) filed the Notice of Project Commencement and posted the site notice, then a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor must send a written Notice of Furnishing Labor or Materials before it can record a lien. One catch on tier: by its words the statute reaches people below the first tier. If you contract directly with the contractor named in the Notice of Project Commencement, you are arguably outside it. Tier gets disputed all the time and the notice costs almost nothing - send it whenever you are not certain.

   Where it goes

   The contractor identified in the Notice of Project Commencement, with a copy to the owner of record.

   How

   Certified or registered mail to the contractor named in the Notice of Project Commencement, plus a copy to the owner of record. Keep the post office receipt - you have to attach it to your lien later when you file.

   Proof to keep

   The post office receipt for the certified or registered mailing - this is not optional paperwork, it gets attached to your recorded lien. Also keep the tracking record and a copy of the notice exactly 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 who employed you
   • A description of the labor, services or materials you furnished and the contract price or value (materials specially fabricated by someone other than you must be stated separately, with their price or value)
   • A description of the project, enough to identify it
   • The date the first and last item of labor or materials was actually furnished or is scheduled to be furnished
   • The amount claimed to be due, if any

   If you miss it: If the Notice of Project Commencement was filed and posted, and you are below the first tier, you are not entitled to a lien at all. This is not a curable defect - the lien right is gone. One exception: an individual laborer whose lien is less than $2,000 does not have to send this notice.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-53(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Freeze the owner's money as soon as the payments stop

   Optional

   Any time. There is no deadline on this one. But it only reaches money the owner still owes the contractor, so every week you wait, there is less of it.

   You can serve the owner with a sworn account and a notice of your claim. Once you do, the owner is required to withhold enough of the contract price to cover claims like yours. The owner then has to pass a copy to the contractor, and if the contractor does not give written notice within 15 days that it intends to dispute your claim, the contractor is treated as agreeing to it and the owner can pay you directly. You can also sue the owner at law, up to whatever balance the owner still owes the contractor.

   Where it goes

   The property owner, or the owner's duly authorized agent or representative.

   How

   Prepare a sworn (notarized) account showing the items, the amounts and the dates each was furnished. Serve it on the owner or the owner's authorized agent. Send it certified so you can prove when it landed.

   Proof to keep

   Certified-mail receipt and delivery confirmation, plus a copy of the sworn account exactly as served. If the contractor disputes it in writing, keep that letter and the date you got it.

   What the document must contain

   • A sworn account showing the items
   • The amounts
   • The dates the items were furnished
   • A notice of your claim

   If you miss it: Nothing is forfeited - there is no deadline here. But the money is the point: this remedy only reaches the unpaid balance of the contract price at the time you serve, or afterwards. Serve late and there may be nothing left to trap.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-10, 44-9-11, 44-9-12(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: On a public job, do not record a lien - go after the bond

   You cannot sue on the bond until six months after the contract is completely performed and finally settled. You must then sue within one year. If you are joining a case somebody else already started, you must file your claim within one year from completion of the work 'and not later'. The statute uses two different reference points - final settlement in one clause, completion of the work in the other - so treat ONE YEAR FROM COMPLETION OF THE WORK as your hard outside date and do not wait.

   No mechanics lien attaches to public property in South Dakota. Recording a lien on a school, a city building or a county road accomplishes nothing. Instead, the contractor on a public improvement must furnish surety, before starting, in an amount not less than the contract price, carrying the additional obligation to promptly pay everyone supplying labor or material. That bond is your remedy.

   Where it goes

   The public corporation that let the contract, for the certified copy. Then the circuit court for the county in which the contract was to be performed - and nowhere else.

   How

   Apply to the public body and furnish an affidavit that you supplied labor or material for the prosecution of the work and have not been paid. They must then give you a certified copy of the contract and the surety. You sue on that, in the name of the public corporation, for your own use and benefit, against the contractor and its surety.

   Proof to keep

   Your application and affidavit with the date sent, the certified copy of the contract and bond they send back, your delivery and labor records, and anything establishing the date of completion and of final settlement.

   What the document must contain

   • An affidavit to the public corporation stating that labor or material for the prosecution of the work was supplied by you
   • and that payment for it has not been made

   If you miss it: One year from completion and the bond claim is gone. There is a second trap here: if the public body never required a bond at all, you can sue the public body itself for the value of your work or material - but that action must be commenced within NINETY DAYS from acceptance of the work. Ninety days is short, and it starts running whether or not anyone tells you.

   S.D. Codified Laws 5-21-1, 5-21-6, 5-21-2(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: On a federal job, use the Miller Act instead

   If you did not contract directly with the prime contractor, give the prime written notice within 90 days from the day you last performed labor or supplied material. Any suit must be brought no later than one year after the day you last performed labor or supplied material.

   Federal projects are governed by federal law, not South Dakota law. There is no lien and no state recording. Your claim is on the prime contractor's federal payment bond. Anyone who has not been paid in full within 90 days of their last labor or material may sue on the bond, but a claimant with a direct contract with a subcontractor and no contract with the bonded prime must first give the prime written notice.

   Where it goes

   The prime contractor that furnished the payment bond, for the notice. The United States district court for the district where the contract was performed, for the suit.

   How

   Serve the notice by any means that gives you written, third-party verification of delivery to the prime, at any place the prime keeps an office or does business, or at the prime's residence; or have it served the way a U.S. marshal may serve a summons. Suit goes in federal district court.

   Proof to keep

   The third-party delivery verification for the notice, the dated notice itself, and your records fixing the last day of labor or supply.

   What the document must contain

   • The notice must state with substantial accuracy the amount claimed
   • and the name of the party to whom the material was furnished or supplied, or for whom the labor was done or performed

   If you miss it: Miss the 90-day notice and, as a second-tier claimant, you cannot sue on the bond. Miss the one year and the action is time-barred outright.

   40 U.S.C. 3133(b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(4) (Miller Act)(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Mail the lien to the owner BEFORE you record it

   Before you take the lien to the register of deeds - and early enough that the recording still lands inside your 120 days. Do not leave this to the final week. You need the post office receipt in your hand before you can file, so in practice your usable window is shorter than 120 days.

   Finish, sign and have the lien statement verified, then mail a copy of that exact document to the property owner by registered or certified mail. Keep the post office receipt for that mailing - it gets physically attached to the lien statement you file. Mailing it after you record does not satisfy the statute.

   Where it goes

   The property owner. Check the current record owner at the register of deeds before you address it.

   How

   Registered or certified mail to the property owner at the owner's last known post office address. Get the receipt at the counter.

   Proof to keep

   The post office receipt itself - the original goes onto the filing, so get a clear copy or a second receipt for your file. Keep the tracking record and a copy of what you mailed.

   What the document must contain

   • A copy of the completed, verified lien statement
   • The post office receipt for that registered or certified mailing, to be attached to the statement you file

   If you miss it: Your lien is defective even if every single date was met. This is the most common way a South Dakota lien that looks perfectly timely fails. A claimant who records first and mails afterwards has not complied, and the sequence cannot be undone after the fact.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-17(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: Record the verified lien statement within 120 days of your last day

   Within 120 days after doing the last of your work, or furnishing the last item of your skill, services, material or machinery. The same 120 days applies to every tier - South Dakota does NOT give the general contractor a longer window. The clock runs from your own last furnishing, not from when the whole project finished.

   File your lien statement. It must be verified - sworn to by the oath of a person the verification itself shows has knowledge of the facts. A bare notary acknowledgment saying someone signed is not the same thing and is a defect. In practice a notary administers the oath, so a properly worded verification block signed before a notary satisfies both.

   Where it goes

   Register of deeds of the county the improved premises are in, or of the county that county is attached to for judicial purposes. IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: a claim for work on a railway, telegraph, telephone, electric light or power line, or any line of pipe, conduit or subway is filed with the SOUTH DAKOTA SECRETARY OF STATE, not a county register of deeds.

   How

   In person or by mail to the register of deeds, with the post office receipt from the previous step attached to the statement. The fee is $30 for the first 50 pages, plus $2 for each page or part of a page over 50. No fee may be charged later for filing the satisfaction.

   Proof to keep

   The recorded copy showing the book and page or document number and the recording date. Your fee receipt. A copy of everything that went in, including the attached post office receipt.

   What the document must contain

   • A notice of intention to claim and hold a lien, and the amount of it
   • That the amount is due and owing to you for labor performed, or for skill, services, material or machinery furnished, and for what improvement it was done or supplied
   • The names and post office addresses of you and of the person for or to whom the work was performed or the materials furnished
   • The dates when the first and last items of your contribution were made
   • A description of the property to be charged, identifying it with reasonable certainty
   • The name and address of the owner at the time you make the statement, according to the best information you then have
   • An itemized statement of the account on which the lien is claimed
   • A verification by the oath of a person shown by the verification to have knowledge of the facts stated
   • The attached post office receipt for the registered or certified mailing to the owner

   If you miss it: The lien ceases at the end of the 120 days. There is no extension, no grace period and no way to cure it. You still keep your ordinary contract claim for the money against the party you contracted with - failing to comply with the lien chapter does not affect that - but the security against the property is gone.

   S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-15, 44-9-16, 44-9-19, 7-9-15(3), 44-9-49(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: Answer the owner's written request for an itemized account

    The owner can serve this written request within 15 days after the contract is completed. Once they do, you must furnish the account - and you cannot commence any action to enforce your lien until 10 days after you furnish it.

    The owner (which here includes anyone interested in the premises other than a lien holder) can require you to furnish an itemized and verified account of your lien claim, the amount, and your name and address. This is an owner-side lever and it has teeth in one specific way: it blocks you from filing suit for 10 days after you comply.

    Where it goes

    To the owner or whoever served the request on you.

    How

    Prepare an itemized, verified (sworn) account and deliver it promptly. Do not sit on it - every day you delay pushes back the day you are allowed to sue.

    Proof to keep

    The request as served on you with the date received. A copy of the account you furnished and dated proof of when you furnished it - this fixes the date the 10-day block ends.

    What the document must contain

    • An itemized account of your lien claim
    • The amount of the claim
    • Your name and address
    • Verified - sworn to

    If you miss it: You stay blocked from starting an enforcement action. That is dangerous if a 30-day demand to commence suit is running at the same time: you can find yourself statutorily barred from filing during part of the very window in which you must file. If both are live, treat it as an emergency and get a lawyer that day.

    S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-14(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: If anyone demands that you sue, you have 30 days - this is the kill switch

    30 days after the written demand is served on you. Not 30 business days. Not 30 days from when you get around to reading it.

    At any point after you have a lien, the owner, the owner's agent, OR THE CONTRACTOR can serve a written demand requiring you to commence suit to enforce it. Read that list again - the general contractor you are fighting with can pull this lever on you, which makes it common rather than exotic. If you have not commenced suit within 30 days of service, the lien is forfeited. It does not matter how much of your six years is left. And from the fortieth day after service, they can file an affidavit, a copy of the demand and proof of service, and the register of deeds will cancel your lien of record.

    Where it goes

    Circuit court of the county the improved premises, or some part of them, are in - or the county it is attached to for judicial purposes. For a utility or railway claim under 44-9-1(2), any county the line runs through or into.

    How

    You commence suit by having a summons issued and filing a complaint with the clerk of courts. Call a South Dakota construction lawyer the day the demand arrives - 30 days is not enough time to shop around.

    Proof to keep

    The demand itself, the envelope, and any proof of service showing the exact date it was served on you - that date is the only thing that matters. Then the file-stamped summons and complaint, and the recorded notice of pendency.

    What the document must contain

    • A summons issued and a complaint filed in the office of the clerk of courts
    • A verified bill of the items of your claim attached to the complaint
    • A notice of pendency recorded with the register of deeds at the beginning of the action

    If you miss it: The lien is forfeited on day 31. From day 40 it gets cancelled of record on their affidavit. You lose the security completely, and you lose it years before you thought you had to act. Your ordinary contract claim against the party you contracted with survives, but the property is no longer standing behind it.

    S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-26, 44-9-27, 44-9-28(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Sue within six years of your LAST WORK DAY, not six years from filing

    Within six years after the date of the last item of your claim as set forth in your filed lien statement. That is the same date the 120 days ran from. Recording on day 119 does not buy you an extra four months at the far end - the clock started on your last work day either way.

    You assert the lien either by filing a complaint or by answering somebody else's complaint. Everyone must be made a party within the six years; nobody is bound by the judgment unless they were brought in inside that period. Do not treat six years as comfortable - a written demand can cut it to 30 days at any moment, and a 15-day owner request can block you for 10 days while that runs.

    Where it goes

    Circuit court of the county where the improved premises, or part of them, are. The action is begun and conducted like a real estate mortgage foreclosure.

    How

    Issue a summons and file a complaint with the clerk of courts, and record the notice of pendency at the same time. If another claimant has already sued on this improvement and recorded a notice of pendency, you must NOT file your own action - you intervene in theirs by answer.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped pleading with its date, the recorded notice of pendency, and the verified bill of particulars as filed.

    What the document must contain

    • A complaint, or an answer in an existing action
    • A bill of the items of your claim, verified by the oath of a person having knowledge of them, attached to and filed with the complaint or answer
    • A notice of pendency filed for record with the register of deeds at the beginning of the action

    If you miss it: The lien cannot be enforced. Once the six years pass with no suit, the owner, the owner's agent or the contractor can file an affidavit with the register of deeds, who must cancel your lien of record within 30 days. Separately, if you fail to file the bill of particulars the court directs, your pleading is stricken out and your claim disallowed - so the lawsuit can be lost on paperwork after it is filed on time.

    S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-24, 44-9-23, 44-9-27, 44-9-28, 44-9-31(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Once you are paid, release the lien within 10 days of a written demand

    Within 10 days after written demand, once the lien has in fact been satisfied by payment, foreclosure, compromise or any other method.

    When the debt is settled, you owe the owner a satisfaction. If you drag your feet after a written demand, you are personally exposed. This is the step people forget because the money is already in the bank.

    Where it goes

    Deliver it to the owner of the property; it is then presented to the register of deeds that holds the lien.

    How

    Execute a satisfaction before two witnesses, or acknowledged before a notary public, and deliver it to the owner of the property. The register of deeds files it and cancels the lien of record. No fee may be charged for filing the satisfaction.

    Proof to keep

    A copy of the executed satisfaction, dated proof you delivered it, and the demand you were responding to with the date you received it.

    What the document must contain

    • The lien's date
    • The date of filing
    • The amount claimed
    • A description of the property
    • The names of the lien claimants and of the owner of the property
    • Executed before two witnesses, or acknowledged before a notary public

    If you miss it: You are liable to the person who demanded it for all damages, costs and expenses including their attorney's fees, plus an additional $100 penalty. You can turn a won case into a bill.

    S.D. Codified Laws 44-9-21, 44-9-22(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in South Dakota

Where you file

Office

County Register of Deeds

Recording fee

$30

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn oath of person shown to have knowledge of the facts

How it is served

Certified mail

Copies

2

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

What trips people up in South Dakota

• RECORDING THE LIEN BEFORE MAILING IT TO THE OWNER. SDCL 44-9-17 makes the registered or certified mailing a condition precedent to filing, and the post office receipt must be physically attached to the statement that gets recorded. Record first and mail afterwards and you have a defective lien even though every date was met. This is the single most common way a facially timely South Dakota lien fails. It also means you cannot walk in and record on day 120 - the receipt has to already be in your hand.
• BELIEVING SOUTH DAKOTA HAS NO PRELIMINARY NOTICE. It does, conditionally. If the owner or a direct-contract party filed a Notice of Project Commencement under SDCL 44-9-50 and posted the site notice under 44-9-51, then a sub-subcontractor or a supplier to a subcontractor who does not mail the Notice of Furnishing is 'not entitled to extend' a lien at all (SDCL 44-9-53). The lien right simply does not exist. Check the register of deeds' index and the job site; if you cannot confirm either way, send the notice.
• CALENDARING THE 60-DAY NOTICE FROM YOUR FIRST DAY. SDCL 44-9-53 runs from 'sixty days after doing the last of such work, or furnishing the last item'. Nearly every other state runs preliminary notice from first furnishing. Anyone used to those states will get South Dakota wrong in both directions - too early to be useful, or too late to be valid.
• IGNORING A WRITTEN DEMAND TO COMMENCE SUIT. SDCL 44-9-26 lets the owner, the owner's agent, OR THE CONTRACTOR serve a demand; 30 days later the lien is forfeited no matter how much of the six years remains, and from day 40 it is cancelled of record on their affidavit. Because the contractor can serve it, a subcontractor in a payment fight with its GC is squarely exposed. This is how South Dakota liens actually die - not by running out the six years.
• THINKING THE SIX YEARS RUNS FROM THE DAY YOU RECORDED. SDCL 44-9-24 runs from 'the date of the last item of the lien holder's claim as set forth in the filed and entered lien statement' - the same date that started your 120 days. Record on day 115 and then count six years from recording and you are roughly four months late.
• RECORDING A MECHANICS LIEN ON A PUBLIC PROJECT. No lien attaches to public property in South Dakota. The remedy is the SDCL ch. 5-21 payment bond, and SDCL 5-21-6 bars suit until six months after complete performance and final settlement while cutting it off one year later. Spend the first year chasing a void lien and you have lost the bond claim too. And if the public body never required a bond, your action against the public body itself must be commenced within 90 days from acceptance of the work (SDCL 5-21-2).
• FILING A UTILITY OR RAILWAY LIEN AT THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE. Claims under SDCL 44-9-1(2) - railway, telegraph, telephone, electric light or power line, pipe, conduit or subway - go to the SECRETARY OF STATE, not a register of deeds (SDCL 44-9-15). A county filing preserves nothing and the 120 days runs out while the paper sits in the wrong index. If you sue on one, the notice of pendency has to be recorded in every county the utility extends into (SDCL 44-9-28).
• USING A PLAIN NOTARY ACKNOWLEDGMENT INSTEAD OF A VERIFICATION. SDCL 44-9-16 requires the statement to be 'verified by the oath of some person shown by such verification to have knowledge of the facts stated'. A block that merely says somebody signed, or a verification that does not establish on its face how the signer knows the facts, is a defect. Swear to it, and say in the document why you know.
• ENDORSING A JOINT CHECK WITHOUT READING THE BACK. Under SDCL 44-9A-2 to 44-9A-4, a conspicuous provision on the reverse of a joint check plus a separate signed waiver agreement is an express waiver of your Title 5 and Title 44 rights against the owner, contractor and surety, to the extent and as of the date of that check. SDCL 44-9A-5 adds the cruel part: if you endorse and then let the other payee take the money, that release is at your peril and the waiver still stands.
• RELYING ON A LIEN AGAINST AN OWNER-OCCUPIED HOME. SDCL 44-9-5: 'The lien shall not extend to nor affect any rights in any homestead so far as the same is exempt from levy and sale on execution.' South Dakota's homestead exemption has no dollar cap and covers up to one acre inside a town plat or 160 acres outside one (SDCL 43-31-1, 43-31-4). You can hold a perfectly recorded lien against property that cannot be reached. Whether SDCL 44-9-5 bars a lien for improvements made TO that same homestead was not resolved by any authority traced here - get counsel before you count on it.
• FILING ONE LIEN ACROSS A CONDOMINIUM DEVELOPMENT. SDCL 44-9-20 lets one statement cover two or more improvements on one lot or adjoining lots under one general contract - EXCEPT condominiums, where SDCL 43-15A-29 requires you to apportion your demand among the units and assert a proportionate lien on each.
• FILING YOUR OWN LAWSUIT AFTER SOMEONE ELSE RECORDED A NOTICE OF PENDENCY. Under SDCL 44-9-28, once any claimant records one, no other action may be commenced on that improvement and every other claimant must intervene by answer. File a separate case and you can burn a 30-day demand window while the wrong case sits on the docket.
• FILING SUIT ON TIME AND THEN LOSING IT ON PAPERWORK. SDCL 44-9-31 requires a bill of the items of your claim, verified by the oath of someone with knowledge, attached to your complaint or answer, plus any further account the court directs. Fail to file it and your pleading is stricken out and your claim disallowed.
• GIVING UP BECAUSE YOU BLEW A LIEN DEADLINE. SDCL 44-9-49: failing to comply with any part of the lien chapter does not affect your right to recover in an ordinary civil action from the party you contracted with. You lose the security, not the debt. Talk to a lawyer about the contract claim before you write the money off.

After you file

• Diary six years from THE LAST DAY YOU WORKED, as stated in your lien - not six years from the recording date (SDCL 44-9-24).
• Open your mail. A written demand to commence suit from the owner, the owner's agent or the contractor starts a hard 30-day clock, and the lien is forfeited on day 31 (SDCL 44-9-26). Record the exact date of service on you - that is the date everything is measured from.
• Watch for the owner's written request for an itemized verified account, which can come within 15 days after the contract is completed. Furnish it promptly: you cannot commence an enforcement action until 10 days after you do (SDCL 44-9-14).
• If nobody sues for six years, the owner, the owner's agent or the contractor can file an affidavit and the register of deeds must cancel your lien of record within 30 days (SDCL 44-9-24).
• When you do sue, record a notice of pendency with the register of deeds at the beginning of the action - and in every county the line extends into if it is a utility or railway claim (SDCL 44-9-28).
• If another claimant on the same improvement recorded a notice of pendency first, do not file your own case. Intervene in theirs by answer (SDCL 44-9-28, 44-9-25).
• Attach a verified bill of the items of your claim to your complaint or answer, and file any further account the court directs, or your pleading is stricken and your claim disallowed (SDCL 44-9-31).
• You can tax $5 as costs for preparing the lien statement and account, on top of the usual foreclosure costs, and the court has discretion to allow attorney's fees (SDCL 44-9-41, 44-9-42).
• When the lien is satisfied, execute and deliver a satisfaction. If you neglect to do it within 10 days of written demand, you owe damages, costs, attorney's fees and a $100 penalty (SDCL 44-9-21, 44-9-22). No fee is charged for filing the satisfaction (SDCL 44-9-19).
• Keep the whole packet - the certified-mail receipts for both the Notice of Furnishing and the lien statement, the recorded copy with its document number, your dated delivery and labor records, and photos of the job site. Those receipts are the elements most often missing when a lien is attacked.