How to file a mechanics lien in Wyoming

Step by step

15 steps for a subcontractor in Wyoming.

1. 1

   Step 1: Work out which track your job is on before you count a single day

   Before you sign, and again the day payment stops.

   Wyoming has more than one lien chapter and two no-lien situations, and they use completely different clocks. Private building or improvement on private land is the ordinary construction lien in Chapter 2 — that is what most of this guide covers. Work on a well, mine, quarry, oil derrick, oil tank or pipeline is Chapter 3, which has its own 180-day clock and a $750 minimum. A job for a city, county, school district or the State cannot be liened at all. Neither can a federal job. Getting this wrong at the start means every date after it is wrong too.

   Where it goes

   County clerk's records for ownership; the public entity's procurement office if you think it is a public job.

   How

   Check the deed or the tax record for who owns the land, and check your contract for what the work actually was.

   Proof to keep

   A copy of your signed contract and whatever you used to confirm who owns the property.

   If you miss it: You count from the wrong statute. A well-servicing company that uses the 120-day Chapter 2 date instead of the 180-day Chapter 3 date gives away two months; a subcontractor on a school job who waits for a lien deadline blows the 60-day bond notice that was its only remedy.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 29-2-101(a) (private buildings and improvements), 29-3-103(a) (wells, mines, quarries, derricks, tanks, pipelines), 16-6-112(a) (public works bond)(opens the statute in a new tab)
2. 2

   Step 2: If the owner hired you directly: mail the Preliminary Notice of Right to Lien BEFORE you take a single dollar

   Before you accept any money from the owner — including a deposit, a retainer or a mobilization advance. In practice: mail it the day you sign, before you cash anything.

   This is the notice that tells the owner you can lien the property if you are not paid, and that the owner can ask for lien waivers when paying. For anyone the owner hired directly, it is not a 30-day rule and it is not a countdown. The statute says the contractor must send it 'prior to receiving any payment from owner, including advances.' A deposit at signing ends the window the moment you deposit the check. This catches design firms constantly: an architect, professional engineer or surveyor hired by the owner is a 'contractor' under the definitions, so a retainer invoice paid before the notice goes out kills the lien.

   Where it goes

   To the record owner of the property, or the owner's agent. The blank form is available free at any county clerk's office.

   How

   Send it in writing. The statute's definition of 'send' counts the moment you deposit it in the mail, not the day it arrives, and allows first class mail, certified mail return receipt requested, mail requiring a delivery receipt, a commercial carrier that keeps a delivery receipt, or an electronic record under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act if you and the recipient have already been communicating electronically. Certified mail, return receipt requested is the one that leaves you proof.

   Proof to keep

   The dated certified mail receipt showing the mailing date, the return receipt card, and a copy of the notice exactly as sent. Because the deadline is the date you mailed it, the postmarked receipt is the whole ballgame.

   What the document must contain

   • Name, address, telephone number and contact person for the contractor, subcontractor or materialman
   • The materials provided or work performed
   • Property description
   • Street address
   • Legal description
   • Signature and date
   • The substance required by § 29-2-112(a)(i): that you have the right to assert a lien against the property if you are not paid, and that the owner or contractor may obtain lien waivers upon payment
   • A blank lien waiver form attached, as the statutory form states

   If you miss it: Your lien is barred. The statute says failure to send the notice within the time specified 'shall bar the right of a contractor, subcontractor or materialman to assert a lien.' There is no cure, no late filing and no fix written into the statute. If you already took a payment and never sent it, the lien is gone.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-2-112(a)(i), (a)(ii)(A), (a)(iii), (a)(iv); definitions at § 29-1-201(a)(i), (a)(xii); form at § 29-10-101(opens the statute in a new tab)
3. 3

   Step 3: If someone other than the owner hired you: mail the Preliminary Notice of Right to Lien within 30 days of your first day — and copy the contractor who hired you

   Within 30 days after the first day you provided services or materials to the project. Not 30 days after your first invoice, and not 30 days after your contract — 30 days from first furnishing.

   Same notice, different clock. A subcontractor or materialman gets 30 days after first providing services or materials to the project. The part people get wrong is the second copy: the statute requires you to give a copy of the written notice to the contractor you are working for, not just to the owner. Serving only the owner is incomplete.

   Where it goes

   Copy one to the record owner of the property or the owner's agent. Copy two to the contractor you are providing services or materials for. Blank forms are free at any county clerk's office.

   How

   Send it in writing, two copies going out. 'Send' counts from the moment you deposit it in the mail, and allows first class mail, certified mail return receipt requested, mail requiring a delivery receipt, a receipted commercial carrier, or a UETA electronic record if you and the recipient have already been communicating electronically. Certified mail, return receipt requested is the one that leaves you proof.

   Proof to keep

   Two dated certified mail receipts — one for the owner, one for the contractor — plus both return receipt cards and a copy of the notice as sent.

   What the document must contain

   • Name, address, telephone number and contact person for the subcontractor or materialman
   • The materials provided or work performed
   • Property description
   • Street address
   • Legal description
   • Signature and date
   • The substance required by § 29-2-112(a)(i): that you have the right to assert a lien against the property if you are not paid, and that the owner or contractor may obtain lien waivers upon payment
   • A blank lien waiver form attached, as the statutory form states

   If you miss it: Your lien is barred outright. The statute says failure to send the notice within the time specified bars the right to assert a lien. Nothing in the section lets you send it late.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-2-112(a)(i), (a)(ii)(B), (a)(iii), (a)(iv); definitions at § 29-1-201(a)(vi), (a)(ix), (a)(xii); form at § 29-10-101(opens the statute in a new tab)
4. 4

   Step 4: Get the owner's name and the legal description from your contractor at signing

   Optional

   At the time you contract with the contractor.

   You cannot fill out the preliminary notice or the lien statement without the legal description of the property and the record owner's name. The statute puts the duty on your contractor to hand it to you. If you are a subcontractor or supplier, ask for it in writing when you sign, not the week the deadline hits.

   Where it goes

   From the contractor you are working for; county clerk's records as a backup.

   How

   In writing, from the contractor. If they will not provide it, the legal description is also in the county clerk's real property records.

   Proof to keep

   The contractor's written response, or your own copy of the deed or tax record pulled from the county clerk.

   What the document must contain

   • Name and address of the record owner
   • Name and address of the owner's agent, if there is one
   • Legal description of the project site

   If you miss it: Nothing is forfeited by this step alone — the duty is on the contractor, not on you. But every document after this one requires the legal description, and hunting for it on day 29 is how the 30-day preliminary notice deadline gets missed.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-2-113(opens the statute in a new tab)
5. 5

   Step 5: Check the county records for a recorded Notice of Substantial Completion

   Check periodically once the project nears completion, and again the moment payment stops.

   This is the lever the owner can pull to shorten your window, and you may never hear about it. The owner may record a Notice of Substantial Completion with the county clerk. Once recorded, the date it was recorded is presumed to be the date the project was substantially complete — which is when your filing clock starts. The owner is supposed to mail a copy within five days, but only to people who sent a preliminary notice. And the statute says in plain terms that your time to file is not affected if the owner fails to send it. So the clock can start without you being told.

   Where it goes

   County clerk of the county where the project is located.

   How

   Search the county clerk's recorded documents for the property. Many Wyoming county clerks offer an online index; otherwise call or visit the office.

   Proof to keep

   A dated copy of your records search, and a copy of any recorded notice you find.

   What the document must contain

   • The notice must refer to § 29-2-106 and give the date of substantial completion
   • It must state in bold face type that it creates a rebuttable presumption that the lien filing period runs from the recording date, and that liens must be filed within 150 days of that date by contractors and 120 days by materialmen

   If you miss it: You count from your own last day on site when the real clock started earlier, and you record a lien after it expired. The presumption is rebuttable, but you are now arguing about it instead of holding a valid lien.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-2-106(c), (d); form at § 29-10-105(opens the statute in a new tab)
6. 6

   Step 6: Send the Notice of Intention to File Lien at least 20 days before you record

   No later than 20 days before you record the lien statement. Working backward: by day 130 if the owner hired you directly, by day 100 for everyone else.

   This is the second mandatory notice, and it is completely separate from the preliminary notice. You cannot record a lien until 20 days after you send it. That means your real deadline to act is 20 days earlier than your filing deadline — day 130 if you have 150 days, day 100 if you have 120. Anyone who first thinks about a lien on day 110 with a 120-day window is already out of time, no matter how fast they move.

   Where it goes

   To the record owner of the property or the owner's agent. If there is more than one owner, the statutory form directs you to use a separate form for each owner. Blank forms are free at any county clerk's office.

   How

   In writing. The statutory form is captioned CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED. 'Send' counts from the date you deposit it in the mail.

   Proof to keep

   The certified mail receipt with its postmark date, the return receipt card, and a dated copy of the notice for each owner you sent it to. The postmark date is what proves you cleared the 20 days.

   What the document must contain

   • Date
   • Name of the lien claimant
   • A statement that the claimant intends to file a lien against the property under § 29-2-107
   • The amount of the lien claim
   • The name of the person or entity the amount is due from, and that it arises under a contract with the claimant for work performed or materials supplied
   • A statement that if the matter is not resolved within 20 days from the date of the notice, the claimant intends to file the lien statement

   If you miss it: You cannot lawfully record a lien. The statute makes this notice a precondition to filing, so sending it on day 115 of a 120-day window leaves you no lawful date to record on — the lien is lost.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-2-107(a), (b); form at § 29-10-102(opens the statute in a new tab)
7. 7

   Step 7: Record your lien statement within 120 days — anyone the owner did not hire directly

   Within 120 days of the earlier of (a) the last day you performed work or furnished materials under the contract, or (b) the date the project was substantially complete. For a subcontractor the statute also measures from the last day you performed work at the direction of the contractor, but the substantial-completion cutoff still applies if it comes first. If you are an architect, engineer, surveyor or specialty trade the owner hired directly, you may actually be a 'contractor' entitled to 150 days — 120 is the date that cannot burn you either way.

   Same document, shorter clock. The statute gives 150 days to 'any contractor' and 120 days to 'every other person asserting a lien under this chapter.' If the owner did not hire you, you are on 120. It has to be sworn to as true AND acknowledged before a notary — two separate things. The count runs from the EARLIER of your last day of work and the date the project was substantially complete, so punch-list and warranty work after completion does not extend it.

   Where it goes

   County clerk of the county where the property is located. Wyoming county clerks are the recorders — there is no separate Register of Deeds.

   How

   File it with the county clerk. It must be verified as to the accuracy of the lien and its allegations, and sworn to and acknowledged by you or your authorized representative before a notarial officer. Fee is $12 for the first page and $3 for each additional page.

   Proof to keep

   The clerk's recorded copy showing the date and time received, and your receipt for the fee.

   What the document must contain

   • Your name and address as lien claimant
   • The amount claimed to be due and owing
   • Name and address of the record owner whose property the lien is filed against
   • An itemized list setting forth and describing materials delivered or work performed
   • The name of the person you allege is contractually responsible to pay the debt
   • The date labor was last performed or services last rendered, or the date of substantial completion
   • The legal description of the property
   • A copy of the contract if available, or a summary of it plus a statement of where a written copy can be obtained
   • Sworn verification of accuracy and a notarial acknowledgment

   If you miss it: No lien. There is no late filing and no grace period. And because the clerk must record whatever you hand over regardless of irregularity, a lien recorded on day 125 will sit on the record looking fine right up until the owner points out it was 5 days late.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 29-2-106(a), (a)(i), (a)(ii) (120 days for 'every other person'), 29-1-312(a), (b), (d), (f); fee at W.S. 18-3-402(a)(xvi)(P); form at § 29-10-104(opens the statute in a new tab)
8. 8

   Step 8: Send the owner a copy of the recorded lien within 30 days of filing

   Within 30 days after the lien statement is filed.

   Once the lien is on record, you have to tell the owner it is there. This one is a required step but it is not a trap — the statute says failure to send it does not affect the validity of the lien. Do it anyway; it is the notice that usually gets you paid.

   Where it goes

   To the last record owner of the property or the owner's agent. If there is more than one owner, the statutory form directs you to use a separate form for each owner. Blank forms are free at any county clerk's office.

   How

   In writing. The statutory form is captioned CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED.

   Proof to keep

   Certified mail receipt and return receipt card for each owner.

   What the document must contain

   • Date
   • Name of the lien claimant
   • A statement, under § 29-1-312, that the lien claimant has filed a lien against the property

   If you miss it: Your lien stays valid — the statute says so explicitly. But you have skipped a step the statute requires, and the owner may not learn about the lien until it surfaces in a title search months later.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 29-1-312(c); form at § 29-10-103(opens the statute in a new tab)
9. 9

   Step 9: File suit to foreclose within 180 days of the day you recorded the lien

   Within 180 days after the lien statement is filed.

   The 180 days runs from the filing of the lien statement, not from your last day on the job. That means recording early to be safe actually shortens the calendar time you have left to sue. At day 180 with no suit filed, the lien does not go dormant or weaken — the statute says it stops existing.

   Where it goes

   District court, or circuit court where required by W.S. 5-9-128(a)(vi), in a county where the property is located. Venue for any mediation or arbitration of the lien claim is proper only in the county where the project is located — a contrary venue or choice-of-law clause in your contract does not apply to the lien claim.

   How

   File a complaint. Foreclosure actions under this act are quasi in rem proceedings and the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure apply.

   Proof to keep

   The file-stamped complaint showing the filing date.

   If you miss it: The lien ceases to exist. There is no extension, no tolling and no relation back written into the statute. You may still have a contract claim against whoever owes you, but the security against the property is gone.

   Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 29-2-109, 29-1-401(a), (b), 29-1-407(opens the statute in a new tab)
10. 10

    Step 10: File a notice of satisfaction within 30 days of being paid

    Within 30 days after payment. The damages clock starts from the date you receive a written request to file the satisfaction.

    After the debt is paid, you have to clear the lien off the record. If you do not, and the owner sends you a written request by certified or registered mail, damages start running against you at one tenth of one percent of the original principal per day.

    Where it goes

    County clerk of any county where the lien is filed; copy to the record owner.

    How

    File the notice of satisfaction with the county clerk and send the record owner a copy within 30 days. It must be acknowledged, but it may be signed by you or by your attorney.

    Proof to keep

    The clerk's recorded copy of the satisfaction and proof you mailed the owner's copy.

    What the document must contain

    • Substantially the same format and information as the notice of satisfaction form at § 29-10-106

    If you miss it: Damages of at least 0.1% of the original principal amount of the debt per day, running from the date you received the written request until you file, capped at $100 per day — plus any actual damages.

    Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 29-1-313(a), (b), 29-1-314; form at § 29-10-106(opens the statute in a new tab)
11. 11

    Step 11: Public job: tell the general contractor within 60 days that you want bond protection

    No later than 60 days after the date services or materials were first furnished.

    There is no mechanics lien on a Wyoming public works project. Your remedy is the payment bond the general contractor had to furnish before starting work, and you only keep that protection if you notify the general contractor — not the owner — that you are claiming it. This applies only where the general contractor's contract is for more than $150,000. The general contractor is supposed to post a sign on the site about this requirement and the owner is supposed to put it in the project specifications; if they did not, your failure to give notice does not waive your protection.

    Where it goes

    To the general contractor on the project.

    How

    In writing, signed by you. Send by certified mail, by electronic means, or deliver it and get a receipt from the general contractor or their agent. Notice by certified mail or electronic means is effective on the date you mail or send it.

    Proof to keep

    Certified mail receipt with its postmark date, or the general contractor's signed delivery receipt.

    What the document must contain

    • A statement that it is a notice of a right to protection under the bond or guarantee
    • Your name, address and phone number and the name of a contact person
    • The name and address of your vendor
    • The type or description of the materials or services provided
    • Your signature

    If you miss it: You waive your protection under the bond, where the general contractor complied with the site-sign and specification requirements. On a public job that bond is normally the only thing standing between you and nothing.

    Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-6-121(a)-(g); bond requirement at § 16-6-112(a)(opens the statute in a new tab)
12. 12

    Step 12: Public job: sue on the bond within one year of the certificate of final completion

    Within one year after the date of final completion of the public work as provided in W.S. 16-6-116(a)(iv).

    The deadline for suing on a Wyoming public works payment bond does not run from your last day — it runs from the public entity's certificate of final completion, which is issued after the entity determines the contract is fully performed. You have to find out that date from the public entity; it is not something you can compute from your own records.

    Where it goes

    A court of competent jurisdiction; notice to the obligee named in the bond.

    How

    File a civil action for the amount due. You must also notify the obligee named in the bond that the action has begun, giving the names of the parties, describing the guarantee, and stating the amount and nature of your claim.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint, your written notice to the obligee, and a copy of the public entity's certificate of final completion showing its date.

    If you miss it: No action can be maintained on the bond. Since there is no lien available on a public job, that ends the claim against the security.

    Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 16-6-115, 16-6-116(a)(iv), 16-6-113(opens the statute in a new tab)
13. 13

    Step 13: Federal job: give the prime contractor written notice within 90 days of your last day

    Within 90 days from the date on which you did or performed the last of the labor, or furnished or supplied the last of the material, for which the claim is made.

    On a federal project, Wyoming law does not apply at all — the Miller Act does. If you contracted with a subcontractor rather than with the prime, you must give the prime written notice before you can sue on the payment bond. Note the direction of the clock: unlike Wyoming's preliminary notice, this one runs from your LAST day, not your first.

    Where it goes

    To the prime contractor.

    How

    Written notice to the prime contractor furnishing the payment bond.

    Proof to keep

    Dated proof of delivery to the prime, and your records establishing your own last date of labor or material.

    If you miss it: You cannot bring a civil action on the Miller Act payment bond. There is no lien on federal property to fall back on.

    40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2)(opens the statute in a new tab)
14. 14

    Step 14: Federal job: sue on the Miller Act bond within one year of your last day

    No later than one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by you.

    The Miller Act suit deadline is measured from your own last day of labor or material — not from project completion, and not from the prime's last day. That makes it a date you can calculate yourself from your own records.

    Where it goes

    Federal district court.

    How

    File a civil action on the payment bond.

    Proof to keep

    The file-stamped complaint and your daily records or delivery tickets proving your last date on the job.

    If you miss it: The action is time-barred and there is no lien available on federal property.

    40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(4)(opens the statute in a new tab)
15. 15

    Step 15: Well, mine, quarry or pipeline work: different chapter, 180 days, $750 minimum

    File the lien statement within 180 days of the last day materials were delivered or work was performed under contract, or from the date the work was substantially completed as determined by the facts of the case; for an employee or subcontractor, after the last day worked at the direction of the employer or contractor. Suit to obtain judgment must be commenced within 180 days after filing the lien statement.

    If your work was constructing, altering, digging, drilling, driving, boring, operating, completing or repairing a well, mine or quarry, or altering, repairing or constructing an oil derrick, oil tank or pipeline, Wyoming puts it in a different chapter with its own rules. The filing window is 180 days, not 120 or 150, and the lien only attaches if more than $750 is owed. That chapter also lets you serve a sworn account on the owner so the owner can reduce later payments to the contractor — a remedy the ordinary construction lien chapter does not give you. Which chapter governs a mixed job is a question for your attorney.

    Where it goes

    County clerk in any county where any part of the land, leasehold, mine, quarry, pipeline or other property the lien may attach to is located.

    How

    File the lien statement with the county clerk and give notice by certified mail.

    Proof to keep

    The clerk's recorded copy showing date and time, and the certified mail receipt for the notice.

    What the document must contain

    • More than $750 owing for materials furnished or work performed
    • The lien statement contents required by § 29-1-312(b), including the sworn verification and notarial acknowledgment

    If you miss it: No lien on the well, mine, quarry or pipeline. And if you used the Chapter 2 deadlines by mistake you may have filed under the wrong chapter entirely.

    Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 29-3-103(a), 29-3-106(a), (b), 29-3-109(a), 29-3-111(a); definitions at § 29-3-101(opens the statute in a new tab)

Who can claim a lien in Wyoming

Where you file

Office

County Clerk of the county where the property is located (Wyoming county clerks serve ex officio as register of deeds; there is no separate recorder's office)

Recording fee

$12–$45

Notarization

Required

Sworn or verified

Sworn statement

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 Wyoming

• Taking a deposit before the preliminary notice goes out. If the owner hired you directly, the notice must be sent before you receive any payment from the owner, including advances. The moment the first dollar lands without the notice having been sent, the lien is barred — § 29-2-112(a)(ii)(A), (a)(iii). Design firms lose liens on this constantly, because architects, professional engineers and surveyors hired by the owner are 'contractors' under § 29-1-201(a)(i) and almost nobody realizes the prime contractor rule applies to them.
• Reading the 30-day rule as if it applied to everyone. It does not. The 30-days-from-first-furnishing rule is § 29-2-112(a)(ii)(B) and applies only to subcontractors and materialmen. Anyone showing a prime contractor a 30-day countdown is handing them a forfeiture.
• Sending the preliminary notice only to the owner. A subcontractor or materialman must also give a copy to the contractor they are working for — § 29-2-112(a)(i). One envelope is not compliance.
• Treating the two notices as one. The Preliminary Notice of Right to Lien (§ 29-2-112) and the Notice of Intention to File Lien (§ 29-2-107) are separate documents with separate triggers, separate forms and separate consequences. Sending either one does not satisfy the other.
• Using the 150-day deadline when you are not a 'contractor.' § 29-2-106(a) gives 150 days to any contractor and 120 days to every other person asserting a lien. A subcontractor told 150 who records on day 130 is ten days past a deadline with no cure.
• Running out the clock before the 20-day notice. § 29-2-107(a) requires the notice of intention to be sent at least 20 days before you record. Your real last day to act is day 100 on a 120-day window and day 130 on a 150-day window. Someone who first calls about a lien on day 112 with 120 days cannot lawfully file at all.
• Counting from your own last day on site. The window runs from the EARLIER of your last furnishing and substantial completion of the project — § 29-2-106(a)(i). A trade that finished early and came back for punch-list months later is measuring from the wrong date entirely.
• Assuming punch-list, warranty, callback or corrective work restarts the clock. Once substantial completion has occurred, it does not.
• Never checking the county records. The owner can record a Notice of Substantial Completion under § 29-2-106(c) and fix the start of your clock by presumption. The owner only has to mail copies to people who sent a preliminary notice, and the statute says flatly that your time to file is not affected if the owner fails to send it. Skip the preliminary notice and you can lose the window without ever being told it started.
• Going back to a dormant job and assuming the old work is still live. Under § 29-1-403 all work by one claimant counts as one contract only if no more than 180 days pass between furnishings. A longer gap splits the job into separate contracts, so the earlier stretch may already be expired even though you are back on site today.
• Relying on a handshake extension. § 29-2-106(e) allows an extension of the filing period, but only by an agreement acknowledged before a notarial officer, signed by the owner, the contractor and any other parties to the contract, recorded with the county clerk, and capped at twice the statutory period. It does not bind anyone who did not sign it. An email agreeing to 'give you more time' extends nothing.
• Counting the 180-day enforcement window from your last day on the job. § 29-2-109 runs it from the filing of the lien statement. Recording early to be safe reduces the calendar time you have left to sue, and at day 180 the lien ceases to exist.
• Notarizing without swearing. § 29-1-312(a) requires the lien statement to verify the accuracy of the lien and its allegations AND be sworn to and acknowledged before a notarial officer. A notary block on an unverified document leaves the lien defective.
• Treating the clerk accepting your filing as proof it was right. § 29-1-312(d) obliges the county clerk to record a lien statement at the date and time received 'regardless of any irregularity, illegible language or other reason,' and says in the same breath that an irregularity may provide a valid defense. A recorded lien can be a dead lien.
• Trying to lien a public job. Wyoming public property is not liened; the remedy is the § 16-6-112 payment bond, and subcontractors and suppliers had to notify the general contractor within 60 days of first furnishing under § 16-6-121(b). By the time somebody starts asking about lien deadlines, that window has usually closed.
• Applying Wyoming law to a federal job. The Miller Act governs: 90-day notice to the prime and one year to sue, both measured from your own last day — 40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2), (b)(4). Completely different calculation.
• Using the building-lien deadlines on well, mine, quarry or pipeline work. That work is Chapter 3: 180 days to file under § 29-3-106(b), 180 days from filing to sue under § 29-3-109(a), and nothing under $750.
• Filing an inflated or padded lien. § 29-1-401(c) awards costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party either direction, and § 29-1-601(b) lets an owner petition for a show-cause hearing set 6 to 15 days out where a claimant who knew the lien was groundless or contained a material misstatement can be ordered to pay the greater of $1,000 or actual damages, plus the owner's fees.
• Forgetting to clear the lien after you get paid. § 29-1-314 imposes damages of at least 0.1% of the original principal per day, capped at $100 per day, once you receive a written request by certified or registered mail and 30 days pass without a notice of satisfaction.

After you file

• Within 30 days of recording, send the record owner notice that the lien has been filed, on the § 29-10-103 form. § 29-1-312(c) says failure to send it does not affect the validity of the lien — this is a required step, not a forfeiture point.
• Your clock to sue is now running and it started on the day you recorded, not the day you finished work. You have 180 days under § 29-2-109. If no action to foreclose is instituted, the lien stops existing at day 180 — no extension, no tolling.
• Liens under this act sit on an equal footing with each other without reference to who filed first (§ 29-1-402(a)), and a perfected lien attaches in preference to any subsequent lien, security interest or mortgage.
• The owner, contractor or subcontractor can bond the lien off at any time before final judgment by depositing a surety bond, letter of credit, cash or approved cash equivalent equal to 1.5 times the lien amount with the court. On the court's order accepting it, your lien against the property is discharged and released in full and the security is substituted for it (§ 29-1-501). You are not wiped out — the security guarantees payment of your judgment plus costs and attorney fees if you win — but you are no longer secured by the land.
• The owner can also push back hard and fast. Under § 29-1-601(b) an owner who believes you knew the lien was groundless or contained a material misstatement can petition for an order requiring you to appear and show cause no earlier than 6 and no later than 15 days after service. If you do not appear, the lien is stricken and you are ordered to pay at least $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus the owner's costs and reasonable attorney fees.
• Fees run both ways in a foreclosure. § 29-1-401(c) entitles the prevailing party to recover all costs and expenses reasonably associated with the action, including reasonable attorney fees, from the party that loses.
• Venue is fixed by statute, not by your contract. By contracting to work on a Wyoming project you submit to Wyoming law and to the district and circuit courts of the county where the project sits, regardless of any contrary choice-of-law or venue clause, and any mediation or arbitration of the lien claim belongs in the project county unless the parties agree otherwise (§ 29-1-407).
• How far the lien reaches depends on where the property is: on unplatted ground it covers one acre unless the improvements themselves cover more, and inside a city, town or subdivision it covers the entire lot (§ 29-2-101(a), (c)). It also extends to easements as needed for legal road access, up to 40 feet wide (§ 29-2-101(e)).
• Once the debt is paid, file the notice of satisfaction with the county clerk and send the owner a copy within 30 days, or damages begin to accrue against you (§§ 29-1-313, 29-1-314).