A notice of commencement is a document a property owner records in the county’s public records to formally mark the start of a construction project, and in states that require it, that filing sets the rules for how subcontractors and suppliers can later claim payment against the property. It is not a building permit and does not authorize any work. It is a separate legal filing tied to the money side of the project, and getting it right protects you from paying twice for the same labor or materials.
Why This Document Exists
The notice puts boundaries around who can file a lien on your property and by when. Without it, lien claims can appear with little warning from parties you never directly hired, such as a drywall supplier two tiers below your general contractor. With the notice recorded, those parties are generally required to send you a preliminary notice within a set window after they start work, which gives you an early warning system.
The filing also acts as a roadmap for everyone on the job. It lists the owner, the general contractor, the lender, the surety if there is a payment bond, and the person designated to receive lien-related notices. A supplier working several tiers down the chain can pull the document from the public record and know exactly who to contact to preserve payment rights.
Who Files It and When
The property owner is almost always responsible for preparing and recording the notice. An owner can sometimes authorize an agent, usually an attorney or the general contractor, to handle the paperwork, but the legal obligation stays with the owner. If you are a tenant financing improvements to leased space, the responsibility may shift to you as the party contracting for the work.
Timing is state-specific. Some states require recording before any physical work begins. Others allow a short grace period after construction starts, with 15 days being common. Filing late, or not at all, can extend lien deadlines and create exposure that would not exist with a timely filing. The safe practice is to record before the first shovel hits the ground.
What the Notice Must Contain
State-specific forms are available from the county recorder or clerk of court where the property sits, and the required contents are prescribed by statute. Fields differ by jurisdiction, but most states ask for the same core information:
- The full legal description of the property, which you can pull from your deed.
- Your name, address, and the nature of your interest in the property (fee simple, leasehold, and so on).
- A general description of the planned improvements.
- The name and address of the general contractor.
- The name and address of the construction lender, if the project is financed.
- The name and address of the surety company, if a payment bond is in place.
- The person authorized to receive lien-related notices from subcontractors and suppliers.
- An expiration date, if your state requires one, which controls how long lien rights remain active under the notice.
Check every field against your deed and your contract before recording. An incorrect legal description or a misspelled contractor name can undermine the notice’s effectiveness. Some states let you record an amended notice to fix mistakes rather than terminating the original and starting over.
Recording and Posting
Once the form is complete, signed, and notarized (notarization is typically required), you record it at the public records office of the county where the property is located. That office is usually the county recorder or the clerk of court, depending on the state. Recording fees vary but generally fall between $10 and $70.
Recording alone is usually not enough. After the document is on file, you have to post a copy at the job site in a visible, weather-protected location so that subcontractors, suppliers, and inspectors can see it. This is where compliance tends to break down. A notice that blows away in the first rainstorm or gets buried behind construction materials is not meaningfully posted, and that gap can create problems later.
How It Shapes Lien Rights
Recording the notice starts the clock on preliminary notices. Subcontractors and suppliers without a direct contract with you, meaning anyone hired by your general contractor or by another subcontractor, generally have to send you a preliminary notice (often called a “Notice to Owner” or “Notice of Furnishing”) within 20 to 45 days of beginning work, depending on the state.
That preliminary notice is not a lien. It is a heads-up telling you a particular company is on your project and expects to be paid. If the company later goes unpaid and wants to file a mechanic’s lien, having sent the preliminary notice on time is usually a prerequisite. Miss the deadline, and the lien right can be lost entirely. That is the protective structure the notice of commencement enables.
Expiration and Keeping It Current
A notice of commencement does not last forever. Most states set a default expiration of one year from the recording date unless the notice specifies a longer period. If your project will run longer than a year, set a realistic expiration on the original or amend it before the deadline arrives.
This is the trap that catches owners of long-running projects. Once a notice expires, its legal protections evaporate. Payments you make after expiration can be treated as improper payments under the law, which means you could end up paying twice for the same work if a subcontractor later files a valid lien. If your timeline stretches, record an amended or new notice before the original lapses.
Terminating the Notice When the Job Is Done
When a project wraps up before the expiration date, you should formally close out the notice by recording a notice of termination in the same public records office. The termination process generally requires confirmation that all lienors have been paid in full, often supported by a final contractor’s affidavit and lien waivers from the subcontractors who sent preliminary notices.
This is not just housekeeping. An active notice of commencement shows up as a title exception on title insurance policies, which makes the property objectionable to buyers and mortgage lenders because their interest would be subject to lien claims that could still be filed. If you are selling or refinancing after construction, clearing the notice from title is typically a prerequisite. Title insurers will want to see the recorded termination with supporting documentation before they remove the exception.
In most states, the termination does not take effect immediately. A waiting period, commonly 30 days, lets lienors who were working under the notice preserve their rights. The buffer prevents an owner from using termination to cut off legitimate claims.
What Happens If You Skip It
Not recording a notice does not stop construction, but it reshapes the legal landscape against you. Without a recorded notice, subcontractors and suppliers may not need to send you preliminary notices to preserve their lien rights. You lose the early warning system, and parties you never knew were on the project can file liens without any prior notification.
The absence of a notice can also extend lien deadlines. In some states, the clock for serving a notice of furnishing does not start running until a notice of commencement is finally recorded. The practical effect is that your exposure to lien claims stretches out until the filing happens. On larger projects with multiple tiers of subcontractors, that uncertainty is not something an owner should accept voluntarily.
Not the Same as a Building Permit
Confusing these two documents is common. A building permit is regulatory. It is issued by the local building department and authorizes you to perform specific construction work that complies with building codes and zoning requirements. You cannot legally begin construction without it.
A notice of commencement is financial. It establishes the framework for payment rights and lien claims, authorizes no work, and has nothing to do with code compliance. Some jurisdictions require proof that a notice of commencement has been recorded before issuing a building permit, which adds to the mix-up, but the two remain separate documents filed with different offices for different reasons. In states that require the notice, most construction projects need both.