Most writing about Florida construction liens addresses a contractor with one unpaid job. That is not the problem a credit manager at a building material supplier actually has. The problem is thirty or eighty open jobs, each with its own first furnishing date, its own last delivery, its own owner, its own general contractor, and its own clock. No single job justifies sustained legal attention. Collectively they represent the company’s receivable.
Portfolio exposure is managed differently from a single dispute. Three points deserve more attention than they usually get.
Public Jobs Have No Lien
There is no construction lien against public property. When a supplier furnishes materials to a public building or public work, the security is not the land. It is the payment and performance bond the contractor is required to record under section 255.05, Florida Statutes, before commencing work.
That substitution comes with an entirely separate notice regime, and the deadlines are not the ones a credit department learns for private jobs. A claimant not in privity with the contractor must serve the contractor with written notice of intent to look to the bond before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing to furnish. A claimant who has not been paid must then serve a notice of nonpayment, under oath and on the statutory form, on the contractor with a copy to the surety. That notice may not be served earlier than 45 days after first furnishing, and not later than 90 days after final furnishing. An action against the contractor or surety may not be instituted unless both notices were served when required.
One detail deserves emphasis because it defeats otherwise good claims. The statute provides that these time periods are measured from the claimant’s last day of furnishing and may not be measured by other standards such as a certificate of occupancy or a certificate of substantial completion. A credit department tracking project milestones rather than its own delivery tickets is tracking the wrong date.
The Small Public Job With No Bond At All
Section 255.05 does not require a bond on every public job. When the work is done for the state and the contract is for $100,000 or less, no payment and performance bond is required. For work done for a county, city, political subdivision, or public authority, the awarding official may exempt a contract of $200,000 or less.
On those jobs a supplier has no lien, because the property is public, and may have no bond either. The security is the credit of the customer and whatever the credit application secured. That is a credit decision, not a legal one, but it can only be made if someone asks the question before the first delivery rather than after the first missed payment.
Two Deadlines That Are Not on Your Calendar
A portfolio system that tracks only the standard notice deadlines will still lose claims, because the other side controls two clocks that appear without warning.
The notice of contest. A contractor may record a notice of contest of claim against a payment bond, which limits the claimant to 60 days after service to file suit. A claim not sued upon within that window is extinguished automatically. A document that arrives in the mail can convert a year of runway into two months.
The demand for a sworn statement of account. A contractor who has furnished a payment bond may serve a written demand on a claimant not in privity for a sworn statement of account. Failure to furnish the statement within 30 days, or furnishing a false or fraudulent one, deprives the claimant of its rights under the bond. Note where that demand goes: it must be served at the address and to the attention of the person designated to receive it in the claimant’s own notice to contractor. The name a credit clerk typed into a notice months earlier determines who receives the document that can extinguish the claim.
Accuracy Is a Condition, Not a Courtesy
The statute treats an inflated bond claim harshly. A notice of nonpayment is fraudulent, and service of it is a complete defense to the claim, if the claimant willfully exaggerated the amount unpaid, willfully included work or materials not furnished, or prepared the notice with willful and gross negligence amounting to willful exaggeration. A minor error or a good faith dispute over the amount does not have that effect, and a negligent inclusion or omission that does not prejudice the contractor or surety is not a default.
The practical instruction for a credit department is to claim what the delivery records support and to specify retainage separately where it is included. Padding a number to leave negotiating room can forfeit the claim.
What a System Looks Like
Managing this well is mostly administrative. Capture the first furnishing date on every job at the time of first delivery rather than reconstructing it later. Determine at credit approval whether the job is public or private and whether a bond exists and has been recorded. Calendar the notice dates from the delivery records. Route contractor correspondence to a person who recognizes a notice of contest or a demand for statement of account on sight. Keep the notices accurate.
Done consistently, this is inexpensive. Done inconsistently, the loss is not one claim but whichever claims happen to fall in the gaps, and those are rarely the small ones.
Haft Law Group represents suppliers, subcontractors, and contractors in Florida construction lien and payment bond matters, and works with credit departments on the systems that preserve those rights before a dispute arises. Contact the firm to review how your open jobs are being tracked.