Track lien deadlines and preliminary notices to protect payment
A job-by-job tracker of notice and lien dates, plus a plain-English checklist so I do not lose my right to get paid.
The prompt
Help me set up a mechanic's lien and payment-notice tracker for my construction jobs.
State(s) where my jobs are: [STATE]
My role on each job: [PRIME CONTRACTOR / SUB / SUB-SUB / SUPPLIER]
Project type: [PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL / PRIVATE COMMERCIAL / PUBLIC]
Jobs: [JOB NAME, OWNER, GC, FIRST DAY OF WORK OR DELIVERY, LAST DAY OF WORK, CONTRACT AMOUNT, AMOUNT UNPAID]
Notices already sent: [TYPE AND DATE]
Steps:
1. Explain, in plain English, the general sequence of payment-protection steps for my role: preliminary notice, notice of intent, lien filing, and enforcement suit; and note that public projects usually use bond claims instead of liens.
2. Build a tracker with a row per job and columns: Job, Role, First furnishing date, Prelim notice due, Sent?, Last furnishing date, Lien deadline, Bond claim deadline (public), Amount at risk, Next action, Status.
3. Leave each deadline as a formula description (e.g. "X days after first furnishing") with [VERIFY FOR MY STATE] rather than a hard date unless I gave you the rule.
4. Flag any job where a deadline may already be close or past.
5. Add a checklist for lien waivers: conditional vs. unconditional, progress vs. final, and the rule to never sign an unconditional waiver before funds clear.
Rules:
- Lien law is strict and varies by state; do not state specific day counts as fact. Tell me to confirm every deadline with a construction attorney or my state's statute before relying on it.
- This is general information, not legal advice.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Legal & Compliance prompts
What to fill in
- STATE
- PRIME CONTRACTOR / SUB / SUB-SUB / SUPPLIER
- PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL / PRIVATE COMMERCIAL / PUBLIC
- TYPE AND DATE
- VERIFY FOR MY STATE
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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