Most contractors believe that their only claim for a lack of payment is to file a lien and that if the lien right expires they are out of luck for payment. While a lien is a powerful and important payment tool, it is only one of many available to contractors looking to be paid. In reality, a construction lien is a very unique and narrow remedy, only intended to be exercised by certain people or companies and only for certain amounts due to the person filing the lien.
Under section 713.02, Florida Statutes, construction liens are only available to the following people/companies under the following circumstances:
Any person who performs services as architect, landscape architect, interior designer, engineer, or surveyor and mapper
Any person performs services or furnishes material to real property for the purpose of making it suitable as the site for the construction of an improvement or improvements
Any person who provides labor, services, or materials for the purpose of improving real property. This includes material suppliers, laborers, subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, and contractors.
If you do not fit into one of these categories, then Florida’s Construction lien statute does not apply to you and you do not have the right to file a construction lien. Assuming you do fit into these categories, there are other restrictions and limitations. For example, if you are not in contractual privity with the property owner, then you must also serve a notice to owner, unless the improvement is for less than $2,500.00. Further, if the project is connected to a payment bond, then your claim is against the bond, not the property, and therefore a lien is inapplicable.
It is important to recognize who is entitled to a construction lien because recording a lien without the proper authority can expose you claims that the lien was fraudulent or that it slandered the title of the property against which it was recorded. While most contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers, will easily pass this test when looking to lien a proper for unpaid work, if your business is more along the lines of a consultant, then you may not.