Florida mechanics lien: what to do when a customer won't pay, the deadlines, and the letter to send

Published November 8, 2026 · Law checked November 8, 2026

• Free. The demand letter, deadline worksheet, claim of lien and final payment affidavit download links come by email.
• Deepsel is our product: free estimate, invoice and scheduling software for contractors (scheduling, quotes, invoicing, card payments). The section before the FAQ says where it fits and where it doesn't.
• Not legal advice. Have a Florida attorney look at your letter, your affidavit and your lien before you record anything.

Send a written demand first. If that fails, record a claim of lien with the clerk of the county where the house is, no later than 90 days after your last day of work, and serve the owner a copy within 15 days. If the homeowner hired you directly, you send no Notice to Owner beforehand. That notice is for subs and suppliers.^3,4,6 Before you sue, give the owner your contractor's final payment affidavit, at least 5 days ahead. Then you have one year from recording to file suit to foreclose (60 days if the owner records a Notice of Contest), or the lien is dead.^4,10 Under $8,000, small claims court is often the cheaper road.²¹

I put the letter and the dates into a free download: a demand letter with a plain notice of intent to lien, a worksheet that walks you from your last day of work to every deadline below, and the claim of lien and final payment affidavit in the wording the statute prints. Get it three ways: make your own copy in Google Docs, download the Word version (.docx), or download the PDF. Pick a format, enter your email and I'll send the links.

"Customer refuses to pay. What should we do?" is one of the questions new owners ask most (r/Roofing). It's also an expensive one to get wrong. A painter described a friend who waited six months for his money and "had to take a line of credit inorder to pay his painters" (r/paint). The Florida lien guides you'll find first come from notice and lien-filing services, written for subcontractors and suppliers. This one is for a Florida contractor of any trade, certified or registered by the Construction Industry Licensing Board or the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board, whose customer is a homeowner. One word first: Florida's statute doesn't say mechanics lien. Chapter 713, Part I is the "Construction Lien Law," and the lien is a construction lien.¹

Your Florida lien deadlines at a glance

Count calendar days. Write your last day of work down today, because the lien dates hang off it.

A worked example. Your last day of contract work was October 9, 2026. Ninety days later is January 7, 2027, your last day to record. Say you record on December 15, 2026. Serve the owner by December 30, and sue by December 15, 2027, with the final payment affidavit in the owner's hands at least 5 days before (I'd give it with the final invoice, months earlier). If a deadline lands on a weekend, a legal holiday or a day the clerk observes as a holiday, Florida moves it to the end of the next business day, but don't build your plan on that.¹

These dates are current. The 2026 sessions of the Legislature didn't amend the lien law (its last change was in 2023), and when I checked, no bill touching the main lien sections had been filed for the 2027 session, which opens in March. The one 2026 change nearby is a 45-day rule for paying subs, covered below.^27,15

Customer refuses to pay: the first steps, in order

1. Decide whether to stop work

If the job is finished, skip this. If it isn't, be careful. Florida's construction board can discipline you for abandoning a job, and "a project may be presumed abandoned after 90 days if the contractor terminates the project without just cause or without proper notification to the owner, including the reason for termination, or fails to perform work without just cause for 90 consecutive days." The electrical board's rule uses the same 90 days.¹⁴ So if you pause for nonpayment, say so in writing, give the reason, and point to the clause in your contract that allows it. (The template on the Florida contract requirements page has one: a certified letter with the reason in Section 6, and a right to end the contract over a late payment in Section 9.3.) If your contract has no such clause, keep working on the parts already paid for and call a lawyer before you walk off. Two things to remember when you stop. Your 90-day lien clock may already be running from your last day on site. And a contract that ends early still needs your final payment affidavit.⁴

2. Put it in writing

Call first. Then send an email the same day that says what was agreed, what's owed and when you expect it. Every notice and demand under Florida's lien law must be in writing anyway.¹ A court or a lien suit runs on paper: the contract, change orders, invoices, payments and photos.

3. Send the final invoice with your final payment affidavit, then the demand letter

The invoice states the balance and a due date. In Florida, send your contractor's final payment affidavit with it. The owner is required to hold your final payment until you give it, so a missing affidavit hands the customer a lawful reason not to pay.⁴ It's a sworn, notarized statement that every sub or supplier who served a Notice to Owner has been paid, or a list of who hasn't and how much. If nobody served one, you write "None." The statute prints the form, and it's in the download.

If the due date passes, send the demand letter. It states the balance again, gives a short deadline (I use 10 days), asks the customer to put any dispute in writing, offers a payment plan, and says you'll record a claim of lien. Florida sets no wording for that warning. It does limit how you collect from a homeowner, and the rule binds you, not only collection agencies: "In collecting consumer debts, a person may not" call between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. without consent, contact the customer's employer before a judgment, or "assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist." A homeowner can sue for actual damages, up to $1,000 more and attorney's fees.²⁴ So mention a lien only if you can still record one: licensed for the work, inside the 90 days. Send the letter by certified mail and email.

4. Offer a payment plan, in writing

A signed plan with dates and amounts beats a promise on the phone. Watch the calendar while you talk. Nothing in chapter 713 pauses the 90 days for negotiation, and taking the customer's unsecured promissory note doesn't "in any way affect the period for filing ... the claim of lien."⁹ If the plan runs past your recording deadline, ask a lawyer about recording the lien anyway and recording a satisfaction once you're paid.¹⁰

5. Call a lawyer when

• You're within a month of the 90-day recording deadline or the one-year deadline to sue.
• The clerk serves you a Notice of Contest of Lien, or you're served a summons to show cause. Those clocks are 60 and 20 days.
• More than $8,000 is owed (above small claims), or more than you'd lose without much pain.
• The customer says your work was defective. In a Florida lien suit the loser pays the winner's attorney's fees, so a lien you can't prove can cost you their lawyer as well as yours.¹¹
• You're a sub, or there's a lender, a sale or a bankruptcy, or the owner fired you and hired someone else to finish.
• It's time to sue to foreclose. I'd hire help for that.

The Florida construction lien on a home

Who may file: the license comes first

A contractor "who complies with the provisions of this part" has a lien on the property it improved "for any money that is owed ... for labor, services, materials, or other items required by, or furnished in accordance with, the direct contract and for unpaid finance charges due under the lienor's contract." No lien exists until you record a claim of lien.³ The contract can be written or verbal, and change orders count.¹

The license rule is blunt: "no lien shall exist in favor of any contractor, subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor who is unlicensed as provided in s. 489.128 or s. 489.532."³ Those two sections (the second covers electrical and alarm contractors) define unlicensed in a way that catches new companies. A person is unlicensed without the license the work's scope requires. (What each license covers is in our Florida guides for general, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, pool/spa and roofing contractors.) And "a business organization is unlicensed if the business organization does not have a primary or secondary qualifying agent ... concerning the scope of the work." So if you signed the contract in your LLC's name, the LLC needs a qualifying agent whose license covers that work: you, once you've qualified the company with DBPR. Status is tested on the contract date (or your first day of work, if the contract has no date), and a missing local business tax receipt doesn't count against you.¹³ The same sections make the contract itself unenforceable by an unlicensed contractor; the contract requirements page covers that side. Check your license and your company's qualification on DBPR's Verify a License.

The lien notice in your contract

On a home of up to four units, a direct contract over $2,500 must carry a notice about Florida's construction lien law, in capitalized bold type of at least 12 points, signed and dated by the owner. The statute prints the exact wording, and the free template on the Florida contract requirements page has it on page 1.² Here's what it means for your lien: leaving it out "does not bar the enforcement of a lien against a person who has not been adversely affected."² So an owner who shows the missing notice hurt them has a defense to your lien. Put it in every residential contract.

Jobs of $2,500 or less are exempt from the whole lien law except § 713.05, which still gives you a lien once you record a claim of lien.³ How the other deadlines apply to those small jobs is a question for a lawyer. I'd keep to the 90 days anyway.

Notice to Owner in Florida, and the Notice of Commencement

If the homeowner hired you directly, you don't send a Notice to Owner. The statute says so in as many words: "No lienor under this section shall be required to serve a notice to owner."³ It's the most searched Florida lien form, and it belongs to subs, sub-subs and suppliers, who must serve one within 45 days of starting (more on that below).⁴

The Notice of Commencement is the owner's form, and it does touch you. On a job over $2,500, the owner records it with the clerk and posts a copy on site before work starts, and "no one else may be permitted to sign in his or her stead." It names you, the property and any lender or bond. On a direct contract over $5,000, a copy goes to the building department before the first inspection, and until it's filed the inspector "may not perform or approve subsequent inspections." That filing rule doesn't apply to repairing or replacing an existing heating or air-conditioning system for less than $15,000. The notice is void if work doesn't start within 90 days of recording, and it expires a year after recording unless it states a longer period. Your lien's priority dates from the day it was recorded, not from your claim of lien.⁵ In practice: get the owner's signature on it early, or your inspections stall.

The Florida lien deadline, and what counts as your last day

The claim of lien "may be recorded at any time during the progress of the work or thereafter but not later than 90 days after the final furnishing of the labor or services or materials by the lienor."⁶ Final furnishing is "the last date that the lienor furnishes labor, services, or materials." It isn't the certificate of occupancy, and it "does not include the correction of deficiencies in the lienor's previously performed work."¹

Courts ask whether that last work "was done in good faith, within a reasonable time, pursuant to the terms of the contract, and whether it was necessary to a finished job." And "warranty work, corrective work, repair work, or work that is incidental and not necessary to a completed contract does not extend the time for filing a claim of lien." That's from Sam Rodgers Properties v. Chmura (2011), a builder's lien on a house, where finishing the roof, stucco and doors after the owner stopped paying, so the half-built house wouldn't rot, counted as contract work.²⁵ Punch-list visits are riskier. One appeals court held that "punch list work is trivial and unsubstantial" next to the whole contract, in a bond case on a public job.²⁶ So count from your last day of real contract work. A warranty callback, or a trip back to fix your own work, doesn't move the date, and going back on purpose to stretch it fails the good-faith test.

How to file a claim of lien in Florida: the form, the fee, the owner's copy

1. Use the statute's form. Florida has no court form for this. Section 713.08 prints a claim of lien that "shall be sufficient if it is in substantially the following form," headed by a capitalized warning that the lien "may remain valid for one year." It states your name and address, who hired you, what you furnished and its price, a legal description of the property, the owner's name, your first and last days of work, and the unpaid amount. You can write it yourself: the law lets "the lienor or the lienor's employee or attorney" prepare it.⁶ The download has the form. Take the legal description and the owner's exact name from the deed or the county property appraiser's record.
2. Swear to it before a notary. The form ends in a notary's statement.⁶ Florida's recording rules also want your name and address printed under your signature, the preparer's name and address on the page, and a blank 3-by-3-inch space in the top right corner of page one for the clerk.²²
3. Record it in the official records of the clerk of the circuit court for the county where the property is (in each county, if the property crosses a line).^1,6 The state's fee statute comes to $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after, which is what Miami-Dade's clerk charges, so a two-page claim costs $18.50.²²
4. Serve the owner a copy before recording or within 15 days after: by hand, by certified or registered mail or a delivery carrier with proof of delivery, or by posting it on the site if those can't be done. Mail sent to the address on the Notice of Commencement (or the permit application, or the owner's last known address) counts on the mailing date even if it comes back refused or unclaimed. Missing the 15 days makes the lien "voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial."^6,8
5. Consider serving a demand for the owner's sworn statement with the lien. It asks for the contract amount, what's been paid and the cost to finish. An owner who doesn't answer within 30 days, or answers falsely, "is not a prevailing party for purposes of an award of attorney fees." The statute sets the warning the demand must carry.⁷

You can amend the claim at any time during the 90 days, and an amended claim showing a later last day of work restarts the one-year clock.^6,10

The contractor's final payment affidavit: the step contractors miss

When final payment comes due, you give the owner a sworn affidavit that all lienors who served a Notice to Owner on you and the owner have been paid in full, or naming each one still owed and the amount. Then the hard part: "The contractor shall have no lien or right of action against the owner ... while in default for not giving the owner the affidavit." You must deliver it "at least 5 days before instituting an action ... to enforce his or her lien," even when the contract ended early, and "regardless of whether the contractor has any lienors working under him or her or not." Careless mistakes that don't prejudice the owner won't defeat the lien.⁴ Section 713.05 applies it to every contractor claiming a lien, small jobs included.³ A knowingly false affidavit about whether your subs were paid is a third-degree felony and grounds for discipline.^12,14 Because the statute says "right of action," not only lien, I'd hand it over before any lawsuit against the owner, small claims included.

Enforce it within one year, sooner if the owner contests

"A lien provided by this part does not continue for a longer period than 1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded ... unless within that time an action to enforce the lien is commenced." Record a notice of lis pendens when you sue, or a buyer who didn't know about the suit can take the house free of your lien.¹⁰

The owner can shorten the year. A Notice of Contest of Lien, recorded by the owner and served on you by the clerk, gives you 60 days from service to sue, and if you don't, the lien "is extinguished automatically." Or the owner can file in court, and the clerk issues a summons for you to show cause "within 20 days after service" why the lien shouldn't be canceled. Miss that and the court cancels it.¹⁰ Call a lawyer the day either one arrives.

If the court finds a smaller lien than you claimed, it can still give you a money judgment for the rest, as in a suit on the contract.¹¹ When the customer pays, sign a satisfaction of the lien before a notary, citing the book and page where the claim was recorded, and record it.¹⁰

Attorney's fees cut both ways

"In any action brought to enforce a lien ... the prevailing party is entitled to recover a reasonable fee for the services of her or his attorney." Win and the owner pays your lawyer. Lose, say because the lien was late or a judge finds the work defective, and you pay theirs. The lien law also "shall not be subject to a rule of liberal construction in favor of any person," so courts read it strictly.¹¹ That's the best reason to get every date and form right, and to serve the owner's sworn-statement demand above.

An overstated or fraudulent lien

A lien is fraudulent if the lienor "willfully exaggerated the amount," "willfully included a claim for work not performed upon or materials not furnished," or put the claim together with "willful and gross negligence." A fraudulent lien is a complete defense to the lien. You forfeit it, the owner can sue you for damages, attorney's fees and punitive damages up to the amount you overstated, and willfully filing one is a third-degree felony. "A minor mistake or error in a claim of lien, or a good faith dispute as to the amount due" isn't fraud.¹² In Sam Rodgers, the builder's lien included property taxes and insurance he'd paid. Those weren't lienable, but the court held the mistake wasn't fraud, and the owner carried the burden of proving it was.²⁵ Claim only the unpaid price of the labor, services and materials on this job, plus any finance charge your contract sets.^3,6

Subcontractors and suppliers

Most of this article assumes the homeowner hired you. If a general contractor hired you (common for electricians, plumbers and HVAC on remodels), three things change.⁴

• You serve the owner a Notice to Owner, in the statute's form, "before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing" your work, and in any event before the owner's final payment. Missing it "is a complete defense to enforcement of a lien by any person." Sent by certified mail within 40 days, with a mail log, it counts on the mailing date.^4,8
• Your claim of lien states when and how you served that notice.⁶
• All liens under one direct contract are capped at its price, and an owner who paid the GC properly after your notice is protected. That's why owners ask for a lien release with each payment.⁴

The GC has duties too, one of them new. Since July 1, 2026, a contractor licensed by the construction board "must compensate a subcontractor or supplier," unless there's a bona fide dispute, "within 45 days after receiving payment" for that work or as the subcontract says, and a knowing or willful violation is grounds for discipline.¹⁵ Money a contractor receives for a job must first pay what's already owed for that job's labor and materials, and knowingly misapplying it is a felony. Undisputed amounts unpaid 30 days after they were due (or after the GC was paid, if later) open fast-track court remedies.¹²

Lien waivers and releases: when to sign

"A right to claim a lien may not be waived in advance," and a waiver covers only work already furnished. Florida prints two release forms, one for a progress payment (through a date) and one for the final payment, and "a person may not require a lienor to furnish a lien waiver or release of lien that is different from" them. You can make a waiver conditional on the check clearing.⁹ So sign a progress release for exactly what you've been paid, through the date it covers, and sign the final release only when the final payment is in your bank.

Other ways to get paid

Florida small claims: the limit and the fee

Florida's small claims rules cover county court cases for money or property "the value of which does not exceed $8,000 exclusive of costs, interest, and attorneys' fees." An LLC or corporation can be represented by a principal (an officer, member, managing member or partner) or by an employee the principal authorizes in writing, but not on appeal. Above $8,000, county court hears claims up to $50,000. State law caps the filing fee at $50 to $295 depending on the amount; Miami-Dade's clerk lists $55 to $300, plus $10 for each summons and $40 for the sheriff to serve each defendant.²¹ You have five years to sue on a written contract and four on an unwritten one.²³ Give the final payment affidavit first. And if your lien window is still open, record the lien too: the lien law is "cumulative to other existing remedies," so a lien and a suit on the contract can run side by side.^4,11

Interest, and Florida's prompt payment law for private jobs

Your lien can include "unpaid finance charges due under the lienor's contract," so a late-payment charge belongs in the contract.³ Without a contract rate, Florida uses the rate its Chief Financial Officer sets each quarter: 7.87% a year from October 1, 2026.¹⁹

Then there's § 715.12, the Construction Contract Prompt Payment Law. It "applies only to written contracts to improve real property ... for which a construction lien is authorized," and the payers it covers include "an owner." When a payment is due under the contract, you've sent a written request for it, and you've given the affidavits or waivers the owner needs to pay properly (for the final payment, your final payment affidavit), a late payment bears interest at the quarterly rate "plus an additional 12 percent per annum," starting on the 14th day after it was due. You can't waive it in advance.¹⁸ At the October 2026 rate that's 19.87% a year.¹⁹ I found no carve-out for homeowners in the text. Whether it reaches your customer's contract is a question for your lawyer, but it's one more reason to sign a written contract and send written invoices.

Attorney's fees in a suit on the contract come from your contract. Florida makes a one-sided fee clause run both ways: if the contract gives you fees for enforcing it, the court may also award the owner fees when the owner wins.²⁰ Write the clause knowing that.

A collection agency

An agency is the last step before writing it off. A homeowner's bill for their own house is a consumer debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida's consumer collection law, so the agency has to follow both.²⁴ Florida's rules bind you as well, as above. Ask the agency what share it keeps, get it in writing, and stop contacting the customer yourself once it takes the account.

Card payments

If the customer paid part of the job by card and then disputes the charge, answer through your card processor before its deadline, with the signed quote or contract, change orders and photos of the finished work.

The Recovery Fund isn't for you

The Florida Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund exists "to compensate an aggrieved claimant who contracted for the construction or improvement of the homeowner's residence." A claimant "means a homeowner" of an owner-occupied home, a licensee who acted as the contractor can't claim, and the fund pays only on judgments or orders for financial mismanagement, abandonment or false statements about payment against Division I and II contractors.¹⁶ So it never pays you. Where it touches you: CILB licensees print a statement about the fund in residential contracts over $2,500 (the contract requirements page has the wording), and failing to satisfy a civil judgment within a reasonable time is grounds for discipline.¹⁴ Keep the dispute about money owed, and pay any judgment against you.

Notes by trade

Roofers: the deductible and the claim money

On insurance jobs the deductible is the part that goes unpaid. One roofer's habit: "I always collect a separate check for the deductible with deductible written in the memo line" (Reddit). Florida makes roofing claim ads tell homeowners that it is "insurance fraud punishable as a felony of the third degree for a contractor to knowingly or willfully, and with intent to injure, defraud, or deceive, pay, waive, or rebate all or part of an insurance deductible."¹⁷ So bill the deductible like any other balance and lien for it like any other balance. The claim money is the homeowner's way of paying you, not a condition of owing you: write the contract price, deductible included, as the amount due. The rest of the claim rules (what you may say to the insurer, the contract notices, the cancellation rights) are in Florida roofing insurance claim law, and your license's scope in the Florida roofing license guide.

Electricians, plumbers and HVAC: bill by stage, and don't skip the inspection

On anything bigger than a service call, bill at rough-in and at final instead of one invoice at the end. You're never owed much, and on a written contract each written payment request starts its own § 715.12 interest clock.¹⁸ Ask about the Notice of Commencement when you pull the permit: on a direct contract over $5,000, inspections after the first one stall until a copy is filed, except on HVAC repair or replacement under $15,000.⁵ And don't hold the final inspection back to force payment. "Proceeding on any job without obtaining applicable local building department permits and inspections" is grounds for discipline under both the construction and the electrical boards, so the customer's late payment becomes your license problem.¹⁴ Call for the inspection, invoice on the pass, and use the lien if the money doesn't come. If a GC hired you, the 45-day Notice to Owner is yours to send.⁴

Pool builders: your subs' liens are your customer's problem first

A pool build runs through more subs than most home jobs: the excavator, the steel and shell crews, tile and coping, the deck, the plasterer, often a fence or screen company, and the supply house. Each one that serves a Notice to Owner can lien the customer's house if you don't pay it, and a customer who paid you without collecting releases can end up paying twice.⁴ That's how the worst Florida pool jobs end. In a Manatee County case reported in July 2026, homeowners who hired a local pool company in 2024 watched construction stall by early 2025, then paid the subcontractors themselves to clear the liens; the owner was charged with misapplying construction funds and has pleaded not guilty.²⁸ So pay each sub out of the draw that covers its work, within 45 days of being paid,¹⁵ and send the customer the sub's lien release with your next draw request. A draw schedule for a pool is on the contract requirements page. When the customer is the one who stops paying, the rest of this article applies to you like any other contractor, and the Florida pool contractor license page has what your license lets you build.

General contractors and remodelers: the punch list and the final payment

The fight is usually the last 10%. "Client withholding $6,000 over a small crack in a concrete patio. Suggestions?" (r/Contractor). Finish the list fast, photograph it, and send the final invoice and your final payment affidavit the same day. Punch-list items your contract requires may count as your last day of work, but one court has called punch-list work trivial, so don't count on them to stretch the 90 days.^25,26 If your contract lets the owner hold back retainage until substantial completion, § 715.12 makes the balance due within 14 days after you substantially finish the owner's written punch list (one given after a certificate of occupancy, an architect's certificate of substantial completion, or the owner moving in).¹⁸

What to do this week if a customer owes you now

1. Write down your first and last days of work on the job. Add 90 days to the last one: that's your recording deadline.
2. Look up your license and your company's qualification on DBPR's Verify a License. Did they cover this work on the contract date?
3. Check the contract for the lien notice (homes of up to four units, contracts over $2,500).
4. Fill in the contractor's final payment affidavit and sign it before a notary. Send it with the final invoice if you haven't.
5. If the invoice is past due, send the demand letter by certified mail and email, with a pay-by date well before your recording deadline.
6. Pull together the contract, change orders, invoices, payment records, photos and messages into one folder.
7. Get the owner's exact name and the legal description from the deed or the county property appraiser's site, and the owner's address from the Notice of Commencement if there is one.
8. Prepare the claim of lien from the download, claiming only the unpaid price of this job's work.
9. Put four dates on your calendar: record a week before the 90 days, serve the owner within 15 days of recording, call a lawyer by month ten, sue before the year is up.
10. Owed $8,000 or less and past the lien window? Prepare a small claims statement of claim.

The free demand letter and deadline worksheet

Four printable parts. The demand letter has blanks for the job and the account (price, payments, balance), a pay-by date, a request to put any dispute in writing, a payment-plan offer, and a notice of intent to record a claim of lien under §§ 713.05 and 713.08, with grey notes on when to leave that paragraph out. The worksheet starts from your last day of work and gives each deadline in this article with its days, a blank for your date, the statute and a box to tick, then a check before you record. The last two parts are the claim of lien and the contractor's final payment affidavit, in the wording §§ 713.08(3) and 713.06(3)(d) print, with notes on the recording rules. Copy it in Google Docs, or download the Word file or the PDF.

More for new contractors

• How to find work as a new contractor: where your first customers come from, with a free first customers plan.
• Angi vs Thumbtack: should you pay for leads yet, with a free lead cost calculator.
• Google Business Profile for contractors: setup, verification and your first reviews, with a free checklist.
• How much to set aside for taxes: self-employment tax, quarterly payments and your state, with a free calculator.
• Hiring your first employee: W-2 or 1099, workers comp and what a helper really costs, with a free checklist.
• Contractor insurance: what you need from day one, what it costs and what can wait, with a free checklist.
• Punch list template: stop a small list holding your final payment.

Where Deepsel fits

Deepsel is the field service software I build, and it helps with the paper trail and the asking, not the law. Every invoice gets a due date, the invoice list shows what's overdue with a running total, and an invoice shows the date and time the customer first opened it. Once you've connected card payments, the customer can pay the balance by card from the invoice link (3.3% + 30¢) or from their bank account (1%, capped at $15). On the front end, customers approve quotes online with an on-screen signature, and the record keeps their name, the time and the IP address, with your shop's terms copied onto every quote. That's where your finance-charge and attorney's-fee clauses can sit. On Pro, a payment schedule bills a job in stages (you click to bill each one), and change orders are signed online and join the job's contract total. Visit photos and the job's activity list show when each visit was finished, which is the record you want when someone asks about your last day of work. What it won't do: Florida isn't one of the built-in state contracts yet (on Pro you can write your own), and it doesn't send overdue reminders on its own (you press Resend), charge late fees or interest, track lien deadlines, or prepare a claim of lien, an affidavit or a demand letter. Free covers 30 estimates and 30 invoices a month for your whole team; Pro is $29 a month with unlimited estimates and invoices (pricing).

Frequently asked questions

How do I file a mechanics lien in Florida?

Fill in a claim of lien in the form section 713.08(3) of the Florida Statutes prints: the owner's name, the legal description, what you furnished, the contract price, the unpaid amount, and your first and last days of work. Sign it before a notary and record it with the clerk of the circuit court for the county where the property is, no later than 90 days after your last day of work. Serve the owner a copy within 15 days of recording. If you contracted with the homeowner yourself, you don't send a Notice to Owner first, but you do owe the owner a contractor's final payment affidavit before you can sue on the lien.

How much does it cost to file a lien in Florida?

Recording costs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after under the state's fee statute, so $10 to $20 for most claims, plus a notary and certified mail. Suing to foreclose costs more: the court's filing fee, summons and service fees, and in most cases a lawyer. The winner of a lien suit recovers reasonable attorney's fees from the loser.

How long does a contractor lien last in Florida?

One year from recording, unless you file suit to enforce it within that year. An amended claim that shows a later last day of work restarts the year. The owner can cut it to 60 days by recording a Notice of Contest of Lien, which the clerk serves on you, or force you to answer a court summons to show cause within 20 days. Miss the date and the lien is gone.

Can you file a lien in Florida without a notice to owner?

Yes, if you contracted directly with the owner. Florida says a contractor in privity with the owner isn't 'required to serve a notice to owner.' Subcontractors, sub-subcontractors and suppliers must serve one before or within 45 days after they start, and missing it is 'a complete defense' to their lien. Laborers are exempt.

Can I file a lien without an attorney?

Yes. Florida lets 'the lienor or the lienor's employee or attorney' prepare the claim of lien, and the clerk records it like any other document. Get a lawyer for the parts that carry risk: a claim that might be late or overstated, a Notice of Contest or a summons to show cause, and the foreclosure suit itself, where the loser pays the winner's attorney's fees.

What is the small claims limit in Florida?

$8,000, not counting costs, interest and attorney's fees, under Florida Small Claims Rule 7.010. An LLC or corporation can be represented by an officer, member, managing member or partner, or by an employee authorized in writing, but not on appeal. Above $8,000, county court hears claims up to $50,000. Filing fees vary by county: Miami-Dade's clerk lists $55 to $300, plus $10 for each summons and $40 for the sheriff to serve it.

Does a lien go away if the customer pays?

Not by itself. When you're paid, sign a satisfaction or release of the lien before a notary, citing the official records book and page where the claim was recorded, and record it with the clerk. If you're never paid, the lien ends on its own when you don't sue within the year, or within 60 days after a Notice of Contest.

Sources

1. Florida Statutes (2026) § 713.001 (the "Construction Lien Law"); § 713.01 definitions: (4) clerk's office, (6) "Contract" includes written or unwritten contracts and "extras or change orders", (8) contractor, (9) direct contract, (12) "Final furnishing" ("does not include the correction of deficiencies in the lienor's previously performed work or materials supplied"), (13) finance charge; § 713.011 (deadline on a weekend or holiday "extended to the end of the next business day"); § 713.012 (notices "must be in writing"). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
2. Fla. Stat. § 713.015, "Mandatory provisions for direct contracts": (1) direct contracts over $2,500 for dwellings of up to four units; (2)(b) "The failure to provide such written notice does not bar the enforcement of a lien against a person who has not been adversely affected." leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
3. Fla. Stat. § 713.02(5) (direct contract of $2,500 or less exempt from all but § 713.05) and (7) ("no lien shall exist in favor of any contractor ... who is unlicensed as provided in s. 489.128 or s. 489.532"); § 713.05 (lien of a contractor in privity, including "unpaid finance charges due under the lienor's contract"; no lien "until a claim of lien is recorded"; no notice to owner required; the contractor's affidavit under § 713.06(3)(d) required). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
4. Fla. Stat. § 713.06: (1) liens capped at the direct contract price; (2)(a) notice to owner "before commencing, or not later than 45 days after commencing", failure "a complete defense"; (2)(c) the statutory form; (3) proper payments; (3)(c)5. terminated contracts; (3)(d)1. the contractor's final payment affidavit and its form, "no lien or right of action against the owner ... while in default", delivery "at least 5 days before instituting an action"; (3)(d)5. owner retains final payment until the affidavit is furnished. leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
5. Fla. Stat. § 713.07(2) (priority from the recording of the notice of commencement); § 713.13 (notice of commencement: recorded and posted by the owner before work begins; owner alone signs; void if work doesn't begin within 90 days; effective 1 year unless stated); § 713.135(1)(e) (copy filed before the first inspection on a direct contract over $5,000; no later inspections "until the applicant files"; subsection (1) doesn't apply to repairing or replacing an existing heating or air-conditioning system for less than $15,000). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
6. Fla. Stat. § 713.08, "Claim of lien": (1) contents; (2) prepared by "the lienor or the lienor's employee or attorney", sworn; (3) the form and warning, "sufficient if it is in substantially the following form"; (4)(b) amendment during the recording period; (4)(c) service on the owner within 15 days of recording, else "voidable to the extent that the failure or delay is shown to have been prejudicial"; (5) "not later than 90 days after the final furnishing", recorded in the clerk's office of each county. leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
7. Fla. Stat. § 713.16(2) (lienor's sworn statement of account within 30 days of an owner's demand, or the lien is lost) and (5) (lienor's demand on the owner; an owner who doesn't answer in 30 days "is not a prevailing party for purposes of an award of attorney fees under s. 713.29"); § 713.165 (list of subcontractors and suppliers within 10 days of a certified-mail request). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
8. Fla. Stat. § 713.18, "Manner of serving documents": hand delivery; common carrier, registered, Global Express Guaranteed or certified mail with evidence of delivery; posting on the site if those fail; notice to owner mailed within 40 days with a mail log effective on mailing; service effective on mailing when sent to the notice of commencement or permit address and returned refused or unclaimed. leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
9. Fla. Stat. § 713.20, "Waiver or release of liens": (1) an unsecured note doesn't affect "the period for filing ... the claim of lien"; (2) "A right to claim a lien may not be waived in advance"; (4) and (5) progress and final release forms; (6) no one may require a different form; (7) waiver conditioned on payment of a check. leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
10. Fla. Stat. § 713.21 (discharge: recorded satisfaction or release, notarized, citing the official records reference; failure to sue in time; (4) summons to show cause "within 20 days after service"); § 713.22 ((1) lien lasts "1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded" unless suit is filed, lis pendens; (2) Notice of Contest of Lien, 60 days from service, lien "extinguished automatically"). leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
11. Fla. Stat. § 713.28(1) (money judgment for amounts beyond the lien); § 713.29 (prevailing party's attorney's fees "In any action brought to enforce a lien"); § 713.30 (the part is "cumulative to other existing remedies"); § 713.37 ("shall not be subject to a rule of liberal construction"). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
12. Fla. Stat. § 713.31(2) and (3) (fraudulent lien: willful exaggeration, work not performed, willful and gross negligence; complete defense and forfeiture; damages, attorney's fees and punitive damages; "a minor mistake or error ... or a good faith dispute as to the amount due" excepted; third-degree felony); § 713.345 (payments applied to amounts due for the job; misapplication a felony); § 713.346 (undisputed amounts unpaid 30 days; expedited remedies); § 713.35 (false information about payment of subcontractors or suppliers, third-degree felony). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 713, read November 8, 2026.
13. Fla. Stat. § 489.128 and § 489.532, "Contracts entered into by unlicensed contractors unenforceable": (1)(a) a business organization is unlicensed without "a primary or secondary qualifying agent ... concerning the scope of the work"; (1)(b) business tax receipt; (1)(c) tested on the contract date; (2) "no lien or bond claim shall exist in favor of the unlicensed contractor". Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Verify a License. leg.state.fl.us, chapter 489, myfloridalicense.com, read November 8, 2026.
14. Fla. Stat. § 489.129(1) (Construction Industry Licensing Board discipline): (j) abandonment, "presumed abandoned after 90 days"; (k) falsely indicating subcontracted work has been paid; (o) "Proceeding on any job without obtaining applicable local building department permits and inspections, unless otherwise provided by law" (as amended by ch. 2026-63, effective July 1, 2026); (q) failing to satisfy a civil judgment within a reasonable time. § 489.533(1)(p) and (r), the same abandonment and permit grounds for electrical contractors. leg.state.fl.us, chapter 489, ch. 2026-63, read November 8, 2026.
15. Fla. Stat. § 489.1295, "Prohibition against nonpayment" (pay a subcontractor or supplier "Within 45 days after receiving payment" or as the contract says, unless there's a bona fide dispute; knowing or willful violation subject to discipline), created by ch. 2026-3 (CS/CS/CS/SB 290), approved by the Governor March 23, 2026 (chapter number assigned March 24), effective July 1, 2026. leg.state.fl.us, chapter 489, flsenate.gov, read November 8, 2026.
16. Fla. Stat. § 489.1401(2) (the fund's "sole purpose"), § 489.1402(1)(c), (d), (f) ("'Claimant' means a homeowner"; Division I and II contractors; owner-occupied residence), § 489.141(1)(b) and (2)(b) (violations of § 489.129(1)(g), (j) or (k) or § 713.35; a licensee who acted as the contractor can't claim). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 489, read November 8, 2026.
17. Fla. Stat. § 489.147(1)(a)2. (roofing claim advertisements must state that paying, waiving or rebating a deductible is insurance fraud, a third-degree felony) and (2)(b). leg.state.fl.us, chapter 489, read November 8, 2026.
18. Fla. Stat. § 715.12, "Construction Contract Prompt Payment Law": (2) written contracts for which a construction lien is authorized; (3)(a) "'Obligor' means an owner, contractor, subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor"; (4) written request for payment and the affidavits or waivers for proper payment under § 713.06; (5)(a) interest at the § 55.03 rate "plus an additional 12 percent per annum" from the 14th day after payment is due; (6)(d) no advance waiver; (7)(a) retainage due within 14 days after the punch list is substantially completed. leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
19. Fla. Stat. § 55.03 (quarterly judgment rate) and § 687.01 (that rate applies "where interest shall accrue without a special contract for the rate thereof"); Florida Department of Financial Services, "Judgment Interest Rates" (7.87% for the quarter beginning October 1, 2026). 55.03, 687.01, myfloridacfo.com, read November 8, 2026.
20. Fla. Stat. § 57.105(7): a contract fee clause for one party lets the court award fees "to the other party when that party prevails". leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
21. Florida Small Claims Rules (January 1, 2026 edition), Rule 7.010(b) ($8,000 "exclusive of costs, interest, and attorneys' fees") and Rule 7.050(a)(2) (business entities represented by a principal or an employee authorized in writing; not in appellate proceedings); Fla. Stat. § 34.01(1)(c)3. (county court up to $50,000), § 34.041(1)(a) (filing fees "not to exceed" $50 to $395), § 30.231(1)(a) ($40 per summons served); Miami-Dade Clerk, "How to File a Small Claims Action" (CLK/CT 881 Rev. 12/25: $55, $80, $175, $300; $10 per summons; $40 sheriff's fee). Small Claims Rules, 34.01, 34.041, 30.231, miamidadeclerk.gov, read November 8, 2026.
22. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13) (recording: $5 first page, $4 each additional, plus $1 and $0.50 for the Public Records Modernization Trust Fund and $4 a page under (13)(e)); § 695.26(1) (printed names and addresses under signatures, the preparer's name and address, a 3-inch by 3-inch space at the top right of the first page); Miami-Dade Clerk, Official Records ("$10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page"). 28.24, 695.26, miamidadeclerk.gov, read November 8, 2026.
23. Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) (five years on a contract "founded on a written instrument") and (3)(j) (four years on one "not founded on a written instrument"). leg.state.fl.us, read November 8, 2026.
24. Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Fla. Stat. § 559.55(6) ("consumer debt" for "personal, family, or household purposes"), § 559.72 ("In collecting consumer debts, a person may not": (4) employer contact, (9) asserting a right known not to exist, (17) 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.), § 559.77(2) (actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000, attorney's fees). Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(5) and (6). 559.72, 559.77, Cornell LII, read November 8, 2026.
25. Sam Rodgers Properties, Inc. v. Chmura, 61 So. 3d 432 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011), No. 2D10-1260, decided April 27, 2011: the final furnishing test ("done in good faith, within a reasonable time, pursuant to the terms of the contract, and whether it was necessary to a finished job"); "remedial work such as warranty work, corrective work, repair work, or work that is incidental and not necessary to a completed contract does not extend the time"; taxes and insurance not lienable, but their inclusion not fraud. caselaw.findlaw.com, read November 8, 2026.
26. Federal Insurance Co. v. Exel of Orlando, Inc., 685 So. 2d 896 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), decided November 22, 1996, a payment bond case on a public school job: "When compared to the work done on the whole contract, punch list work is trivial and unsubstantial." courtlistener.com, read November 8, 2026.
27. Changes checked: Florida Senate, "Table of Section Changes by 2026 Legislative Sessions" (regular and special sessions; no section of chapter 713 amended); the 2026 statutes' history notes (Part I last amended by ch. 2023-226); Florida Senate bill search, 2027 session, citations to §§ 713.015, 713.06, 713.08, 713.13 and 713.22 ("0 Bills Found"). flsenate.gov, read November 8, 2026.
28. Bradenton Herald, "Manatee pool contractor charged after incomplete work, deputies say. What to know" (July 16, 2026) - "homeowners hired Sunscape Pools in 2024, construction stalled by early 2025 and homeowners had to pay subcontractors themselves to clear liens"; charges of "misapplication of construction funds"; the owner "has pleaded not guilty." bradenton.com, read November 9, 2026.