Some Mechanics of Iowa Mechanic's Lien Law

Posted on June 6, 2008 by Kyle Kruidenier

Mechanic's Liens are a valuable tool used by contractors to help insure that they are fully compensated for the materials they supply and the improvements that they make to buildings or land.  However, if you are a contractor providing materials or making improvements to an "owner-occupied" dwelling, essentially a residential remodeling contractor, then the mechanic's lien that you file may not be worth much more than the paper that it is printed if you neglect one crucial step.

Under Iowa's Mechanic's Lien law, Chapter 572, a contractor who enters into a contract with a home owner to provide labor or  furnish materials for a owner-occupied dwelling and who has or will hire sub-contractors for the job must provide in the written contract with the home owner the following notice: 

"Persons or companies furnishing labor of materials for the improvement of real property may enforce a lien upon the improved property if they are not paid for their contributions, even if the parties have no direct contractual relationship with the owner."

In the alternative a contractor who does not enter into a written contract with the home owner must, within ten (10) days of beginning work on the property, provide the owner with written notice stating the name and address of all subcontractors that the contractor intends to use for the construction and, that the subcontractors or suppliers may have lien rights if they are not compensated for the labor or material that they provided in completion of the project.

If written notice required under Chapter 572 is not provided to the owner in a timely manner then the contractor is only entitled to a lien for the work or materials that it actually performed or the materials that it actually provided and would not be entitled to a lien as it pertained to any labor performed or materials furnished by a subcontractor.

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IF YOU WANT TO GET PAID, GET IT IN WRITING (part 2)

Posted on October 11, 2007 by Kyle Kruidenier

I can't speak for all businesses, but from my perspective most businesses have a signed agreement before they provide services for either an individual or a business. However, invariably it is those transactions in which the agreement was never actually signed that cause the most problems for the business owner.  

The typical fact pattern goes something like this:   an individual wants some work done to his home, he approaches an electrical contractor for a bid,  the contractor gives the homeowner a bid, the homeowner says, "yeah, that is fine but I need the work done right away because of (insert any emergency situation here)."  

Contractor, says,  "great, it just so happens that I have some time available within your time frame, if you will just sign this agreement I will go ahead and order the material that I will need for the job."    

Homeowner, says "Yeah, I will sign it, I just can't do it today because (insert any half-baked excuse you can imagine). 

That should be definite red-flag to the contractor, or to any other business owner for that matter; however, due to a downturn in the construction industry  and perhaps being a little strapped for cash and against the contractors better judgment he reluctantly takes the homeowner at his word and begins the project. 

At the end of the day the contractor incurred the expense of the project and now the homeowner is unwilling to pay and the contractor is placed in the unenviable position of having to decide to cut his losses and move on or he can go after the homeowner for his damages, which will require a further outlay of cash and time.

The point of this post is this,  if you are going to provide a service and would like to give yourself the best opportunity to be paid for that service, then you must get the agreement in writing.  I know that this is not earth shattering information, but it is worth repeating as everyone knows that they need to put an agreement in writing, yet from time to time exceptions are made and the exception leads to a big headache. 

The bottom line is this:  If you want to increase you ability to get fully paid for every service you provide and therefore increase your bottom line then you must not perform any work before you receive a signed writing spelling out the extent of the agreement. 

If for some unknown reason you find yourself proceeding without an agreement, then my advice to you would be to begin rubbing your rabbit's foot or looking for that four leaf clover because it will likely take all of the luck in the world for you to get paid in full and on time.  If someone does not want to put it in writing then they certainly do not want to pay for it. 

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