Arizona mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Arizona lien deadline
Filing deadline
Notice and Claim of Lien is recorded with the County Recorder where the property lies within 120 days after 'completion' of the whole improvement (defined as the earliest of 30 days after certificate of occupancy, last furnishing of labor/materials to the property, or 60 consecutive days of labor cessation); if a Notice of Completion is recorded, the window drops to 60 days. The clock runs from project completion, not from the individual claimant's last work.
Notice prerequisites
Every claimant except employees paid wages must serve a Preliminary Twenty-Day Notice on the owner, general contractor, construction lender, and the party it contracted with, within 20 days of first furnishing labor/materials; skipping it kills the lien. A late notice only protects work done in the 20 days before the notice and afterward. If your total price grows by 30% or more over the estimate in your notice, serve a new notice; an overrun of less than 30% does not make the notice defective. Delivery is by first-class mail with certificate of mailing, or registered/certified mail, with statutory proof-of-service rules.
Service on the owner
A copy of the recorded Notice and Claim of Lien must be served on the owner within a reasonable time after recording (service follows recording, not before). The prerequisite 20-day preliminary notice must have been served on owner, GC, lender, and contracting party.
Enforcement
The lien expires 6 months after recording unless a foreclosure suit is filed in the county where the property lies, and a lis pendens must be recorded within 5 days after filing suit.
Ariz. Rev. Stat. secs. 33-981 to 33-1008 (liens); 33-1051 to 33-1067 (stop notices)
Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 33 — published by the Arizona State Legislature.
Work on Public Property
No mechanics lien attaches to public property in any state. On a government job the remedy is the prime contractor’s payment bond, and it runs on its own act with its own deadlines — not the lien deadlines above.
- Who — The prime contractor who furnished the bond, for both notices. § 34-223(A)(2).
- When — TWO notices — a preliminary 20-day notice and a 90-day claim notice. Both below.
- How — 90-day notice: any means with written third-party verification of delivery. § 34-223.
- If late — They fail differently — the 90-day notice costs the whole claim, the preliminary one does not. Read below.
- Sue by — 1 year from your last labor or material. § 34-223(B).
Is there a bond at all?
NONE. § 34-222(A) requires the bonds before any contract is executed for the construction, alteration or repair of a public building, work or improvement — there is no minimum contract price anywhere in the section — and it fixes the payment bond at the FULL contract amount. So on an Arizona public job the question is never whether the contract was big enough for a bond to exist; it is who has the copy. Ask the contracting body.
Who can claim on it
§ 34-223(A): 'Every claimant who has furnished labor or material in the prosecution of the work provided for in a contract for which a payment bond is furnished under section 34-222.' The chain stops one tier below the prime: the notice-conditioned right runs to 'any claimant who has a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of the contractor furnishing the payment bond but not a contractual relationship express or implied with the contractor.' A claimant whose only contract is with a supplier rather than a subcontractor is not described.
What notice you owe
Only the claimant in direct contract with a subcontractor of the prime and with no contract express or implied with the prime. § 34-223 imposes no notice on a claimant in privity with the prime — that claimant's only timing constraint is the 90-day wait before suit in the opening clause of subsection (A).
Who it goes to
The contractor — the prime who furnished the bond — for both notices. § 34-223(A)(2): delivery 'to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business, or at the contractor's residence.' Neither notice goes to the surety or to the contracting body; separately, § 34-223(C) entitles a claimant on written application to a certified copy of the bond and contract from the contracting body, at the claimant's cost.
By when
TWO notices, running from opposite ends of the job. (1) A written preliminary twenty day notice under § 33-992.01(C)(1)-(4), (E), (F) and (H) — which is not a deadline at all but a rolling lookback; see "If the notice is late, or never given". (2) A written ninety day notice 'given within ninety days after the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which the claim is made' — this one runs from LAST furnishing.
How it must be served
Ninety-day notice: 'by any means that provides written, third-party verification of delivery.' Preliminary twenty day notice, § 33-992.01(F): 'by mailing the notice by first class mail sent with a certificate of mailing, registered or certified mail, postage prepaid in all cases, addressed to the person to whom notice is to be given at the person's residence or business address.'
What it has to say
Ninety-day notice: 'stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the party to whom the material was furnished or supplied or for whom the labor was done or performed.' Preliminary twenty day notice, § 33-992.01(C)(1)-(4): a general description of the labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools furnished or to be furnished and an estimate of the total price thereof; the name and address of the person furnishing them; the name of the person who contracted for them; and a legal description, subdivision plat, street address, location with respect to commonly known roads or other landmarks, or any other description of the jobsite sufficient for identification.
If the notice is late, or never given
The two notices fail differently, and this is the heart of Arizona. Missing the ninety-day notice costs a non-privity claimant the whole bond claim. Missing the preliminary twenty day notice costs only part of it: § 33-992.01(E), which § 34-223(A)(1) expressly incorporates, provides that the person 'is entitled to claim a lien only for such labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools furnished within twenty days before the service of the notice and at any time thereafter.' So a late preliminary notice truncates the claim to a twenty-day tail rather than destroying it — serve it the day you realize, and you keep everything from twenty days back onward.
When the suit clock starts
The date on which the last of the labor was performed or materials were supplied by the person bringing the suit.
How long you have to sue
One year. § 34-223(B): 'no such suit shall be commenced after the expiration of one year after the date on which the last of the labor was performed or materials were supplied by the person bringing this suit.' At the other end, § 34-223(A) bars suit until 90 days have expired after the claimant's own last labor or material.
Where suit is brought
'Every suit instituted under this section shall be brought in the name of the claimant.' No court or venue is prescribed.
The trap
The preliminary twenty day notice is, under § 33-992.01(E), a rolling lookback rather than a deadline — serve it late and you keep only what you furnished in the twenty days before service and everything after — so the preliminary notice can still be partly rescued by late service, while the ninety-day notice cannot be cured once missed.
The act itself
No popular name. Title 34, ch. 2, art. 2 — usually called Arizona's Little Miller Act.
Where this comes from
A.R.S. §§ 34-222 (bond required) and 34-223 (payment bond provisions), which incorporates by reference parts of the mechanics' lien preliminary notice statute, A.R.S. § 33-992.01.
Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 33 — published by the Arizona State Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 5 August 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Arizona.