Nebraska mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Nebraska lien deadline
Based on the general 120-day period from last furnishing. Exceptions apply — treat this as a planning estimate, not legal advice.
Filing deadline
Construction Lien recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the land lies, any time after contract execution (never before) and no later than 120 days after the claimant's final furnishing; punch-list/warranty work and tacking separate contracts do not extend the date. Contents: unpaid amount (or designated good-faith estimate), last furnishing date, contracting owner, contracting counterparty, legal description, claimant's signature. Liens may be amended upward/expanded only within the original 120-day window; afterward only to reduce or apportion.
Notice prerequisites
No mandatory pre-work notice. On residential (protected-party) projects a claimant may send the owner a Notice of Right to Assert a Lien - optional, but the non-prime claimant's lien is capped at the lesser of its own unpaid contract amount or what the owner still owed the prime when that notice arrived, so sending it early preserves value. Owners/lenders may record a Notice of Commencement that fixes lien attachment/priority dates.
Service on the owner
A copy of the recorded lien must be sent to the contracting owner within 10 days after recording (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-135(3)). The other practical notices are the optional residential Notice of Right to Assert a Lien (any time after contracting, before recording) and responses to an owner's Demand to Institute Judicial Proceedings.
Enforcement
Lien stays enforceable for 2 years after recording; foreclosure is equitable, tried to the district court, by mortgage-foreclosure procedures or (per Tilt-Up) a private-sale route, and contract claims can be joined. Any interested person may serve a Demand to Institute Judicial Proceedings, forcing suit (or an affidavit that the contract price is not yet due) within 30 days or the lien lapses.
Nebraska Construction Lien Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 52-125 to 52-159 (esp. 52-127, 52-130 to 52-142, 52-144 to 52-148, 52-155, 52-157)
Nebraska Construction Lien Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-125 to 52-159 — published by the Nebraska 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 bonded prime contractor. Not the surety, not the public body.
- When — FOUR MONTHS — not 90 days — from your last furnishing. § 52-118.01.
- How — Registered or certified mail. § 52-118.01.
- If late — The right exists only if the notice was given.
- Sue by — 1 year after final settlement of the principal contract.
Is there a bond at all?
52-118(2): 'The labor and material payment bond or bonds referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall not be required for (a) any project bid or proposed by the State of Nebraska or any department or agency thereof which has a total cost of fifteen thousand dollars or less or (b) any project bid or proposed by any county board, contracting board of any city, village, or school district, public board, or officer referred to in subsection (1) of this section which has a total cost of ten thousand dollars or less unless the state, department, agency, board, or officer includes a bond requirement in the specifications for the project.' Two different floors - $15,000 for the state, $10,000 for local bodies - and the local floor evaporates if the specs call for a bond. AMOUNT: 'a payment bond or bonds in a sum not less than the contract price with a corporate surety company and agent selected by such person'.
Who can claim on it
52-118.01: 'Every person who has furnished labor or material in the prosecution of the work provided for in the contract set out in subsection (1) of section 52-118, in respect of which a bond is or bonds are furnished under such section, and who has not been paid in full therefor before the expiration of a period of ninety days after the day on which the last of the labor was done or performed by him or her or material was furnished or supplied by him or her for which such claim is made shall have the right to sue on such bond or bonds ...' Plus, expressly, 'Any person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor furnishing such bond or bonds'. The bond itself is 'conditioned for the payment of all laborers and mechanics for labor that is performed and for the payment for material and equipment rental which is actually used or rented' (52-118(1)) - note that coverage is framed around labor, material and EQUIPMENT RENTAL. 52-118.02 adds that equipment 'rented ... under a lease with an option to purchase shall be considered to be equipment rented under a straight lease agreement not to exceed the reasonable rental value of the equipment during the period such equipment is actually used on such project and unless and until the option to purchase is validly exercised under the contract.' The whole scheme is expressly a substitute for lien rights - 52-118(1) applies to contracts 'to which the general provisions of the mechanics' lien laws do not apply and when the mechanics and laborers have no lien to secure the payment of their wages'.
What notice you owe
Only a claimant 'having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor furnishing such bond or bonds'. A claimant in privity with the prime owes no notice. Every claimant, however, must be unpaid for ninety days after its last labor or material before it may sue.
Who it goes to
The contractor (the bonded prime). Not the surety and not the public body.
By when
FOUR MONTHS - not ninety days - running from last furnishing: 'upon giving written notice to the contractor within four months from the date on which such person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which such claim is made'. The ninety days that appears earlier in the same section is a different thing: a waiting period before anyone may sue.
How it must be served
'Such notice shall be served by mailing the same by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place he or she maintains an office or conducts his or her business or his or her residence or in any other manner in which a notice may be served.' Registered or certified mail, or any other manner in which a notice may be served - the closing clause is broad.
What it has to say
'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.' Two items.
If the notice is late, or never given
The non-privity claimant has 'a right of action upon the bond or bonds UPON GIVING written notice' - the right exists only if the notice was given, so missing it forfeits the whole claim. Nothing is lost by a claimant in privity, who owes no notice.
When the suit clock starts
THE DATE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL CONTRACT - not the claimant's last work, not the notice, not final payment to the claimant. 52-118.02: 'no such suit shall be commenced after the expiration of one year after the date of final settlement of the principal contract.'
How long you have to sue
One year after final settlement of the principal contract. Note the interaction with the front end: a claimant may not sue until ninety days after its own last labor or material, but the outer limit is keyed to an event on the prime contract.
Where suit is brought
Not prescribed. 52-118.02 says only: 'Every suit instituted under section 52-118.01 shall be brought by any person entitled to the benefit of this action ... The action shall be in the name of the party claiming the benefits of this action.'
The trap
Nebraska's non-privity notice is FOUR MONTHS, not the Miller Act's ninety days, and the suit deadline runs one year from 'final settlement of the principal contract' - an event between the public body and the prime that the claimant does not control, cannot calendar in advance and will usually not be told about.
The act itself
No popular name; the public works bond sections of the mechanics' lien article.
Where this comes from
Neb. Rev. Stat. ss. 52-118 (bond required; exemptions), 52-118.01 (right of action; notice by claimants not in privity), 52-118.02 (limitation of action; equipment leases).
Nebraska Construction Lien Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-125 to 52-159 — published by the Nebraska Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Nebraska.