Nevada mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Nevada lien deadline
Filing deadline
Notice of Lien recorded with the county recorder (both counties if the project straddles two) within 90 days after the LATEST of completion of the work of improvement, the claimant's last delivery of materials/equipment, or its last work. A recorded-and-served Notice of Completion cuts the window to 40 days from its recording; completion also occurs on owner occupancy/use or acceptance with cessation of work, or 30 days' cessation plus a timely completion notice. Contents: lienable amount net of credits/offsets, owner, hiring party, brief payment terms, property description, and verification. Minimum claim value $500.
Notice prerequisites
Subcontractors and lower tiers (anyone without a direct owner contract, except pure laborers) must give the owner a statutory Notice of Right to Lien, in person or by certified mail. There is no fixed deadline, but the notice only reaches back 31 days - work/materials furnished more than 31 days before the notice are unlienable - so early service is critical. Primes must tell the owner about subs and pass lien information down or face Contractors Board discipline. On residential projects (single- or multi-family, including apartments), every claimant except laborers must additionally serve a 15-day Notice of Intent to Lien on the owner and reputed prime before recording; doing so extends the recording window by 15 days.
Service on the owner
Copy of the recorded lien must be served on the owner within 30 days of recording - personally, by certified mail RRR, or (if the owner can't be located) by posting on the property plus delivery to a resident plus mailing. Service follows recording; missing it can render the lien unenforceable, though substantial compliance with actual notice and no prejudice has been excused. Subs must also copy the prime on every lien notice.
Enforcement
Foreclosure suit in a court of the county where the property lies, no sooner than 30 days and no later than 6 months after recording; one written, recorded extension of up to 6 more months is possible with the consent of interested parties. Filing suit requires publishing a Notice of Foreclosure weekly for 3 weeks and mailing it to known lien claimants; claimants may demand a preferential (expedited) trial setting. Bankruptcy stays toll the deadline; debt claims may be pursued alongside.
NRS 108.221-108.246 (esp. 108.222, 108.226-108.228, 108.233, 108.234, 108.239, 108.245, 108.246, 108.2415-108.2425)
NRS ch. 108 — Mechanics’ and Materialmen’s Liens — published by the Nevada 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 for both notices. Nothing goes to the surety. NRS 339.035.
- When — TWO clocks: 30 days from FIRST furnishing, and 90 days from last. Both mandatory.
- How — Registered or certified mail, for the 90-day notice. NRS 339.035(2)(b).
- If late — The whole bond claim for a claimant not in privity.
- Sue by — 1 year. NRS 339.055.
Is there a bond at all?
'Before any contract, except one subject to the provisions of chapter 408 of NRS, exceeding $100,000 for any project for the new construction, repair or reconstruction of any public building or other public work or public improvement of any contracting body is awarded to any contractor, the contractor shall furnish to the contracting body the following bonds' (NRS 339.025(1)). Two points to note: (a) NDOT work under NRS chapter 408 is carved out entirely, so chapter 339 is not the remedy on a state highway contract; (b) the payment bond need only be 'in an amount to be fixed by the contracting body, but not less than 50 percent of the contract amount' (NRS 339.025(1)(b)) - HALF, not 100 percent, so the penal sum can be exhausted by competing claimants.
Who can claim on it
The payment bond is 'solely for the protection of claimants supplying labor or materials to the contractor to whom the contract was awarded, or to any of his or her subcontractors, in the prosecution of the work provided for in such contract' (NRS 339.025(1)(b)). NRS 339.035(2) then addresses 'Any claimant who has a direct contractual relationship with any subcontractor of the contractor who gave such payment bond, but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with such contractor.' The chain therefore stops at the second tier: a claimant whose customer is itself a sub-subcontractor or a supplier (rather than a subcontractor of the bonded prime) is outside both categories. 'Claimant' is defined broadly as to entity type only - 'a natural person, firm, partnership, association or corporation' (NRS 339.015(1)) - which says nothing about tier.
What notice you owe
Only a claimant in direct contract with a subcontractor of the bonded prime and with 'no contractual relationship, express or implied, with such contractor' (NRS 339.035(2)). A claimant in privity with the prime owes NO notice of any kind. But the non-privity claimant owes TWO notices, joined by 'and' in the statute - both are conditions, not alternatives.
Who it goes to
The contractor - i.e. the prime who furnished the bond. Both notices go to the contractor and to nobody else. Nothing is served on the surety and nothing is filed with the contracting body.
By when
TWO independent clocks, both running off the CLAIMANT'S OWN work, and both mandatory for a non-privity claimant. (1) 30 days running from FIRST furnishing: the claimant must have, 'within 30 days after furnishing the first of such materials or performing the first of such labor, served on the contractor a written notice' (NRS 339.035(2)(a)). (2) 90 days running from LAST furnishing: 'After giving written notice to such contractor within 90 days from the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the materials for which the claimant claims payment' (NRS 339.035(2)(b)). Separately, NRS 339.035(1) makes 90 days after the claimant's own last furnishing a WAITING period before ANY claimant (privity included) may sue - that one is not a notice at all.
How it must be served
Prescribed only for the 90-day notice. NRS 339.035(2)(b): 'shall be served by being sent by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to such contractor at any place in which the contractor maintains an office or conducts business, or at the residence of the contractor.' The statute prescribes NO method for the 30-day preliminary notice - the service sentence sits inside paragraph (b) and by its terms governs 'Each written notice' in that paragraph. Read conservatively: serve the 30-day notice the same way.
What it has to say
30-day notice (NRS 339.035(2)(a)): a written notice 'which shall inform the latter of the nature of the materials being furnished or to be furnished, or the labor performed or to be performed, and identifying the person contracting for such labor or materials and the site for the performance of such labor or materials.' Note it does NOT require a dollar amount. 90-day notice (NRS 339.035(2)(b)): 'Each written notice shall state with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the person for whom the work was performed or the material supplied.' Note this one does NOT require a project description.
If the notice is late, or never given
The whole bond claim for the non-privity claimant. NRS 339.035(2) is phrased as a gate: such a claimant 'may bring an action on the payment bond only: (a) If the claimant has, within 30 days ... and (b) After giving written notice ... within 90 days'. Missing either one means no action on the bond at all. There is no partial-recovery or forward-truncation rule as in Ohio or New Jersey.
When the suit clock starts
The claimant's OWN last furnishing: NRS 339.055(2) runs from 'the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the materials for the payment of which such action is brought.' Not from project completion, not from acceptance, not from final payment. NRS 339.035(1) additionally bars suit until the claimant 'has not been paid in full before the expiration of 90 days after' that same date.
How long you have to sue
1 year. 'No such action may be commenced after the expiration of 1 year from the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the materials' (NRS 339.055(2)). Because the 90-day waiting period is measured from the same event, the actual window in which suit may be filed is roughly nine months, from day 91 to day 365 after last furnishing.
Where suit is brought
'Every action on a payment bond as provided in NRS 339.035 shall be brought in the appropriate court of the political subdivision where the contract for which the bond was given was to be performed' (NRS 339.055(1)). Venue is fixed by the place of performance, not the claimant's residence and not the contractor's place of business.
The trap
A second-tier claimant who serves only the well-known 90-day notice has nothing, because the 30-day notice from FIRST furnishing is a separate and independent condition of the claim that can no longer be cured once the job is underway.
The act itself
No popular name. NRS chapter 339, 'Bonds for Public Works'. Modelled on the Miller Act in structure (privity claimants sue directly; non-privity claimants owe notice) but with a second, earlier notice the Miller Act does not have.
Where this comes from
NRS 339.010 to 339.055. Payment-bond core: NRS 339.025 (bonds required; amount), NRS 339.035 (actions on payment bonds by claimants; the 30-day and 90-day notices), NRS 339.055 (venue and limitation). Definitions at NRS 339.015.
NRS ch. 108 — Mechanics’ and Materialmen’s Liens — published by the Nevada Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Nevada.