North Carolina mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
North Carolina 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
File the claim of lien on real property within 120 days of last furnishing, and serve a copy on the owner.
Notice prerequisites
On projects with a designated lien agent, the lien agent must RECEIVE your Notice to Lien Agent within 15 days after you first furnish labor or materials. Send it early enough to arrive on time. If you are a second- or third-tier subcontractor and the contractor has posted and filed a Notice of Contract, you must also serve a Notice of Subcontract on the contractor, or you cannot enforce a lien on the property (G.S. 44A-23(b)).
Enforcement
Commence enforcement within 180 days of last furnishing.
N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 44A-11.1, 44A-12, 44A-13
N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 44A, art. 2 — published by the North Carolina General Assembly.
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 CONTRACTOR — the one who furnished the bond. Both notices go there, not to the surety and not to the public body. § 44A-27(b).
- When — 120 days from YOUR OWN last labor or materials for the notice of claim on payment bond. Nothing else in this Article has a deadline. § 44A-27(b).
- How — Certified mail, USPS signature confirmation, or any method the law allows for serving a summons. § 44A-27(c).
- If late — Miss the 120 days and the bond claim is gone. The much-quoted "75 days" is NOT a deadline — read below before you act on it.
- Sue by — The LONGER of one year from your last furnishing and one year from final settlement with the contractor. § 44A-28(b).
Is there a bond at all?
A payment bond is required on a construction contract over $50,000 where the total of all construction contracts awarded for the project exceeds $300,000 — $500,000 where the contracting body is a State department, agency or institution, or a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina. § 44A-26(a). The bond runs to 100% of the construction contract amount. Below those figures a bond may still have been furnished voluntarily, and ask the contracting body before assuming there is nothing to claim against.
Who can claim on it
Any person who furnished labor or materials to the contractor or to a subcontractor and has not been paid in full, once 90 days have passed since that claimant last furnished. § 44A-27(a). The 90 days is a waiting period before suit, not a deadline to do anything. A claimant in privity with the contractor — the prime's own first-tier subcontractors and suppliers — proceeds under § 44A-27(a) and owes NO notice of any kind.
What notice you owe
Two separate questions, and most claimants owe only the second. (1) NOTICE OF PUBLIC SUBCONTRACT — owed only by a claimant with a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor and none, express or implied, with the contractor. § 44A-27(b). (2) NOTICE OF CLAIM ON PAYMENT BOND — owed by that same remote claimant, and it is the one with the deadline. A first-tier claimant owes neither.
Who it goes to
The contractor — the party that furnished the bond. Delivered to it at any place it maintains a permanent office, or to the agent identified for that purpose in the project statement posted at the site. Not the surety, and not the contracting body. § 44A-27(b), (c).
By when
120 days for the notice of claim on payment bond, running from the CLAIMANT'S OWN last furnishing: § 44A-27(b) requires written notice of claim on payment bond to the contractor "within 120 days from the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the materials for which he claims payment". Not from the project's completion, not from the contractor's last day, not from acceptance by the public body. The notice of public subcontract has NO deadline at all — see "If the notice is late, or never given" and "The trap".
How it must be served
Certified mail, signature confirmation as provided by the United States Postal Service, or any other method authorized by law for the service of a summons. § 44A-27(c). Keep the receipt: the date of service is what fixes both the 120-day compliance and the reach of the 75-day lookback.
What it has to say
The notice of public subcontract states the name and address of the claimant, a general description of the real property on which the labor was performed or the material furnished, and a general description of the claimant's contract and of the labor and materials. § 44A-27(c), (d). The notice of claim on payment bond states the amount claimed and the person for whom the labor was performed or to whom the material was furnished. § 44A-27(d).
If the notice is late, or never given
THE TWO NOTICES FAIL DIFFERENTLY, AND THIS IS THE WHOLE OF WHAT MATTERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. Miss the 120-day notice of claim on payment bond and the bond claim is lost — that one is a true deadline. The notice of public subcontract cannot be missed, because it has no due date: § 44A-27(b) provides that the claim of a claimant who has not served it "shall not include labor or materials provided more than 75 days prior to the claimant's service" of the notice. Serving it late costs the old work, never the claim. A claimant eight months on the job who serves today still keeps the last 75 days.
The small-claim floor
$20,000, and it is a floor rather than a cliff. § 44A-27(e): the obligation to provide a notice of public subcontract "shall not apply to claims of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or less and, for any claim exceeding twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), shall apply only to that portion of the claim in excess of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000)". So a claimant who never serves that notice still keeps the first $20,000 whatever else the lookback takes. The floor does not touch the 120-day notice of claim, which every remote claimant owes at any amount.
When the suit clock starts
The longer of (i) the claimant's own last labor or materials and (ii) final settlement between the contracting body and the contractor. § 44A-28(b). Final settlement is usually the later of the two and the claimant has no way of knowing when it happened — so work to the first date and ask the contracting body about the second before concluding anything has expired.
How long you have to sue
One year. § 44A-28(b): no action on a payment bond may be commenced "after the expiration of the longer period of one year from the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was furnished by the claimant, or one year from the day on which final settlement was made with the contractor".
Where suit is brought
A court of appropriate jurisdiction in a county where the construction contract, or any part of it, is to be or has been performed. § 44A-28(a). The venue provision is mandatory on its face.
The trap
ASK THE CONTRACTOR IN WRITING FOR A COPY OF THE PAYMENT BOND, AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. Under § 44A-27(b) the contractor must send a copy to a claimant who requests it "within seven calendar days after receipt of such request" — and where the contractor does not, the 75-day limit on how far back the claim reaches does not apply to that claimant at all. It can be done with a certified letter. Seven CALENDAR days, not business days. Second, the 75 days is not a window that opens at first furnishing and shuts. It runs BACKWARD from the day you serve, so each day of delay removes a day of furnishing from the claim.
The act itself
The Model Payment and Performance Bond Act, Article 3 of Chapter 44A. It governs public work in North Carolina and is separate from Article 2, the private mechanics lien and lien upon funds statute — no lien attaches to public property, and Article 2 is not the remedy here. Article 3 supplies two different instruments that are easy to confuse because both are served on the contractor: the NOTICE OF PUBLIC SUBCONTRACT, which protects how far back a remote claimant's claim can reach, and the NOTICE OF CLAIM ON PAYMENT BOND, which is the claim itself and is the only one with a deadline.
Where this comes from
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-25 (definitions — "claimant", "contractor", "subcontractor", "contracting body"); § 44A-26 (when payment and performance bonds are required, and in what amount); § 44A-27(a) (direct right of action for a claimant in privity with the contractor); § 44A-27(b) (notice of public subcontract, the 75-day lookback, the contractor's seven-day duty to furnish a copy of the bond, and the 120-day notice of claim on payment bond); § 44A-27(c) (service of both notices); § 44A-27(d) (contents); § 44A-27(e) (the $20,000 floor); § 44A-28(a) (venue); § 44A-28(b) (limitation — the longer of two measures); § 44A-30 (no reduction by agreement).
N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 44A, art. 2 — published by the North Carolina General Assembly.
Statutory summary as of 5 August 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in North Carolina.