Texas mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Texas lien deadline
Filing deadline
Lien Affidavit recorded with the county clerk where the property lies. General deadline: 15th day of the fourth calendar month after the claimant completes its own work (third month for residential). Subcontractor retainage-only claims (post-2022 contracts): 15th day of the third month after project completion/abandonment; pre-2022 contracts have layered 30/40-day alternatives. Deadlines run from the claimant's last contract work, not project completion (except for original contractors), and corrective work does not extend them.
Notice prerequisites
No pre-work notice is needed. All claimants except the original contractor must send monthly fund-trapping notices: for prime contracts signed after 1/1/2022, one Notice of Claim for Unpaid Labor or Materials by certified mail to the owner and original contractor by the 15th day of the third month after each unpaid month of work (2nd month on residential). Pre-2022 projects additionally require a second-month notice from sub-subcontractors/suppliers to the original contractor. Subcontractors with contractual retainage should send a Notice of Claim for Unpaid Retainage within 30 days of finishing or termination of their subcontract.
Service on the owner
A copy of the filed Lien Affidavit must go by certified mail to the owner (and, for derivative claimants, to the original contractor) within 5 days after filing; missing this window voids the lien. Filing comes first, service after. All notice letters go by certified mail.
Enforcement
Foreclosure suit in the county of the project. Post-1/1/2022 contracts: single 1-year limitations period (matching the prior residential rule). Pre-2022 projects: later of 2 years from the affidavit deadline or 1 year from completion/termination of the whole project. Attorney fees available to the prevailing party.
Tex. Prop. Code ch. 53 (esp. 53.021, 53.054-53.056, 53.055, 53.201); Tex. Const. art. XVI (constitutional lien); trust funds Tex. Prop. Code 162.001.
Tex. Prop. Code ch. 53 — published by the Texas Legislative Council.
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 AND the surety — both. Gov’t Code § 2253.041(a).
- When — FOUR clocks, all counted from a calendar MONTH rather than a day of work. Read below before you count.
- How — Certified or registered mail. § 2253.048(a).
- If late — Fatal to whatever that notice covered, and no more.
- Sue by — 1 year. § 2253.078(b).
Is there a bond at all?
Sec. 2253.021(a): 'A governmental entity that makes a public work contract with a prime contractor shall require the contractor, before beginning the work, to execute to the governmental entity: (1) a performance bond if the contract is in excess of $100,000; and (2) a payment bond if: (A) the contract is in excess of $25,000, and the governmental entity is not a municipality or a joint board created under Subchapter D, Chapter 22, Transportation Code; or (B) the contract is in excess of $50,000, and the governmental entity is a municipality or a joint board created under Subchapter D, Chapter 22, Transportation Code.' So the PAYMENT bond threshold is $25,000 for the state, counties, school districts and their agencies, and $50,000 for municipalities and airport joint boards. The $100,000 figure is the PERFORMANCE bond threshold only and charts that quote '$100,000' as the bond trigger are quoting the wrong bond.
Who can claim on it
A 'payment bond beneficiary.' Sec. 2253.021(c)(1): the payment bond is 'solely for the protection and use of payment bond beneficiaries who have a direct contractual relationship with the prime contractor or a subcontractor to supply public work labor or material.' Sec. 2253.001(9) defines 'subcontractor' as 'a person, firm, or corporation that provides public work labor or material to fulfill an obligation to a prime contractor or to a subcontractor.' The chain therefore stops at the second tier: one who contracts with the prime, or one who contracts with a subcontractor of the prime. A supplier to a supplier of a subcontractor is outside the bond. Sec. 2253.001(6) 'public work material' includes specially fabricated material, equipment rental and repair costs, and utilities used in performing the work; Sec. 2253.001(5) 'public work labor' means labor used directly to carry out a public work.
What notice you owe
EVERY payment bond beneficiary owes the Sec. 2253.041 notice, including one in direct privity with the prime contractor. That is the departure from the Miller Act and from most Little Miller Acts. A beneficiary who does NOT have a direct contractual relationship with the prime owes that notice AND, in addition, the earlier notice(s) required by Sec. 2253.047 -- Sec. 2253.047(a): 'To recover in a suit under Section 2253.073 on a payment bond, a payment bond beneficiary who does not have a direct contractual relationship with the prime contractor for public work labor or material must mail notice as required by this section.' Two notices, not one.
Who it goes to
Sec. 2253.041(a): the claim notice goes to 'the prime contractor and the surety' -- both. Sec. 2253.046(a): the retainage notice goes to 'the prime contractor and the surety' -- both. Sec. 2253.047(b), (c), (d): every additional notice owed by a claimant without privity to the prime goes to 'the prime contractor' only (the surety is not named in Sec. 2253.047).
By when
FOUR different clocks, all counted from a calendar month, not from a day of work. (1) Claim for unpaid labor/material, Sec. 2253.041(b): 'The notice must be mailed on or before the 15th day of the third month after each month in which any of the claimed labor was performed or any of the claimed material was delivered.' Note 'each month' -- the notice is month-by-month, so unpaid March work is noticed by June 15, unpaid April work by July 15, and so on. (2) Additional notice by a claimant without privity to the prime, Sec. 2253.047(c): 'on or before the 15th day of the second month after each month in which the labor was performed or the material was delivered.' (3) Additional retainage-agreement notice by a claimant without privity, Sec. 2253.047(b): 'on or before the 15th day of the second month after the date of the beginning of the delivery of public work material or the performance of public work labor.' (4) Additional specially-fabricated-material notice, Sec. 2253.047(d): 'on or before the 15th day of the second month after the receipt and acceptance of an order for specially fabricated material.' Separately, the claim for RETAINAGE itself, Sec. 2253.046(a): 'on or before the 90th day after the date of final completion of the public work contract' -- that one runs from final completion of the PRIME's contract, not from the claimant's last work and not from a month-end.
How it must be served
Sec. 2253.048(a): 'A notice required by this subchapter to be mailed must be sent by certified or registered mail.' (b): to the prime contractor 'at the contractor's residence or last known business address.' (c): the surety is validly served if the notice is mailed by certified or registered mail to the surety '(1) at the address stated on the bond or on an attachment to the bond; (2) at the address on file with the Texas Department of Insurance; or (3) at any other address allowed by law.' Sec. 2253.021(f) requires the bond itself to display prominently either the surety's name, mailing address, physical address and telephone number for notices of claim, or the Texas Department of Insurance toll-free number from which that address can be obtained.
What it has to say
Sec. 2253.041(c): the notice 'must be accompanied by a sworn statement of account that states in substance: (1) the amount claimed is just and correct; and (2) all just and lawful offsets, payments, and credits known to the affiant have been allowed.' Sec. 2253.041(d): 'The statement of account shall include the amount of any retainage applicable to the account that has not become due under the terms of the public work contract between the payment bond beneficiary and the prime contractor or between the payment bond beneficiary and a subcontractor.' Sec. 2253.047(b): the retainage notice must state 'that: (1) the contract provides for retainage; and (2) generally indicates the nature of the retainage.' Sec. 2253.046(b): the retainage claim notice 'shall consist of a statement of: (1) the amount of the contract; (2) any amount paid; and (3) the outstanding balance.' Sec. 2253.042 allows a copy of the written agreement to serve as the notice of claim; Secs. 2253.043-.045 govern the no-written-agreement, multiple-item and unit-price variants -- check those three sections if your job is one of those variants.
If the notice is late, or never given
Fatal to whatever the notice covered, and no more. Both Sec. 2253.041(a) and Sec. 2253.047(a) are phrased as conditions on recovery: 'To recover in a suit under Section 2253.073 on a payment bond ... must mail.' Because Sec. 2253.041(b) and Sec. 2253.047(c) are keyed to 'each month,' missing one month's notice forfeits only that month's labor or material, not the whole account. Missing the Sec. 2253.046 90-day retainage notice forfeits the retainage claim -- except that Sec. 2253.046(c) says notice 'is not required if the amount claimed is part of a prior claim made under this subchapter.'
When the suit clock starts
Sec. 2253.078(b): a payment bond suit runs from 'the date notice for a claim is mailed under this chapter' -- from the claimant's own notice, NOT from completion. (Sec. 2253.078(a), for a performance bond, runs from 'the date of final completion, abandonment, or termination of the public work contract'; do not borrow that trigger for the payment bond.) Separately Sec. 2253.073(a) sets a floor on when suit may start: the beneficiary may sue 'if the claim is not paid before the 61st day after the date the notice for the claim is mailed.'
How long you have to sue
One year. Sec. 2253.078(b): 'A suit on a payment bond may not be brought by a payment bond beneficiary after the first anniversary of the date notice for a claim is mailed under this chapter.' Combined with Sec. 2253.073(a), the practical window is day 61 through day 365 after mailing. Where a claimant has mailed several monthly notices there are several anniversaries; the earliest-noticed month expires first.
Where suit is brought
Sec. 2253.077: 'A suit under this chapter shall be brought in a court in a county in which any part of the public work is located.' Sec. 2253.073(a) permits suit against 'the principal or surety, jointly or severally.' Sec. 2253.074 allows costs and attorney fees (Sec. 2253.073(b)(2) allows 'reasonable attorney fees'). Sec. 2253.072: the state is not liable for costs.
The trap
A second-tier claimant owes TWO notices on overlapping clocks -- the 15th-of-the-SECOND-month notice under Sec. 2253.047(c) and the 15th-of-the-THIRD-month notice under Sec. 2253.041(b) -- and the one-year suit limit in Sec. 2253.078(b) then runs from the date that notice was mailed, so a claimant who noticed early and negotiated for a year is time-barred before the job is even closed out.
The act itself
The McGregor Act. Codified as Tex. Gov't Code ch. 2253, 'Public Work Performance and Payment Bonds.' It governs BOTH state and local public work (see the definition of 'governmental entity' below). Property Code ch. 53 (the private mechanic's lien statute) does NOT reach public property and is not the remedy here; the only tie between the two is that ch. 53 borrows some ch. 2253 concepts by cross-reference.
Where this comes from
Tex. Gov't Code ch. 2253. Definitions Sec. 2253.001; exemption Sec. 2253.002; bonds required Sec. 2253.021; Subchapter C (notice) Secs. 2253.041-.048; Subchapter D (suit) Secs. 2253.071-.079. Key operative sections: 2253.021 (thresholds), 2253.041 (third-month notice), 2253.046 (retainage notice), 2253.047 (additional second-month notice for claimants without privity to the prime), 2253.048 (mailing), 2253.073 (suit), 2253.076 (claim caps), 2253.077 (venue), 2253.078 (limitations).
Tex. Prop. Code ch. 53 — published by the Texas Legislative Council.
Statutory summary as of 30 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Texas.