Wisconsin mechanics’ lien and bond deadlines
Work on Private Property
Wisconsin lien deadline
Filing deadline
Claim for Lien filed with the Clerk of Circuit Court of the county where the land lies (each county, if the project spans several) no later than 6 months after the claimant's last furnishing of labor/services/materials/plans, and no sooner than 30 days after serving the Notice of Intention. Punch-list and warranty work do not extend the trigger. The claim must attach copies of the earlier notices; signed by claimant/attorney/agent but not verified.
Notice prerequisites
On smaller residential jobs (4 family units or fewer, wholly residential), the prime contractor must put a statutory lien-rights notice (8-pt bold/caps) in the written owner contract, or serve a separate Prime Contractor Notice of Lien Rights within 10 days if the deal is oral. Subcontractors on such jobs serve two signed copies of a Subcontractor Identification Notice on the owner within 60 days of first furnishing; late notice covers only later-supplied work. Exemptions: laborers, direct owner contracts, projects over 4 units, and any partly/wholly nonresidential project. Separately, every claimant must serve a Notice of Intention to File Claim for Lien at least 30 days before filing the lien - effectively within 5 months of last furnishing.
Service on the owner
Notice of Intention served on the owner 30+ days pre-filing; then a copy of the filed Claim for Lien must be served on the owner within 30 days after filing. Service methods: personal, registered/certified mail, summons-style service, or any delivery with written confirmation.
Enforcement
Foreclosure action within 2 years after the Claim for Lien is filed, brought in the county of filing; filing a lis pendens with the Register of Deeds at commencement is recommended.
Wis. Stats. ch. 779 (esp. 779.01, 779.02, 779.035-.036, 779.06, 779.08); slander of title 706.13; theft 943.20.
Wis. Stat. ch. 779 — Liens — published by the Wisconsin 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, and only the prime. § 779.14(2)(am)1.
- When — 60 days from FIRST furnishing — not last. § 779.14(2)(am)1.
- How — None prescribed — written notice served on the prime.
- If late — Loss of the entire bond action.
- Sue by — 1 year after completion of work under the contract. § 779.14(2)(a).
Is there a bond at all?
Tiered, and the tier depends on whether the contracting body is the state or a local unit. Sec. 779.14(1e)(a), verbatim: 'All contracts involving $10,000 or more for performing, furnishing, or procuring labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications, when the same pertains to any public improvement or public work shall contain a provision for the payment by the prime contractor of all claims for labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications performed, furnished, procured, used, or consumed that pertain to the public improvement or public work.' That is a contract clause, not a bond. The BOND tiers are in Sec. 779.14(1m). STATE contracts, Sec. 779.14(1m)(c): a contract price 'exceeding $16,000 but not exceeding $148,000' requires only direct-payment provisions (the contract must allow the state to pay subcontractors directly or by joint check) plus compliance with written standards; 'exceeding $148,000 but not exceeding $369,000' requires those direct-payment provisions AND a payment and performance bond meeting par. (e); and 'exceeding $369,000 the contract shall require the prime contractor to obtain a payment and performance bond meeting the requirements under par. (e).' LOCAL contracts, Sec. 779.14(1m)(d): 'exceeding $16,000 but not exceeding $74,000' -- direct payment provisions only; 'exceeding $74,000 but not exceeding $148,000' -- direct payment provisions plus bond; 'exceeding $148,000' -- 'the contract shall require the prime contractor to obtain a payment and performance bond meeting the requirements under par. (e).' Below $16,000 no assurance is required at either level. Sec. 779.14(1m)(e) requires the bond penalty to be 'not less than the contract price' and conditions it on faithful performance and payment. Sec. 779.14(1e)(b) requires contracts exceeding $30,000 to maintain a list of subcontractors, suppliers and service providers 'to the extent practicable' -- that list matters; see "What notice you owe".
Who can claim on it
Sec. 779.14(2)(a): 'no later than one year after the completion of work under the contract, any party in interest, including any subcontractor, supplier, or service provider, may maintain an action in that party's name against the prime contractor and the sureties upon the bond.' The protected class is defined at Sec. 779.14(1): a 'subcontractor, supplier, or service provider' is 'Any person who has a direct contractual relationship, expressed or implied, with the prime contractor or with any subcontractor of the prime contractor to perform, furnish, or procure labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications.' That is first tier and second tier; a supplier to a second-tier supplier is outside. Highway improvements let under Sec. 84.06(2) are excepted from the definition.
What notice you owe
EVERY subcontractor, supplier or service provider -- INCLUDING one in direct privity with the prime contractor. Sec. 779.14(2)(am)1., verbatim: 'Except as provided in subd. 2., a subcontractor, supplier, or service provider may maintain an action under par. (a) only if the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider has served a written notice on the prime contractor that the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider has performed, furnished, or procured, or will perform, furnish, or procure labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications to the public work or improvement. The notice must be served no later than 60 days after the date on which the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider first performed, furnished, or procured the labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications.' The exemptions are at Sec. 779.14(2)(am)2., verbatim: 'A notice under subd. 1. is not required if any of the following applies: a. The contract for performing, furnishing, or procuring the labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications does not exceed $5,000. b. The action is brought by an employee of the prime contractor, subcontractor, supplier, or service provider. c. The subcontractor, supplier, or service provider is listed in the list required to be maintained under sub. (1e) (b) or in a written contract, or in a document appended to a written contract, between a subcontractor, supplier, or service provider and the prime contractor.'
Who it goes to
The prime contractor, and only the prime contractor. Neither the public body nor the surety is a recipient of the Sec. 779.14(2)(am) notice. (The separate Sec. 779.15 lien notice goes the other way -- to the public body.)
By when
60 days from FIRST furnishing: 'no later than 60 days after the date on which the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider first performed, furnished, or procured the labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications.' Not last furnishing, not completion, not acceptance. On a long job the notice is due two months in, while the claimant is still being paid and has no dispute.
How it must be served
None prescribed. Sec. 779.14(2)(am)1. requires only that the claimant have 'served a written notice on the prime contractor.' No mail class, no service rule, no proof-of-receipt requirement appears in the paragraph. Use a method that produces proof anyway, because the claimant bears the burden of showing service.
What it has to say
Minimal and forward-looking. The notice must state 'that the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider has performed, furnished, or procured, or will perform, furnish, or procure labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications to the public work or improvement.' No amount, no description of the account, no identification of the hiring party is required by the text. It is a notice of involvement, not a notice of claim -- which is why it is due 60 days after starting rather than after nonpayment.
If the notice is late, or never given
Loss of the entire bond action. Sec. 779.14(2)(am)1. is phrased as a precondition: the claimant 'may maintain an action under par. (a) ONLY IF' it served the notice. There is no partial-month salvage as in Texas and no retainage carve-out as in Virginia. The escape is not a cure but a status: if the claimant happens to appear on the prime's Sec. 779.14(1e)(b) subcontractor list, or in a written contract or appended document between a subcontractor and the prime, no notice was ever required.
When the suit clock starts
Completion of work under the CONTRACT -- the prime's contract, not the claimant's. Sec. 779.14(2)(a): 'no later than one year after the completion of work under the contract.'
How long you have to sue
One year after completion of work under the contract. Sec. 779.14(2)(a). Note the asymmetry with the notice: the notice runs from the claimant's own first day, the suit from the job's last day.
Where suit is brought
Not prescribed in Sec. 779.14(2)(a); the action is 'in that party's name against the prime contractor and the sureties upon the bond.' Sec. 779.14(2)(b) provides that where the bond is insufficient to pay all claims, the proceeds are distributed proportionally among the claimants.
The trap
Wisconsin's 60-day notice runs from the claimant's FIRST furnishing and is owed by first-tier subcontractors too, so it must be served long before anyone is unpaid -- and the only escapes are a contract of $5,000 or less, an employee claim, or being named on the prime's own subcontractor list, which is a document the claimant neither controls nor ordinarily sees.
The act itself
No popular name. The payment bond statute is Wis. Stat. Sec. 779.14, 'Public works, form of contract, bond, remedy,' in the lien chapter. As in Washington, there are really two remedies on the same job: the BOND under Sec. 779.14, and a separate statutory LIEN ON THE MONEY, BONDS OR WARRANTS due the prime contractor under Sec. 779.15. Sec. 779.16 adds a theft-by-contractor trust fund that reaches the individuals who diverted the money.
Where this comes from
Wis. Stat. Sec. 779.14 (public works; contract provisions; payment and performance assurance; action on the bond; 60-day notice). Wis. Stat. Sec. 779.15 (public improvements; lien on money, bonds or warrants due the prime contractor). Wis. Stat. Sec. 779.16 (theft by contractors).
Wis. Stat. ch. 779 — Liens — published by the Wisconsin State Legislature.
Statutory summary as of 29 July 2026. Not legal advice; confirm with a lawyer licensed in Wisconsin.