Texas Pre-Lien Notices in Plain English
Plain-English Texas pre-lien notice basics for contractors who need to know who gets notice, when it is due, and why months matter.
BuilderMaxPro is software, not a law firm. It is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
For Texas private projects with original contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2022; public projects are not covered. Dates and forms are built from the facts you enter, so check them and ask a Texas construction attorney about your situation. Coverage and limits →
Retainage, payment-bond and extended-suit dates are being corrected; check them with a Texas construction attorney.
What a lien notice even is
A notice of claim is a document the contractor sends. BuilderMaxPro does not mail, serve or file anything. Lien rights can be lost to one missed date or one missing notice, so ask a Texas construction attorney which steps apply to your situation.
Why "who" and "what kind of project" change everything
Two questions decide almost all of your Texas notice obligations: What's your role? A general contractor dealing directly with the owner has different (and fewer) notice requirements than a subcontractor or supplier two tiers down the chain. The further you are from the owner, the more notice discipline the law expects from you. What kind of project is it? Residential and commercial run on different tracks, with different timing. A residential homestead has its own stricter rules. "I sent a notice once" isn't the same as "I sent the right notice, to the right people, by the right date, for this type of project."
The deadlines where people lose
Texas leans on that "15th of the month" rhythm, and the notices stack up over the life of a job. On a residential project, a subcontractor's notice of an unpaid amount generally needs to go out by the 15th day of the second month after the work was done — and miss the window, and the strongest remedy you had starts slipping away. The mechanics aren't impossible. They're just unforgiving, and they assume you're keeping track of dates that are easy to lose when you're running actual jobs. Here's the honest line every contractor needs to hear: this is real law with real teeth, and when it's time to actually file, you want an attorney. BuilderMaxPro is not your lawyer and doesn't pretend to be. What it does is keep the dates your lawyer will ask for, and the records you enter, visible in one place, with email reminders as each deadline approaches — so "I should send a notice" is less likely to become "I should have sent a notice."
Turning the law from a threat into a routine
Texas lien deadline tracking is built into your projects. BuilderMaxPro calculates the dates it tracks from the dates, property type and role you enter, and company admins receive email reminders before those tracked dates. You review the facts and decide what to send with your attorney.
How BuilderMaxPro helps
BuilderMaxPro keeps each job's details, customer and payment-chain info, records, and key dates in one workflow — so the notice deadlines tied to that job are visible instead of buried in statutes you'd have to go decode. It won't draft your legal filing, and it'll always tell you to get an attorney for the real thing. But it makes navigating the process dramatically less scary, because you're working from organized facts instead of memory and dread. Start free in your browser — no card, no app store.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really have to send notices, or can I just file a lien if I'm not paid?
Lien rights can be lost to one missed date or one missing notice. Ask a Texas construction attorney whether a notice or filing applies to your situation. BuilderMaxPro can show the deadlines it tracks from your project facts.
How do residential and commercial notices differ?
They run on different timelines, and residential (especially homestead) projects have stricter rules. The right notice depends on both your role and the project type — which is why generic advice is dangerous and your own job records matter so much.
Where does BMP fit if it's not giving legal advice?
It keeps the facts straight — job details, payment chain, records, and the dates that drive your notice deadlines — so you act in time and walk into your attorney's office prepared, instead of late and scrambling.
What happens if a general contractor won't pay a subcontractor in Texas?
Check required Chapter 53 notices for each unpaid work month and assess the affidavit deadline separately using the applicable last-work facts. Do not assume all deadlines run separately for each month. If the general contractor has received owner payment, Chapter 28 generally creates a separate seven-day downstream payment clock.