California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

Hector Leon – Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter Chair

In our last collections article, we discussed the filing of a Stop Notice form on a project that has not paid you for worked performed. Many times this could be your last action available to get paid.

My next line of attack is filing a lien on property. Remember, you can only lien private properties you cannot lien public properties (there are other ways to get your money on public work, which we will discuss in another article).

Placing a lien should really be your last resort after you have exhausted all your options to get paid. At this point after you file your lien at the County Recording Office, you need to ask yourself is the balance due really worth taking this case to court to foreclose on the property.

Based on my experiences on non-payment projects that go to court, you will end up with 50-cents on the dollar after the lawyers get paid. The only parties getting paid in the end are the lawyers.

Please contact our lawyers here at the association for some legal advice before you end up in a worse position than when you started.

NOTE: Although the CCTA is not a collection agency, we can guide our members with proper collection techniques, and lead them to the legal experts for advice and support in collection of past due money: