Washington Notice of Intent to Lien: When to Send One
Last updated: July 2025
In Washington state, subcontractors and suppliers who do not have a direct contract with the property owner must send a Notice of Right to Claim Lien to the owner (and the general contractor, if any) no later than 60 days after first furnishing labor, materials, or equipment to the project, under RCW 60.04.031. This notice is often called a "notice of intent to lien" in Washington, though the statutory term is Notice of Right to Claim Lien. If you miss the 60-day window, you lose lien rights for all work performed before the notice is served — the notice only protects labor and materials furnished within the 60 days prior to service and after. Failing to serve it at all eliminates your mechanics lien rights entirely on private works in Washington.
Who Is Required to Send a Notice of Right to Claim Lien in Washington?
Subcontractors, material suppliers, and equipment lessors who do not have a direct written contract with the property owner are required to send this notice under RCW 60.04.031. If you are a sub-tier subcontractor — meaning you were hired by another subcontractor, not the GC — you still must send the notice. General contractors with a direct contract with the owner are exempt, but any party one step removed from that owner relationship is not.
The practical breakdown:
- First-tier subcontractors (hired by GC): Required
- Sub-tier subs (hired by another sub): Required
- Material suppliers to anyone other than the owner: Required
- Equipment lessors: Required
- General contractors with a direct owner contract: Exempt
- Laborers paid hourly wages: Generally exempt under RCW 60.04.031(1)
If you are unsure which tier you sit at, assume you need to send the notice. There is no downside to sending one when it wasn't strictly required. There is a severe downside to skipping it when it was.
What Is the Exact Deadline for the Washington Notice of Right to Claim Lien?
You must serve the Notice of Right to Claim Lien within 60 days of first furnishing labor, materials, or equipment on the project, per RCW 60.04.031. "First furnishing" means the first day you physically show up on site, deliver materials, or provide any compensable service — not when you sign the contract or mobilize equipment.
This is where contractors get burned. The clock starts running from day one of work, not from when you invoice, not from when payment was due, and not from the day you realized you weren't going to get paid.
Example: You're a drywall sub. You start hanging board on March 1. Your 60-day window closes on April 30. If you don't serve the notice by April 30, any work performed before the notice date loses lien protection. Work after service is still protected — but only from the date of service forward, and only for the 60-day window preceding it.
Use the lien deadline calculator to calculate your exact deadline based on your first-furnishing date.
How Do You Serve the Notice in Washington State?
Washington's lien statute requires the notice to be served on the property owner and on the general contractor (or hiring party), and it must follow the delivery method requirements under RCW 60.04.031(2). The three acceptable methods are:
- Personal delivery — Hand it directly to the owner or GC
- Registered or certified mail with return receipt requested
- Commercial express mail (e.g., FedEx or UPS with tracking confirmation)
Certified mail is the industry standard and the most defensible in a dispute. When you send via USPS Certified Mail, you get a tracking number and a Certificate of Mailing that proves you sent the notice and when. According to USPS Notice 123, Certified Mail costs $4.85 as the base fee in 2026, plus standard postage — a trivial cost compared to the contract value you're protecting.
Keep proof of service on file. If a lien dispute ends up in court, you will need to show that you properly served the notice. A Certificate of Mailing PDF and tracking confirmation are your documentation.
Who to serve:
- The property owner (or owner's designee)
- The general contractor or hiring party
- The construction lender, if known (not strictly required under Washington statute but recommended as best practice)
If the property owner's address isn't on your contract, check the county assessor's records. Washington county assessors maintain online parcel lookup tools. You are responsible for finding the correct address — serving the wrong party is not a defense.
What Information Must Be Included in the Washington Notice?
Under RCW 60.04.031(3), the Notice of Right to Claim Lien must include specific information. A notice missing required elements can be invalidated, which is functionally the same as not sending one at all.
Required elements:
- Your name, address, and telephone number
- The name of the person who hired you (your direct contracting party)
- The property owner's name and address
- A description of the labor, materials, or equipment you are furnishing
- The legal description or street address of the property
- The estimated value of the total contract
Washington statute also requires the notice to contain a specific statutory warning to the property owner. The warning language notifies the owner that a lien can be placed on their property if payment is not made. RCW 60.04.031(3) spells out this exact warning text — your notice must mirror it precisely, or you risk the notice being challenged.
This is why using an attorney-reviewed template matters. Getting the exact statutory language right isn't optional.
Washington lien notice resources
Does Washington Require a Separate Notice of Intent to Lien Before Filing?
Washington does not require a separate "notice of intent to lien" as a distinct pre-lien step after the Notice of Right to Claim Lien has been served. Some states have a two-step process — a preliminary notice early in the project, then a separate intent notice before filing the actual lien. Washington is a one-step preliminary notice state.
That said, sending a formal demand letter or intent-to-lien letter before you actually file the mechanics lien is a standard professional practice. It's not legally required, but it often resolves disputes without forcing you to file. A written demand referencing your Notice of Right to Claim Lien on file makes it clear to the owner and GC that you have already satisfied your statutory notice requirement and you are prepared to file.
The statutory mechanics lien itself must be filed within 90 days of the last date you furnished labor or materials, under RCW 60.04.091. Miss that window and you cannot lien the property regardless of what notices you sent earlier.
What Happens If You Miss the 60-Day Window?
If you miss the 60-day deadline, your lien rights are not completely gone — but they are significantly reduced. Under RCW 60.04.031, a late notice only protects labor and materials furnished in the 60 days preceding service. Everything before that window is unprotected.
What this means in practice:
You start work on January 1 but don't send the notice until April 1 (90 days into the job). The notice only protects work from February 1 forward (60 days before April 1). Work performed in January — roughly a third of your time on site — cannot be included in a mechanics lien.
If you never send the notice at all, you cannot file a mechanics lien on private works in Washington. Period. You may still have a breach of contract claim or other legal remedies, but the mechanics lien — the most powerful collection tool available to a subcontractor — is off the table.
According to Rabbet's 2024 Construction Payments Report, 82% of contractors face payment waits of over 30 days, up from 49% just two years earlier. Lien rights are the primary legal lever subcontractors have to force payment. Losing them because of a missed notice deadline is an entirely avoidable problem.
Does the Notice Apply to Public Works Projects in Washington?
No. The Notice of Right to Claim Lien under RCW 60.04 applies only to private works projects. Public works projects — jobs for state or local government — are governed by a separate statute, RCW 39.08, which covers the Public Works bond claim process. On public jobs, you file a claim against the payment bond posted by the general contractor, not a lien against the property (which is government-owned and not lienable).
The notice requirements and deadlines for public works bond claims are different. If your project is a school, highway, government building, or any public facility, confirm which statute applies before assuming the private works rules govern.
How Does Filing a Washington Notice of Right to Claim Lien Protect You Financially?
Sending the notice creates a documented paper trail that you have lien rights — and that the owner knows it. Property owners who receive this notice understand they could end up with a lien clouding their title. That changes behavior. GCs and owners who might otherwise delay or dispute payment often settle faster once they know a properly noticed sub is in the picture.
According to Rabbet's 2024 Construction Payments Report, slow payments cost the U.S. construction industry an estimated $280 billion in 2024, adding roughly 14% to total construction spending. Subcontractors absorb a disproportionate share of that cost. Preliminary notices — including Washington's Notice of Right to Claim Lien — are the front-line defense.
A single notice filed through LienFlash costs $24.99. If it preserves lien rights on a $30,000 subcontract that would otherwise go unpaid, the math isn't complicated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Washington subcontractor need to send a notice on every project?
Yes, if you do not have a direct contract with the property owner, you should send a Notice of Right to Claim Lien on every private works project. Skipping it on jobs where payment seems certain is the most common mistake — disputes and nonpayment often arise with no warning. The notice costs almost nothing to send and preserves your legal options if the job goes sideways.
What is the difference between a Notice of Right to Claim Lien and a mechanics lien in Washington?
The Notice of Right to Claim Lien is a preliminary notice sent early in the project — within 60 days of first furnishing — that preserves your right to file a mechanics lien later. The mechanics lien itself is filed with the county recorder within 90 days of your last day of work under RCW 60.04.091. You cannot file the lien without having sent the preliminary notice first.
Can I send the Washington notice after I've already started work?
Yes, and you should if you haven't sent it yet. Late service is better than no service. A notice served after the 60-day window still protects labor and materials furnished in the 60 days before service. Calculate backward from your service date — that 60-day window is what your lien rights cover.
Does the notice need to be notarized in Washington?
No. Washington's Notice of Right to Claim Lien does not need to be notarized. However, it must follow the exact content requirements under RCW 60.04.031(3), including the statutory warning language. Use an attorney-reviewed template to make sure the language is correct.
Who do I send the Washington notice to if I don't know the owner's address?
Look it up. Washington county assessors maintain online parcel search tools where you can find the owner of record and their mailing address using the property address or parcel number. You are responsible for identifying and serving the correct party — "I couldn't find the address" is not a valid defense if your notice fails to reach the owner.
What if the general contractor's address is missing from my subcontract?
Your subcontract should include the GC's address, but if it doesn't, request it directly or find it through the building permit records filed with the local jurisdiction. Building permits are public records and typically list the GC's license number, business name, and address.
Does a Washington notice of right to claim lien expire?
The notice itself does not expire, but the mechanics lien rights it preserves do. Under RCW 60.04.091, you must file the actual mechanics lien within 90 days of last furnishing labor or materials. After that deadline, the preliminary notice is moot — you cannot file a lien regardless of whether the notice was properly served.
Is Washington a "notice state" for mechanics liens?
Yes. Washington requires subcontractors and suppliers without a direct owner contract to serve a preliminary notice to preserve lien rights — making it a mandatory notice state for those parties. General contractors with a direct owner contract are exempt from this requirement but must still file mechanics liens within the statutory deadline if needed.
Protect Your Lien Rights Today
You now have a 60-day clock running from the first day you stepped onto that job site. If you haven't sent your Notice of Right to Claim Lien yet, do it now — late notice still protects recent work. LienFlash generates an attorney-reviewed, Washington-compliant notice and sends it via USPS Certified Mail in about two minutes. Use the lien deadline calculator to confirm your window, then file before another day passes.