The Expert Podcast

So can a contractor put a lien on your house without having a written contract? Well, the short answer is no. However, there's a loophole. If you hire a general contractor to do work on your house and they hire subs — they hire an electrician, they hire a plumber, they hire framers — those parties are also protected for their work. So let's say if you have a contract with the general contractor, certainly if you don't pay them, they can put a lien on your house. Also, be aware we're not attorneys, we're not giving you legal advice. You might want to verify some of this with an attorney. Just giving you general info.

But if you don't pay your general contractor that you have a written contract with, they can lien your house. Now, in almost every state, it's required for a general contractor to do all their bids and contracts in writing. They can't do a verbal handshake. You have to do it in writing. So if you're hiring a general contractor or any work over a certain threshold — usually it's about a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars — unless they do the work in writing, give you notifications, and jump through a bunch of hoops, they can't put a lien on your house if you don't pay.

Now, if you have a bid and contract with a GC (a general contractor) and you pay them in full, if they don't pay their subcontractors — they don't pay the electrician, they don't pay the plumber, even if they don't pay the material supplier that dropped off lumber at your house — those parties can file a lien even if you paid the full bill to the general contractor. They have to pay their subs, so make sure you get lien waivers and lien releases from all the subcontractors before you pay your bill, before you pay your final bill to the GC. And that goes for people that supply materials, people that supply equipment — somebody drops off a payloader for rent for three days, if they don't pay the bill for that, they can lien your house. So make sure you get lien waivers from all the subs so you don't end up paying twice. You pay the general contractor and all of a sudden here comes a plumber saying, "Hey, you owe me $4,800 for this plumbing work," right?

So in general, you have to have a written contract to file a lien, but that written contract with the general contractor covers other parties you may not have anything specifically in writing for. So you hire Joe Schmo General Contractor, they hire Sam the Plumber, you don't have a written contract with Sam the Plumber, but they could lien your house if you don't pay the big bill on the overall contract.

Put your questions below, your comments. Let us know what you think, what other questions you have about general contracting and how it works for you as a client, and we'd be glad to see you on the next video.