Florida Construction Lien Law: What a Notice of Commencement Protects You From

If you're planning a kitchen remodel, home addition, or ADU build in Jacksonville this year, there's a document that matters more than almost anything in your contract: the Notice of Commencement. Skip it, let it expire, or fail to collect the right paperwork from your contractor's subcontractors, and Florida law allows you to be billed twice for the same work once to your general contractor, and again to an unpaid sub or supplier who files a lien directly against your home.

This isn't a rare edge case. Florida's Construction Lien Law (Chapter 713, Florida Statutes) is one of the more consumer-unfriendly lien statutes in the country, and it was written before most of today's homeowners were born. With interest rates keeping many Jacksonville families in their current homes and pushing them toward additions and remodels instead of a move, more homeowners are signing construction contracts for the first time in years — and walking in without knowing this law exists.

Why This Matters for Jacksonville's Renovation Boom

Homeowners across Duval, Nassau, St. Johns, and Flagler counties are increasingly choosing to renovate instead of move while rates make trading up expensive. That means more kitchen remodels, home additions, and ADU builds are getting underway than in a typical year and more homeowners are, for the first time, signing a construction contract and recording a Notice of Commencement.

None of this is a reason to avoid a project. It's a reason to understand the two documents that actually protect your wallet: the Notice of Commencement and the lien waiver. Both are boring paperwork. Both are the difference between a smooth project and a lien on your title six months after the crew leaves.

What Florida's Construction Lien Law Actually Allows

Florida Statute Chapter 713, Part I governs "mechanic's liens" the right of contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers to place a lien on your property if they aren't paid for labor or materials that went into it. The statute's own required warning language, reproduced in Florida Statute §713.06, states it plainly: "Florida's Construction Lien Law allows some unpaid contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers to file liens against your property even if you have made payment in full."

Read that again: even if you have made payment in full. If your general contractor pockets your payment and doesn't pay the electrician or the lumber yard, Florida law lets that unpaid party come after your house not your contractor's business, your house for the amount they're owed. This is true regardless of whether you did anything wrong. The law puts the burden of tracking payment on the homeowner, not just the contractor.

The Notice of Commencement: Your First Line of Defense

Before work begins on any home addition, kitchen remodel, or other improvement valued over $2,500, Florida Statute §713.13 requires the property owner (or their agent) to record a Notice of Commencement with the county clerk's office. A certified copy must also be posted at the job site before the first building inspection takes place.

A few mechanics of the Notice of Commencement matter more than homeowners realize:

• It has an expiration date. By default, a Notice of Commencement expires one year after it's recorded, unless a longer period is specified up front for a multi-year project.
• Construction has to start within 90 days of recording , or the notice becomes void and has to be re-recorded.
• It has to match your actual project. The notice must correctly list the property's legal description, the owner, the contractor, and the lender (if financed) errors here can undermine the protection it's supposed to provide.

Courts have been strict about this. In Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners v. Cove Club Investors Ltd. , Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal held that because construction liens are purely a creation of statute, the procedures in Chapter 713 must be followed precisely — there's little room for "close enough."

How Paying After the Notice Expires Can Cost You Twice

Here's the part that catches homeowners off guard mid-project. Florida Statute §713.13 states directly: any payments an owner makes after a Notice of Commencement has expired are considered "improper payments" under the statute and can result in the homeowner paying twice for the same improvement. If your renovation runs long (which happens) and nobody renewed the notice, every payment you make after that expiration date loses a layer of legal protection.

This is one more reason project timeline matters as much as project cost. A contractor who tracks permits, inspections, and the Notice of Commencement's expiration date as part of running the job is protecting your legal position, not just your punch list.

Lien Waivers: The Document That Actually Protects Your Wallet

The Notice of Commencement puts the project on the record. Lien waivers are what actually clear you of liability as money changes hands. Under Florida's required statutory warning, homeowners are told directly: "To avoid a lien and paying twice, you must obtain a written release from us every time you pay your contractor."

In practice, that means:

• Before each payment to your general contractor, request a Release of Lien (also called a lien waiver) covering the work and materials that payment is for.
• Before your final payment , get a sworn statement (a contractor's affidavit) listing every subcontractor and supplier who worked on the project and confirming they've been paid and get lien releases from each of them, not just the general contractor. Pinellas County's consumer guide to Florida's lien law walks through this same process step by step and is a useful independent reference.
• Know that a blanket waiver signed at the start of a project, before any work is done, generally isn't enforceable under Florida law. Waivers have to correspond to actual payments already made a contractor asking you to sign away all lien rights up front is not offering real protection.

This paperwork can feel adversarial to bring up with a contractor you trust. It shouldn't. A licensed contractor who runs a compliant jobsite collects these releases from subs as a normal part of the payment process it protects the contractor's own standing with the homeowner as much as it protects you. If a contractor pushes back on providing lien releases, treats the request as an insult, or can't tell you who's actually working under them on your property, that's worth pausing over before the next payment goes out, not after.

It's also worth asking early who is actually on the job. A general contractor who subcontracts out most of the work to parties they've only worked with once or twice has more names to track through this process than one running a stable, in-house licensed team. That's not a reason to avoid subcontractors entirely — nearly every project uses them it's a reason to ask how your contractor manages the paperwork that keeps their non-payment from becoming your problem.

What This Looks Like on an Actual Jacksonville Project

At Sunshine State Professional Services, this is part of why John Belizario built the company around an in-house team rather than a loose network of subcontractors. "Together we have engineers, estimators, project coordinators, project managers it's basically everybody like a family working together to give you a really nice product," John has said of the team structure. Fewer outside subs and a coordinated in-house process means fewer parties who need to be tracked, paid, and released before a homeowner can safely make a final payment.

That matters whether the project is a backyard ADU, a full renovation, or a straightforward remodel. John's stated standard "my goal is not just to do a good job but make sure my customer understands and is happy with the final result" extends to the paperwork most contractors would rather skip past. Understanding what you're signing, and what protects you if a payment goes sideways, is part of that.

None of this replaces asking your contractor directly how they handle Notices of Commencement, payment schedules, and lien releases before you sign anything. If you're evaluating contractors for an upcoming project, our guide to hiring a licensed contractor in Jacksonville covers the questions worth asking before you commit. And if you're weighing permits for a larger build, see our breakdown of navigating Jacksonville's building permits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions about how this applies to your upcoming project? Contact Sunshine State Professional Services for a consultation before you sign anything.