- 01
Pre-lien notice
A dated written notice you send to the property owner before any lien filing. Establishes the legal record that you provided labor or materials and intend to be paid. Required in Texas for protection. Strongly recommended in Colorado.
- 02
Mechanic's lien filing
The actual lien document filed with the county recorder. Encumbers the property title until the debt is paid, releases, or expires. Texas and Colorado statutory templates with the correct affidavit language and deadlines.
- 03
Demand letter
A formal written demand for payment, dated, with the amount owed, the work performed, and the lien filing referenced. Often resolves the dispute before court. Drafted to be sent before legal action without prejudicing later filings.
- 04
Lien release
The document you file to release the lien once the debt is paid. Required to clear the property title. Includes partial-release variant for progress payments on multi-phase projects.
Get paid. On the timeline the law gives you.
A mechanics lien is the strongest leverage a contractor has when an owner stops paying. The catch is the deadlines. Miss them by a day and the lien is waived. This kit walks you through pre-lien notice, lien recording, demand letter, and release. Plain English, statutory templates, deadline calendar.
- 01
Fill the blanks
Each document has yellow-highlighted fields. Property address, owner name, your business name, dates, dollar amounts, lot/block from the deed. Plain English instructions per field. About 15 minutes per document the first time.
- 02
Check the deadline calendar
Texas pre-lien is due by the 15th of the third month after work was performed. Colorado is the 15th of the second month. The included calendar tells you which document to send when, given the date you started work. Miss the deadline and the lien is waived.
- 03
Send and record
Pre-lien and demand go via certified mail with return receipt - keep the green card. Lien filings go to the county recorder where the property sits, with the recording fee in hand. The kit lists every Texas and Colorado county recorder office with address, phone, and current fee.
- 04
Follow the clock
Once the lien records, the owner has incentive to settle. Most disputes resolve here. If they do not, you have a fixed window to file suit before the lien expires - one year in Texas, six months in Colorado. The kit tells you exactly when that window opens and closes.
Day 0 to 75 depending on state. Certified mail to owner. The clock starts when work was performed, not when invoice was sent.
In most cases the GC calls the owner before things escalate. Document every conversation. The kit includes a call log template.
You file the mechanic's lien at the county recorder. The property title is encumbered. Title companies see it. Refinancing is blocked. Most disputes settle within 30 days of recording.
Payment received. You file the lien release within 10 days (Texas statutory) or 7 days (Colorado statutory). The title clears. Document everything for your records.
- 01Pre-lien notice - Texas.docx + .pdf - 142 kbREV APR 2026
- 02Pre-lien notice - Colorado.docx + .pdf - 138 kbREV APR 2026
- 03Mechanic's lien - Texas.docx + .pdf - 186 kbREV APR 2026
- 04Mechanic's lien - Colorado.docx + .pdf - 174 kbREV APR 2026
- 05Demand letter.docx + .pdf - 96 kbREV APR 2026
- 06Lien release - Texas.docx + .pdf - 88 kbREV APR 2026
- 07Lien release - Colorado.docx + .pdf - 84 kbREV APR 2026
- 08Deadline calendar - both states.pdf - 122 kbREV APR 2026
This kit is not legal advice and EarthMove is not your attorney. The documents are statutory templates reviewed by licensed counsel in the states for which they are provided. They are intended to give a contractor working without in-house counsel a starting point that follows the form and timing the statute requires. They are not a substitute for legal representation in any specific dispute.
Mechanics lien rights, deadlines, and procedures vary by state and by the type of property and project. The templates here are scoped to Texas (Texas Property Code Chapter 53) and Colorado (Colorado Revised Statutes Title 38, Article 22). They are not adapted for other states. They are not adapted for federal projects, which use the Miller Act, or for state and municipal public works, which use Little Miller Acts and varying bond claim procedures. Do not file these documents in jurisdictions for which they were not drafted.
The deadlines are unforgiving. A pre-lien notice sent one day late is waived. A lien recorded one day late is invalid. A demand letter that misstates the amount owed by a material margin can be used against you. Read the deadline calendar before you begin. If your facts do not match the calendar (the work was performed across multiple months, the contract was modified mid-project, the property changed ownership during the work, the project was federally funded), consult counsel before filing.
By downloading this kit you acknowledge that no attorney-client relationship is created with EarthMove or with the counsel who reviewed the templates. The templates are provided as-is. Use at your own risk and discretion. If a particular dispute carries material consequences (the amount in question is significant relative to your business, the owner has retained counsel, the property is held in a trust or by a non-natural person, the project involves a public entity) retain your own attorney before sending any document from this kit.
Texas templates reviewed by <COUNSEL - TX>. Colorado templates reviewed by <COUNSEL - CO>. Kit version v3.2 - Apr 2026. Counsel review is conducted on a kit-version basis. Statutory updates that occur between versions are reflected in the next release. To verify the version of the template you have, see the footer of each document.