WHO WE REFER TO · LIEN RIGHTS, PRELIMINARY NOTICES AND BOND CLAIMS
NATIONAL LIEN SERVICES, AND WHERE IT FITS.
QUICK ANSWER
Drafts and files the notices and liens that keep your right to get paid alive. SPM refers contractors to National Lien Services. This is a recommendation rather than an offer. Lien rights die on deadlines nobody is watching. A preliminary notice missed in the first weeks of a job can cost the entire lien right on a receivable that's otherwise collectible, and the deadline is different in every state.
The useful half of any referral is knowing when it's the wrong answer, so that list is on this page at the same weight as the right one. Read both before you call anybody.
Preliminary notices, also called preliens, drafted and filed
Mechanic's liens, bond claims and stop notices
Waiver management
Research on the project and the parties before anything is filed, with research analysts and escalation consultants on complex situations
SERVES: GENERAL CONTRACTORS, SUBCONTRACTORS AND SPECIALTY TRADES, AND MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS. ALL 50 STATES, WITH PER STATE GUIDANCE PUBLISHED.
WHEN IT FITS
THE CASE FOR IT.
You work in more than one state and can't keep every notice deadline in your head
You've lost a receivable, or nearly lost one, because a notice went out late or not at all
You're on public work with bond claims in play as well as liens
WHEN IT DOES NOT
THE CASE AGAINST IT.
Nobody publishes this part, which is the reason it's worth reading. A vendor that fixes the wrong problem costs you the fee and the time, and leaves the real problem where it was.
You have one state, few jobs and a system that already gets notices out on time
You need legal advice rather than document drafting. They say plainly that they aren't attorneys, and on a contested claim you want a construction attorney
WHAT WE CAN VERIFY
FACTS, WITH SOURCES.
Read from National Lien Services's own material and from independent sources on 10 August 2026. Anything that couldn't be established is absent from this page rather than softened into a claim.
Says on its own FAQ, in these words, that it's not a law firm: they draft documents and don't give legal advice
Amy Houk is president, confirmed independently through an Arizona lien law event she led in April 2024
Amy Houk served on the June 2026 public works roundtable alongside Josh Luebker
Because the problem National Lien Services solves is a real one and SPM doesn't solve it. Josh refers contractors to National Lien Services when it fits, and tells them when it doesn't. Treat this page as a recommendation rather than an offer.
Drafts and files the notices and liens that keep your right to get paid alive. Lien rights die on deadlines nobody is watching. A preliminary notice missed in the first weeks of a job can cost the entire lien right on a receivable that's otherwise collectible, and the deadline is different in every state.
National Lien Services doesn't publish pricing, so this page doesn't quote any. Ask them directly, and ask what the all-in cost is rather than the headline number. Anybody quoting you a specific National Lien Services rate they read on a website is quoting something that was never published.
You have one state, few jobs and a system that already gets notices out on time You need legal advice rather than document drafting. They say plainly that they aren't attorneys, and on a contested claim you want a construction attorney
It's who Josh sends people to, and it's not an exclusive arrangement in either direction. Look at the alternatives, and use the fits and does-not-fit lists on this page as the questions to ask whoever you talk to. A referral is a starting point rather than a decision.
Josh Luebker is a master electrician turned construction CFO, president of SPM The Construction CFO and author of CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System.
Twenty minutes on your numbers. Sometimes the answer is a vendor and sometimes it's that the money is already in the business and nobody can see it. Josh will tell you which.
You don't hire a CFO because it's safe, you do it because the real risk isn't having one.
