4 deadlines NoticeGuard models for Pennsylvania: what each one counts from, the statute it was read from, and the statute text.
Information, not legal advice. This app reports what the statute says and cites the section it read. It is not legal advice, it does not file anything for you, and it does not tell you what to do.
Verify with the statute or an attorney. Statutes change, and courts reinterpret them. Every deadline in this app comes from a statute read on the date shown next to its citation - that snapshot can go out of date. Missing a mechanics lien deadline can extinguish your claim permanently, so confirm any deadline you are relying on with an attorney licensed in that state before you act on it.
Data verified: statute text retrieved 2026-09-21 (each citation below carries its own date). Rule data from the NoticeGuard app, source commit 22f9300.
Filed with the prothonotary, counted from "completion of the work" under this claimant's own contract - this claimant's own last labor or materials furnished, not overall project completion.
What it counts from. 180 days after last furnishing (last day on site).
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
49 P.S. § 1502 (a)(1) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“To perfect a lien, every claimant must: (1) file a claim with the prothonotary as provided by this act within six (6) months after the completion of his work...”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The claim must be filed within this period "to perfect a lien" - a claim not timely filed does not perfect the lien.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 180 calendar days (6 months), the same approximation style used throughout this app.
"Completion of the work" is itself a defined term (§ 201(8)): "performance of the last of the labor or delivery of the last of the materials required by the terms of the claimant's contract or agreement, whichever last occurs" - confirmed to be each claimant's own last furnishing, not project-wide completion.
Applies identically to a general contractor and a subcontractor - no different day count by tier for this deadline. The tier difference is entirely in the (unmodeled) § 501 pre-filing notice precondition, which only a subcontractor owes.
Serve notice of the filed claim on the owner
Served on the owner, counted from the date the lien claim was filed.
What it counts from. 28 days after notice of construction lien recorded.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
49 P.S. § 1502 (a)(2) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“serve written notice of such filing upon the owner within one (1) month after filing, giving the court, term and number and date of filing of the claim.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The statute states plainly: "Failure to serve such notice or to file the affidavit or acceptance of service within the times specified shall be sufficient ground for striking off the claim."
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 28 calendar days, not the 30 this app's usual 30-days-per-month style would give. One calendar month is 28 to 31 days - it is only 28 when the count starts on 29, 30 or 31 January - so a flat 30 days would have shown a date up to TWO DAYS LATE for those starts, which here is the difference between a good lien claim and one that can be struck off. 28 is the shortest one-month span there is, so this date is on or before the statutory one for every start date, at the cost of being up to 3 days early.
A further deadline - filing the affidavit or acceptance of service, due 20 days after service is actually completed - is not modeled here; its anchor is the service date itself, a fact this app does not collect. See `limitations`.
Commence an action to obtain judgment on the claim
Counted from the date the lien claim was filed. Extendable, but only by a written agreement from the owner.
What it counts from. 730 days after notice of construction lien recorded.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
49 P.S. § 1701 (b) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“An action to obtain judgment upon a claim filed shall be commenced within two (2) years from the date of filing unless the time be extended in writing by the owner.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). An action not commenced within this period (absent a written extension from the owner) is barred.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 730 calendar days (2 years), the same approximation style used throughout this app.
Extendable only "in writing by the owner" - a real, specific mechanism this app does not model; this rule shows the base 2-year deadline.
Outer limit to obtain a verdict or judgment
Counted from the date the lien claim was filed - the true outer bound within which a verdict must be recovered or judgment entered, layered on top of the 2-year deadline to commence the action.
What it counts from. 1825 days after notice of construction lien recorded.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
49 P.S. § 1701 (d) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“A verdict must be recovered or judgment entered within five (5) years from the date of filing of the claim. Final judgment must be entered on a verdict within five (5) years.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The statute states the verdict/judgment "must" be obtained within this period from filing - this app does not model whether this outer limit itself can be extended (not addressed in the sections read).
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 1,825 calendar days (5 years), the same approximation style used throughout this app.
A genuinely separate deadline from `pa-commence-enforcement-action`, not a duplicate: commencing the action within 2 years is a distinct requirement from actually obtaining a verdict or judgment within 5 years of the same filing date.
Weekend and holiday rollover
NoticeGuard does not model a weekend or holiday extension for Pennsylvania. The dates above are the plain count from the date you enter. Check whether a Saturday, Sunday or holiday changes your date.
What this rule set does not cover
The "formal notice of intent to file" (§ 501(b.1)) - owed only by a subcontractor, not a general contractor - is NOT modeled. It is a backward-counted precondition (notice must precede the actual filing by at least 30 days), not a forward deadline from any job fact this app collects - the same category of gap as Colorado's and Georgia's own skipped, backward/self-referential deadlines.
The affidavit or acceptance of service of the notice of filing (§ 502(a)(2), due within 20 days after service) is NOT modeled - its anchor is the date service was actually completed, an action this app has no job-fact field for (the same category of gap as Pennsylvania's own § 501 notice, and as Georgia's notice of lien action).
On a "searchable project" (an improvement costing at least $1,500,000) where the owner has posted a Notice of Commencement, a subcontractor additionally owes a 45-day "Notice of Furnishing" filed with the state's online State Construction Notices Directory (§ 501.3(b)(1)) - forfeiting lien rights entirely if missed (§ 501.3(c)). Not modeled; this app has no fact field for project size or whether a Notice of Commencement was posted.
The residential carve-out (§ 301(b)) is a substantive BAR on a subcontractor's lien right - not a notice exemption - when the owner has paid the general contractor in full on a 1-2 unit (or townhouse) owner-occupied property. Not modeled; this app does not track payment status.
Pennsylvania folds material suppliers into "contractor" or "subcontractor" by privity tier (§ 201(4)-(5)), and EXCLUDES a supplier two or more tiers removed from the general contractor from lien rights entirely (a person contracting with a subcontractor "not in direct privity of a contract with a contractor" is outside the statutory definition of "subcontractor"). This app's `supplier` role is not tier-aware and does not detect this exclusion.
Weekend/holiday rollover is NOT modeled - deliberately, not by oversight. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1908 is a general statute of construction applying "when any period of time is referred to in any statute," but no case confirming its application to the Mechanics' Lien Law of 1963 specifically was found. The same honest gap as most other states in this app.
The 2-year enforcement deadline is extendable, but only by a written agreement from the owner (§ 701(b)) - not modeled; this app shows the base 2-year deadline. The 5-year outer limit to obtain a verdict or judgment (§ 701(d)) is modeled as its own separate rule below, not folded into the enforcement-action deadline.
Only §§ 201, 301, 501, 501.3, 502, 503, and 701 have been read. The rest of the Act - including §§ 306 (multi-contract consolidation) and 501.1/501.2/501.4-501.6 (the rest of the searchable-project notice mechanics) - is not incorporated.
This app generates the mechanics' lien claim from Section 503's required content elements (no prescribed exact form). Confirmed directly: Section 503 has NO verification/oath requirement anywhere in its 8 clauses - this app does not add one. A separate prescribed form exists elsewhere in the same Act (the "Notice of Furnishing," Section 501.3(b)(3)) but only for subcontractors on ≥$1.5M "searchable projects" - a different document, not generated by this app.
NoticeGuard is an app that turns a job's dates into a countdown for each statutory step, shows the statute text each date was read from, exports a calendar file (.ics) and sends reminders 14, 7 and 1 day before each deadline. It tracks and reminds; it does not file anything for you.