What is an NOC?

Legal notice to the county's register of deeds that remodeling/improvements will be undertaken at an address.

All mechanics' liens relate back to the date the notice of commencement was recorded, thus enabling the construction mortgage to remain a first lien, not subordinated to any labor or supplier claim for nonpayment of bills.

What is a Notice to Owner?

Florida law requires that anyone who supplies labor, services or material to a contractor on any construction job must send the owner of the construction project a 'Notice to Owner' form to protect their rights to getting paid on the construction project. The Notice to Owner is not a lien on property. It DOES NOT mean that a contractor has failed to pay the company who has given the notice. It merely informs the recipient that the company identified in the Notice to Owner is on a specific job and provides a general description of the type of materials they are supplying or the type of work that they will be performing.

Before paying a contractor, the property owner must make sure that the person who has given the Notice to Owner has been paid by the contractor. This is done by getting a lien waiver from the person identified in the Notice to Owner (Lienor's name and address). If a construction lender is paying the contractor directly, the lender is responsible for getting the necessary lien waivers. The property owner should check with the lender to verify that they will be managing these documents in connection with each payment to the contractor. However, it is ultimately the property owners responsibility to make sure that the correct lien waivers are received from all parties on the project and that all who have supplied labor, services or material on the job have been paid. If there is no lender involved, the Contractor should provide a “Partial Release of Lien” from the supplier. Once the supper is 100% complete, then you should receive a “Final Release of Lien” from the supplier. All releases, whether Final or Partial, should be notarized.

 How do you handle allowances?

The description of all specific items to be included in the Addition for which Owner has a choice and the allowances for such specific items are included in the Construction Documents. If Owner exceeds the dollar amounts for allowance set for each item, Owner agrees to execute a written Change Order or an addendum to this Agreement whereby Owner agrees to pay such excess in cash upon Contractor’s direction at any time and from time to time during construction. If Owner does not spend the allowance limit, Contractor will adjust the reduction at payment  # 6.  Contractor will provide Owner a general estimate of selections made under Allowances. These are estimates and actual charges will be billed to Owner through an Allowance schedule with copies of invoices provided.  For all cost items based on an Allowance, Contractor shall charge Owner the actual cost as charged by the supplier, plus 15% markup for Contractor on all overages to the Allowance amount.  All monies not spent for an Allowance Item will be a net credit of the difference of monies spent verses the actual allowance figure for that item.