Maine Construction Document Management

Louisiana Notice of Contract (La. R.S. 9:4811)

Louisiana operates under the Private Works Act, codified at La. R.S. 9:4801 et seq. Under La. R.S. 9:4811, for projects exceeding $100,000, a general contractor must record a Notice of Contract in the mortgage records of the parish where the work is to be performed before work begins . The notice must be signed by both the owner and the contractor, and it must contain:

• A complete property description of the immovable upon which the work is to be performed and the name of the project, if any
• Identification of the parties and their mailing addresses
• The price of the work, or if no price is fixed, a description of the method by which the price is to be calculated and an estimate
• When payment of the price is to be made
• A general description of the work to be done

What Happens If You Don't File the Notice of Contract

Under La. R.S. 9:4811(D), a general contractor shall not enjoy any privilege arising under the Private Works Act if the price of the work stipulated or reasonably estimated exceeds $100,000 unless the notice of contract is timely filed. A general contractor who is deprived of their privilege by this subsection is also not entitled to file a statement of claim or privilege for any amounts due . This is a strict forfeiture — there is no mechanism to cure a missed filing.

Because these privileges depend on strict adherence to recording timelines, establishing an accurate start date is critical. MyCrewTracker allows Louisiana supervisors to use Daily Reports to log their first day on site, providing the back office with the exact dates needed to calculate notice deadlines and store the delivery receipts.

Louisiana Notice of Nonpayment for Material Suppliers (La. R.S. 9:4846)

Louisiana imposes a specific, recurring notice requirement on material suppliers that is unlike any other state. Under La. R.S. 9:4846, an unpaid seller of movables sold to a subcontractor must deliver to the owner and the general contractor a Notice of Nonpayment no later than 75 days after the last day of the calendar month in which the movable was delivered to the subcontractor .

How the 75-Day Notice Works in Practice

The 75-day clock is monthly, not based on the entire project. For example, if a supplier delivers materials on January 10, the 75-day window runs from January 31 — the last day of that month. The supplier must send the Notice of Nonpayment by April 15 . If materials are delivered in multiple months, a separate notice is required for each month.

The notice must be sent to both the owner and the general contractor by certified mail, and the return receipt must show the notice was deposited in the U.S. mail on or before the 75th day from the last day of the month in which the material was delivered .

What Happens If You Miss the Notice of Nonpayment

If a material supplier fails to send the monthly Notice of Nonpayment within the 75-day window, the supplier loses its privilege rights for that month's deliveries. Unlike some states where a late notice merely shortens the lien period, Louisiana treats the Notice of Nonpayment as a strict prerequisite to preserving the supplier's privilege against the owner .

Louisiana Lien Deadlines at a Glance

Missing a single deadline in Louisiana can void your privilege rights entirely. The table below summarizes the statutory deadlines every Louisiana contractor, subcontractor, and material supplier must track.

How to File a Privilege in Louisiana: Step by Step

The process below reflects the standard path for a Louisiana contractor, subcontractor, or material supplier seeking to preserve and enforce privilege rights under the Private Works Act.

1. Log your first day of work. Louisiana's Notice of Contract must be filed before the general contractor begins work. MyCrewTracker's Daily Reports timestamp this automatically.

2. File the Notice of Contract (general contractors). For projects over $100,000, file a written notice of contract in the mortgage records of the parish where the work will be performed. The notice must be signed by the owner and contractor and contain the property description, the price, and a description of the work.

3. Serve the Monthly Notice of Nonpayment (material suppliers). For each month in which materials are delivered and unpaid, send a Notice of Nonpayment to the owner and general contractor within 75 days of the last day of that month.

4. Monitor the Notice of Termination. The owner may file a Notice of Termination in the mortgage records. This filing shortens the time for filing a Statement of Claim or Privilege to 30 days for subcontractors (if a Notice of Contract was filed) or 60 days (if no Notice of Contract was filed) .

5. Track the substantial completion date. If no Notice of Termination is filed, the Statement of Claim or Privilege must be filed within 6 months after substantial completion or abandonment of the work.

6. Prepare the Statement of Claim or Privilege. The statement must be a sworn affidavit containing a reasonable identification of the immovable, the amount and nature of the obligation, and the elements comprising the claim .

7. File the Statement of Claim or Privilege with the parish mortgage office. Louisiana privileges are filed at the parish level, not the state.

8. File suit within 1 year. Under La. R.S. 9:4823, you must commence an action to enforce the privilege within 1 year after filing the Statement of Claim or Privilege .

9. Preserve all project documentation. Daily reports, delivery tickets, change orders, and photos become evidence in the enforcement action.

Documents to Preserve for a Louisiana Privilege Claim

Louisiana courts require proof that you furnished labor or materials and that they were incorporated into the immovable. The following records are what you need:

• Signed contract or purchase order with the prime contractor
• Certified mail receipts for the Notice of Contract and Monthly Notices of Nonpayment
• Delivery tickets signed by an authorized site representative
• Daily reports showing crew on site and work performed
• Photo evidence of installed work (timestamped and geotagged)
• Jobsite sign-in logs and crew attendance records
• Invoices, statements, and payment applications
• Email or text correspondence about scope and payment
• Change orders and extra work authorizations
• Written demand letters and any response

MyCrewTracker stores all of these in one project record. When a privilege deadline approaches, the back office can generate the timeline needed to prepare the Statement of Claim or Privilege without reconstructing months of field activity.

Louisiana-Specific Gotchas

The terminology is different. Louisiana is a civil law state. You file a "privilege," not a "lien." You file in a "parish," not a "county." You have a "peremptive period," not a "statute of repose." Using the wrong terminology in legal documents can cause confusion, so always use Louisiana-specific terms.

The Notice of Contract is a strict prerequisite for general contractors. Under La. R.S. 9:4811(D), if the price of the work exceeds $100,000 and you fail to file the Notice of Contract before work begins, you lose your privilege entirely and cannot file a Statement of Claim . This is a forfeiture, not a delay.

Material suppliers must send monthly notices. Louisiana is one of the few states that requires recurring monthly notices from material suppliers. The 75-day clock runs from the last day of each month of delivery, not from the end of the project. Miss one month's notice, and you lose privilege rights for that month's deliveries.

The "work begins" definition is critical. Under La. R.S. 9:4820, "work" is defined as the actual commencement of the physical work on the immovable. The Notice of Contract must be filed before this date. Filing after work has begun renders the notice ineffective .

The 1-year enforcement deadline is absolute. La. R.S. 9:4823 gives you exactly 1 year after filing the Statement of Claim or Privilege to file suit. This period is peremptive, meaning it cannot be interrupted or extended . Set two calendar reminders: one at 9 months, one at 11 months.

Construction defect peremptive period is only 5 years. Louisiana's peremptive period for construction defects is 5 years from the registry of acceptance of the work under La. R.S. 9:2772 . If no acceptance is recorded within 6 months of the owner occupying the improvement, the 5-year period starts from the date of occupancy. This is one of the shortest construction defect periods in the country. Retain project records for at least 5 years.

Prompt Pay Act was significantly amended in 2026. Effective August 1, 2026, Act 822 reduced the prompt payment deadline from 14 days to 7 days for contractors paying subcontractors, imposed a new 35-day deadline for owners paying general contractors, removed the 15% penalty cap (now 1.5% per month), eliminated the residential exception, and made the statute non-waivable .

Lien waivers are restricted. Under La. R.S. 9:4852, the residential home improvement notice of lien rights is non-waivable. For commercial projects, partial waivers for progress payments are permitted, but blanket advance waivers are unenforceable.

Example Scenario: How Documentation Determines the Outcome

*The following is an illustrative scenario, not a specific case. It demonstrates how record-keeping affects outcomes in Louisiana privilege disputes.*

Consider a New Orleans mechanical subcontractor on a $450,000 commercial office renovation. The general contractor files the Notice of Contract in the Orleans Parish mortgage records on March 1, before work begins. The sub first furnishes labor on March 5.

The sub's last day of work is August 15. The owner files a Notice of Termination in the parish mortgage records on September 1. Under La. R.S. 9:4822, because a Notice of Contract was properly filed, the sub has 30 days from the Notice of Termination filing to file a Statement of Claim or Privilege. That deadline is October 1. The sub files the statement on September 25.

Under La. R.S. 9:4823, the sub has 1 year from September 25 to file suit. That deadline is September 25 of the following year. The sub files suit on June 15, well within the window. The privilege is enforceable.

Now consider a material supplier on the same project. The supplier delivers HVAC ductwork on March 10 and March 25. Under La. R.S. 9:4846, the supplier must send a Notice of Nonpayment to the owner and general contractor by the 75th day after March 31 — that deadline is June 14. The supplier sends the notice on June 10. If the supplier had waited until June 20, the privilege for the March deliveries would be lost.

Documentation is what separates these outcomes. MyCrewTracker logs the first day of work, the Notice of Contract filing date, the Notice of Termination filing date, and the daily reports that prove performance.

Louisiana Prompt Pay Act (La. R.S. 9:2784)

Cash flow is protected under La. R.S. 9:2784, which was significantly amended by Act 822 of 2026, effective August 1, 2026. On private projects, the amended statute requires owners to pay general contractors within 35 days of receiving a written payment request for properly performed work or suitably stored materials. Contractors and subcontractors must pay their lower-tier subcontractors and suppliers within 7 days of receiving payment .

What the Amended Prompt Pay Act Covers

• Owners must pay general contractors within 35 days of a written payment request, unless a good-faith dispute exists
• Contractors and subcontractors must pay lower-tier subcontractors within 7 days of receiving payment
• If a good-faith dispute exists, undisputed amounts must still be paid promptly
• Penalties accrue at 1.5% per month on unpaid amounts, with no cap
• The residential exception has been eliminated — residential projects now fall under the statute
• Waiver of the statute's provisions is an absolute nullity

To leverage these statutory protections, contractors must maintain flawless records of invoice submission dates. MyCrewTracker provides a centralized repository for Louisiana construction teams to store payment applications and communication logs.

What MyCrewTracker Does (and Does Not Do) in Louisiana

MyCrewTracker is a construction documentation platform, not a legal service. Here is what it does for Louisiana contractors:

• Logs first day and last day of work per project so you can calculate the Notice of Contract and Statement of Claim deadlines
• Stores certified mail receipts and Notice of Nonpayment documents in the project file
• Records delivery tickets with photo and signature capture
• Captures timestamped, GPS-tagged site photos that document installation
• Generates daily report PDFs that serve as contemporaneous records
• Tracks monthly supplier deliveries to support the recurring Notice of Nonpayment requirement
• Archives project records for 5+ years to support construction defect defense

It does not draft Notices of Contract, file Statements of Claim or Privilege with the parish mortgage office, or provide legal advice. Those steps require a Louisiana construction attorney.