Gainesville, serving Alachua County Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.Español
(352) 226-0681 Call us Español

Deposit, permit, Notice of Commencement, lien: the Florida dates for one job, in order

Two sample AC jobs walked through the 2026 Florida Statutes, with what changes under $15,000 and for plumbing, roofing and electrical.

Lumora, Gainesville. . 8 min read

On this page 12 sections

General information, not legal advice.

Two sample jobs

Kestrel Air is a sample AC shop with 3 trucks in Alachua County. The shop, the customers and the dates are samples; the law is the 2026 Florida Statutes. Kestrel signs two home jobs on Monday, June 1, 2026, each with a 30 percent deposit:

  • John Smith, 123 Main St. A $14,200 changeout: condenser and air handler, same size. Deposit $4,260.
  • Maria Garcia, 147 Main St. An $18,500 job: a new system and new ductwork. Deposit $5,550.

Maria’s job carries every date. John’s shows what the $15,000 line changes.

Before work: the contract and the deposit

Every date here starts the day the customer signs. Getting to that signature is the subject of our estimate follow-up article.

A direct contract over $2,500 for a home of 1 to 4 units must carry Florida’s lien law notice, “printed in no less than 12-point, capitalized, boldfaced type on the front page of the contract or on a separate page, signed by the owner and dated” (F.S. 713.015). Both of Kestrel’s contracts need it. Keep the signed page in the job file.

Maria pays $5,550. Once a contractor takes more than 10 percent of the contract price as the first payment, Florida gives it 30 days after the payment to apply for the permits and 90 days after the permits are issued to start the work, unless the customer agrees in writing to longer (F.S. 489.126).

For Kestrel, that means applying by Wednesday, July 1. A deposit of $1,850 or less, 10 percent of Maria’s price, does not start those two clocks.

The same section has a second rule for any money you hold beyond the value of the work done: you may not stop all work on the job for any 90-day period, or for any other period written into the contract.

If a backordered air handler could stall a job that long, the contract can set a longer period. Both rules are criminal, graded by the amount. At $1,000 or more and under $20,000, a violation is a third-degree felony.

The permit

Florida’s permit exemption for single-family work under $7,500 does not cover mechanical, electrical, plumbing or gas work (F.S. 553.79).

Kestrel applies for Maria’s permit on Wednesday, June 3. The county has 5 business days to tell it in writing what is missing, or the application counts as complete. With the local plans reviewer, it then has 30 business days to approve or deny a mechanical permit for a home under 7,500 square feet.

It must cut the permit fee by 10 percent for each business day it runs late, unless an exception in the statute applies, such as a delay the applicant caused (F.S. 553.792).

Say the permit issues on Wednesday, June 10. Under the deposit rule, work must start by Tuesday, September 8. A permit for a single-family home expires 1 year after it is issued, or when the next edition of the Florida Building Code takes effect, whichever is later (F.S. 553.79).

The Notice of Commencement

The Notice of Commencement names the owner, the contractor, any lender and the property, so subs and suppliers know whom to send their notices to. The owner records it with the clerk “before actually commencing to improve” the property and posts a copy on site.

Only the owner may sign it (F.S. 713.13). The City of Gainesville’s form asks for the permit number on its first line, so the permit comes first.

The permit office may not require a recorded notice before it issues the permit. On a contract over $5,000, a copy goes to it before the first inspection, and later inspections wait until it arrives (F.S. 713.135).

Alachua County’s HVAC replacement sheet says inspections can’t be scheduled until the recorded notice is uploaded to Citizenserve when the project costs $15,000 or more.

Maria signs before a notary on Thursday, June 11, and the notice is recorded that day. Two dates follow from it. It is void if work does not start within 90 days of recording, here Wednesday, September 9, and unless it names another date it expires 1 year after recording.

The statute’s own warning tells owners that payments after it expires “CAN RESULT IN YOUR PAYING TWICE.” On a job that drags past a year, we would raise it with the owner before the next payment.

During the job: the supply house’s notice

Kestrel’s supply house delivers Maria’s equipment on Monday, June 15, and work starts that day.

A supplier that sells to you, and not to the homeowner, must serve its Notice to Owner “not later than 45 days after commencing” to furnish materials, here by Thursday, July 30, and in any event before the owner makes the final payment (F.S. 713.06). A late notice is “a complete defense” against that supplier’s lien.

  • 45days after its first delivery for a supply house to serve its Notice to Owner

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 713.06 (2026): the Notice to Owner within 45 days, and the contractor’s final payment affidavit.

The notice goes to Maria, not to you, and its printed warning tells her she may pay twice. The lien law page she signed tells her to require, before any payment, a written release of lien from anyone who sent one.

Our habit: say at signing that the letter may come, pay that supplier before the final invoice and have its release ready when she asks.

After the job: the final payment and your lien

Kestrel finishes on Friday, June 19. That is the final furnishing date, “the last date that the lienor furnishes labor, services, or materials.” It is not the date of the final inspection, and it “does not include the correction of deficiencies” in work already done (F.S. 713.01). A callback in July to fix a drain line does not move it.

With the final invoice goes the contractor’s final payment affidavit, which says whether every supplier and sub that served a Notice to Owner has been paid. The owner holds the final payment until she has it, and the contractor must deliver it at least 5 days before suing to enforce a lien (F.S. 713.06).

If the bill goes unpaid, Kestrel records its claim of lien within 90 days after June 19, by Thursday, September 17, and serves it on Maria before recording or within 15 days after (F.S. 713.08). The lien then lasts 1 year after recording unless Kestrel sues to enforce it within that year (F.S. 713.22).

  • 90days after your last day of work to record your claim of lien

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 713.08 (2026): the claim of lien within 90 days after final furnishing, served within 15 days of recording.

The $14,200 changeout: what the $15,000 line changes

John’s job runs on the same clocks, with two differences:

  • The permit. An existing single-family home and work under $15,000 put it on the short track: with the local plans reviewer, 5 business days to approve or deny a complete application (F.S. 553.792).
  • The notice copy. The permit office’s duties in section 713.135, the copy before the first inspection among them, do “not apply to a direct contract to repair or replace an existing heating or air-conditioning system in an amount less than $15,000.” The county will not hold John’s inspection for it.
  • $15,000the line for an AC repair or replacement: under it, the permit office does not ask for the Notice of Commencement copy

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 713.135 (2026): the permit office’s duties, the copy before the first inspection and the heating and air-conditioning exception under $15,000.

The rest stays. The contract is over $2,500, so it carries the lien law page. A $4,260 deposit is 30 percent, so the 30-day and 90-day clocks run. The supply house still has its 45 days, and Kestrel still has its 90.

The $15,000 line is in section 713.135 only: section 713.13, which tells the owner to record a notice, has no AC line, and its exemption by price is for jobs of $2,500 or less (F.S. 713.02).

Watch change orders. Say one adds $950 of duct work: John’s contract is now $15,150. Our reading is that the new total counts, since the county’s sheet goes by “the cost of the project,” so the notice goes on the job that day.

Plumbing, roofing and electrical

The same dates apply, with these lines:

  • The notice copy. Over $5,000, with no trade exception. A repipe or a reroof over $5,000 needs it before the first inspection.
  • The short permit track. Plumbing, roofing and electrical permits for an existing single-family home are on the 5-business-day track when the work is under $15,000.
  • The rest. The lien law page, the deposit clocks, the supplier’s 45 days, the final payment affidavit and your 90 days, as above.

Our roofing page follows one sample reroof from the deposit to the permit clock it starts.

Put the dates on the job

Each date is set by something that happens on the job, so it goes on the job the day that thing happens, in the job app or the spreadsheet your office already opens every morning:

  1. Step 1 of 5

    At signing, check the contract total against $2,500, $5,000 and, for AC, $15,000, and file the signed lien law page.

  2. Step 2 of 5

    When a deposit over 10 percent lands, set “apply for permit” 30 days out. When the permit issues, set “start work” 90 days out.

  3. Step 3 of 5

    If the job needs the notice, get the owner’s notarized signature before work starts, record it, post it and send the copy before the first inspection.

  4. Step 4 of 5

    On the last day of work, write the date on the job, with a reminder at day 60 if the invoice is still open, a month before the 90-day lien deadline.

  5. Step 5 of 5

    Send the final payment affidavit with the final invoice.

Where to start

Open the jobs you finished in the last 90 days that still have a balance, and write each one’s last day of work and lien deadline beside it.

We look for dates like these on a paid walk of the shop, and when they live in one person’s head, we set them up inside the tools you already use. Here is how a walk works.

We read every statute here on the Florida Legislature’s site on October 16, 2026.

Sources, in plain words

Questions and answers

Do I need a Notice of Commencement for an AC replacement in Florida?

Under $15,000, the permit office does not ask for the copy before your first inspection: section 713.135 leaves out “a direct contract to repair or replace an existing heating or air-conditioning system in an amount less than $15,000.” At $15,000 and up it does, and Alachua County’s HVAC replacement sheet says inspections can’t be scheduled until the recorded notice is uploaded. The $15,000 line is in section 713.135 only; section 713.13, which tells the owner to record a notice, exempts only jobs of $2,500 or less.

How long do I have to apply for a permit after taking a deposit in Florida?

If the first payment is more than 10 percent of the contract price on a home job, 30 days after the payment to apply for the permits, then 90 days after they are issued to start the work, unless the customer agrees in writing to longer (F.S. 489.126). A first payment of 10 percent or less does not start those two clocks.

How long does a contractor have to file a lien in Florida?

Record the claim of lien within 90 days after the final furnishing, your last day of labor or materials on the job, and serve it on the owner before recording or within 15 days after (F.S. 713.08). Fixing a deficiency in work already done does not move the date (F.S. 713.01). The lien lasts 1 year after recording unless you sue to enforce it in that time (F.S. 713.22).

When does a supplier have to send a Notice to Owner?

Not later than 45 days after it first furnishes materials to the job, and before the owner’s final payment (F.S. 713.06). It goes to the homeowner, not to you. A late notice is a complete defense against that supplier’s lien.

Does my contract need the lien law notice?

Yes, on a direct contract over $2,500 for a home of 1 to 4 units: printed in at least 12-point, capitalized, bold type on the contract’s front page or on a separate page the owner signs and dates (F.S. 713.015).

Read next

Count yours

Call or text us

Or call or text (352) 226-0681

Money back

Not worth it to you? Text or email us within 7 days of the call where you go over your sheet, and you get the walk fee back.

Full terms