Preliminary notices in New Hampshire
Subcontractors and suppliers give a notice to owner before furnishing before you start work. It is required only in some cases. Without it, the lien covers only what's furnished after the owner is notified.
Lien filing deadline in New Hampshire
If the GC hired you, you have 120 days after your last day furnishing labor or materials to secure the lien by court attachment in New Hampshire, about 30 days longer than the national median of 90 days (counted from last furnishing on a sample job). 9 of the 51 jurisdictions we track use this same lien deadline.
New Hampshire liens are secured by a court attachment within 120 days after last furnishing.
The clock starts on your last day furnishing labor or materials under your contract. In many states, warranty visits and punch list work done mainly to extend the deadline don't restart it, so use your last day of real contract work.
Deadline to sue on the lien
Our summary of New Hampshire's statute has no separate lawsuit deadline to show. New Hampshire liens are secured by a court attachment within 120 days after last furnishing. Verify the enforcement timeline with the statute or a construction attorney.
How New Hampshire compares
Days are counted on a sample job with the lien recorded on its last allowed day, so states that count from recording or from completion can be compared with those that count from your last day on site. The median is across the jurisdictions with a dated rule on file.
- Record the lien (from last day)
- New Hampshire: 120 daysNational median: 90 days
- Sue to enforce (from last day)
- New Hampshire: No single number: verify with state statuteNational median: 365 days
Public and federal projects
Public property can't be liened, so subcontractors and suppliers on state and local public jobs in New Hampshire claim against the GC's payment bond instead. We haven't reduced New Hampshire's bond claim deadlines to one set of numbers, because they vary by agency and project. The governing law is N.H. Rev. Stat. §447:15 to :18. Verify the notice and suit deadlines with the statute and the bond itself before the job starts.
Federal jobs in New Hampshire follow the Miller Act instead of state law: those hired by a sub or supplier give the prime contractor notice within 90 days of their last furnishing, and suit is due within 1 year, in federal court. Prime contractors on federal work have no lien or bond claim.
Retainage and prompt payment in New Hampshire
We haven't reduced New Hampshire's retainage and prompt payment rules to single numbers yet: they depend on the agency, the contract size or the contract date. Rather than guess, the table shows "Verify" and the statutes to read are N.H. Rev. Stat. §447:12-a (public retainage). Your contract's payment terms still matter, and the federal rules below apply on federal work.
| Public work | Private work | Federal work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retainage cap | Verify | Verify | 10% |
| Release | Verify with state statute | Verify with state statute | Released with final payment, or earlier once progress is satisfactory. |
| GC pays subs within | Verify | Verify | 7 days |
| Late-payment interest | Verify | Verify | Treasury prompt payment rate (reset every January and July) |
Not legal advice. Retainage and prompt payment rules differ by agency, contract size and contract date, and change often. Confirm the rules with the current statute, your contract and a construction attorney before relying on them.
Worked example: a flooring sub in New Hampshire
A flooring subcontractor hired by the GC on a private distribution warehouse in New Hampshire starts work on March 2, 2026 and last furnishes on July 17, 2026. The project is completed on August 28, 2026. Run through New Hampshire's rules, those dates give:
| Deadline | Date | Counted from |
|---|---|---|
| Notice to owner before furnishing | March 2, 2026 | First furnishing |
| Secure the lien by court attachment | November 14, 2026 Weekend | Last furnishing |
The first deadline on the calendar is “Notice to owner before furnishing” on March 2, 2026, counted from the day the crew started, long before any payment is late.
One date lands on a weekend (November 14, 2026). Not every state rolls a deadline to Monday, so the safe move is to record or serve by the Friday before.
Open the lien deadline calculator for New Hampshire and enter your own dates to get this table for your job, with countdowns and a PDF deadline calendar.
Check your own dates with the free tools
- Mechanics lien and notice deadline calculator (NH): every notice, lien and suit date for your role, tier and job type.
- Retainage and prompt payment rules (NH): check your contract's retainage against the cap and work out late-payment interest.
- Schedule of values and pay application builder: bill each period with retainage calculated, so what you're owed is documented.
- Cash flow and retainage forecaster: see what slow payment and held retainage do to your bank balance.
Statutes cited
- N.H. Rev. Stat. §447:1 to :14
- N.H. Rev. Stat. §447:15 to :18 (public bonds)
- N.H. Rev. Stat. §447:12-a (public retainage)
- Federal work in New Hampshire: 40 U.S.C. §3131 to §3134 (Miller Act)
Not legal advice. Lien and bond claim rules change and have exceptions for project type, contract terms and how notices are served. Confirm every deadline with the current statute or a construction attorney in the project's state before relying on it. Rules shown as "Verify with state statute" have exceptions or variations we could not reduce to one number.