Construction Law & Mechanic's Liens in Illinois

Construction runs on deadlines and paper. When the work goes well, nobody reads the contract. When a payment is late or a job goes sideways, the contract — and the lien deadlines — are everything. We represent owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers across central Illinois on the documents that keep a project on track and the disputes that arise when it doesn't.

The biggest mistakes we see aren't bad lawyering — they're missed dates. Illinois mechanics-lien rights are powerful, but they expire on a fixed schedule, and a strong claim is worth nothing once the clock runs out. Getting in front of those dates is most of the job.

The Illinois Mechanics Lien Act (770 ILCS 60)

Illinois gives contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers a lien against the improved property to secure payment — but only if you follow the Act's notice, recording, and suit deadlines exactly. The Act is read strictly, and courts will not forgive a late filing.

The deadlines that catch people:

• Subcontractor / supplier 90-day notice. A subcontractor or supplier generally must serve written notice of its claim on the owner (and lender) within 90 days of last furnishing labor or materials.
• Owner-occupied single-family homes — extra notice. On an owner-occupied single-family residence, a subcontractor or supplier must give the homeowner additional written notice within 60 days of first furnishing.
• Recording the lien claim. To preserve priority against third parties, the lien claim must be recorded with the County Recorder within 4 months of last furnishing.
• Suit to foreclose the lien. A suit to enforce the lien must be filed within 2 years of last furnishing — and an owner can shorten that with a statutory demand, forcing suit within a much tighter window.
• 2025 notice-delivery update. Recent amendments modernized how lien notices may be served — adding nationally recognized tracked-delivery carriers and removing older restricted-delivery requirements.

Miss the right date and the corresponding right is gone for good. We calendar these from the first day of a project and act well before the deadline, not on it.

Sworn statements and lien waivers

Payment on an Illinois job is supposed to flow through a contractor's sworn statement listing every subcontractor and supplier and what each is owed, with lien waivers exchanged as money changes hands. Done right, this protects the owner from paying twice and gives lower-tier parties a clean path to payment. Done sloppily, it's how owners end up paying for the same work twice and how subs end up unpaid. We draft and review these so the paper actually does its job.

The void-indemnity rule (740 ILCS 35)

Under the Construction Contract Indemnification for Negligence Act, any clause in a construction contract that tries to indemnify a party for its own negligence is void as against public policy and unenforceable. A lot of form contracts still contain these clauses. If you're relying on one, it may not hold; if one is being used against you, it may be unenforceable. We draft indemnity and insurance provisions that work within the statute — including the limited and "carve-out" forms Illinois courts do enforce.

Contracts that hold up

Most construction disputes trace back to a vague contract — unclear scope, no real change-order process, weak payment terms, no teeth on delay. We draft owner-contractor agreements and subcontracts that fix those gaps before the first shovel hits dirt.

Payment and defect disputes

When the contract isn't enough, we pursue and defend the claims that follow: non-payment and retainage, defective or incomplete work, scope and change-order fights, and delay. We push toward the practical result — getting you paid, or getting the work made right — and litigate when that's what it takes.