{"id":1207,"date":"2025-01-31T01:10:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T01:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aparbooks-dzhvcxcdg2cabrcy.northcentralus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:53:10","slug":"preliminary-lien-notice-check-reminder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/preliminary-lien-notice-check-reminder\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking Preliminary Lien Notices Before Cutting a Check"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"apar-blog-content\">\n<p class=\"apar-lead\">I do the accounting at Inland Construction, a general contractor doing single-family homes, ADUs, and remodels in the $100K to $500K range. Every job runs on a lot of subcontractors, and the part that worries me most is the preliminary lien notices their suppliers file.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-challenge-checking-notices-before-every-check\">The challenge: checking notices before every check<\/h2>\n<p>Those notices get complex fast, with multiple filings for different subcontractors across several projects. Before I issue a check to a subcontractor, I have to check the records to avoid a mechanic's lien. Our business runs on reputation, we don't advertise, and in a small community one bad review can undo years of work.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"moving-off-quickbooks\">Moving off QuickBooks<\/h2>\n<p>My boss, Oscar, suggested a construction-specific accounting tool instead of QuickBooks. QuickBooks is a solid platform, but it isn't built for construction, even the construction version. That's when I found APARBooks. After two product demos, it met my requirements, and I could move my whole workload off QuickBooks, especially since it does <a href=\"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/account-payable-write-check\">check printing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The feature that matters most to me is the reminder for active <a href=\"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/account-payable-preliminary-lien-notice\">preliminary lien notices<\/a> before I issue a check. It saves time and keeps our subcontractor relationships clean.<\/p>\n<div class=\"apar-faq\">\n<h3 id=\"frequently-asked-questions\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n<div class=\"apar-faq-item\">\n<p class=\"apar-faq-question\">Why check preliminary lien notices before paying a subcontractor?<\/p>\n<p class=\"apar-faq-answer\">If a subcontractor's supplier has filed a preliminary lien notice and isn't paid, the supplier can put a mechanic's lien on the project. Checking the notices before cutting a check to the subcontractor is how a GC avoids paying twice.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"apar-faq-item\">\n<p class=\"apar-faq-question\">Why not just use QuickBooks for this?<\/p>\n<p class=\"apar-faq-answer\">QuickBooks isn't built for construction, even its construction version. It doesn't tie preliminary lien notices to the payment workflow, so this accountant moved to APARBooks, which reminds them of active notices before a check is issued and handles check printing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I do the accounting at Inland Construction, a general contractor doing single-family homes, ADUs, and remodels in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,5],"tags":[23,24,29],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-common-mistakes","category-customer-story","tag-preliminary-notices","tag-professionalism","tag-subcontractor-ledger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1890,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions\/1890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aparbooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}