Wyoming: Mechanic's Lien Deadlines & Notice Requirements

The short answer

Wyoming requires two separate notices before a lien can even be filed: an
early notice of the right to lien (sent before the first payment for a
contractor with a direct contract with the owner, or within 30 days of
starting work for anyone else) and a second notice of intention to file,
sent at least 20 days before the lien statement itself goes on record.
Missing the first notice is expressly fatal to lien rights. The lien
statement must then be filed within 150 days (for a contractor with a
direct contract with the owner) or 120 days (for everyone else), measured
from the earlier of the claimant's last work or the project's substantial
completion. Once filed, the claimant must also mail the owner notice of the
filing within 30 days — though missing that step doesn't invalidate the
lien — and must sue to enforce the lien within 180 days of filing, with no
extension available. Wyoming's homestead exemption statute names no
exception for a mechanic's lien, unlike several neighboring states, so its
own text doesn't resolve the interaction.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Wyoming's mechanic's lien law is W.S. Title 29, Chapter 1 (General
Provisions — definitions, perfection rules, and foreclosure procedure) and
Chapter 2 ("Contractors or Materialmen," §§ 29-2-101 to 29-2-113). Together
they make up the "Revised Wyoming Statutory Lien Act," substantially
overhauled by 2010 Wyoming Session Laws Chapter 92, which repealed and
renumbered much of the older chapter — a detail that matters, since several
older secondary sources and even a live commercial lien-form template still
cite the pre-2010 section numbers.

Who can claim

Every contractor, subcontractor, or materialman performing work or
furnishing materials under a contract has a lien (§ 29-2-101(a)-(b)).
"Contractor" expressly includes an architect, professional engineer, or
surveyor who contracts directly with the owner (§ 29-1-201(a)(i)) — design
professionals are covered outright, not left ambiguous. "Subcontractor" is
defined broadly as anyone other than a contractor performing work for a
contractor OR another subcontractor, reaching multiple tiers of the
contracting chain; "materialman" is anyone other than a contractor
furnishing material to an owner, contractor, or subcontractor — so a
supplier who only sells to another materialman (a supplier to a supplier)
falls outside that definition and has no lien rights. Nothing in the
chapter conditions lien rights on holding a contractor's license.

Preliminary notice

Two separate notices, not one. First, § 29-2-112 requires every contractor,
subcontractor, and materialman to send the owner written notice of the
right to assert a lien — a contractor sends it before receiving any payment
from the owner, including advances; a subcontractor or materialman sends it
within 30 days after first providing services or materials. Missing this
one is explicitly fatal: the statute says failure to send it "shall bar the
right of a contractor, subcontractor or materialman to assert a lien."
Second, before actually filing, § 29-2-107 requires yet another written
notice — a "notice of intention to file lien" stating the amount claimed
and from whom it's due — no later than 20 days before the lien statement is
filed.

Deadline to file the lien

A contractor with a direct contract with the owner must file the lien
statement within 150 days; every other claimant — a subcontractor or
materialman — has only 120 days (§ 29-2-106(a)). Both periods run from the
EARLIER of the last day the claimant performed work or furnished materials
under the contract, or the date the project reached substantial completion.
All parties to the underlying contract can agree, in a notarized writing,
to extend this period — up to double the normal time (§ 29-2-106(e)).

Notice of completion effect

An owner may record a "notice of substantial completion" with the county
clerk (§ 29-2-106(c)). Its only effect is evidentiary: recording it creates
a rebuttable presumption that fixes the substantial-completion date used
inside the existing 150/120-day formula. The statute is explicit that this
notice "shall not extend the date by which a lien statement shall be
filed," and the filing deadline is unaffected even if the owner never sends
claimants a copy of it — it doesn't independently shorten anyone's window,
it just helps pin down one of the two alternative trigger dates.

Serving the lien on the owner

The claimant must send the last record owner, or the owner's agent, notice
that the lien statement was filed — within 30 days AFTER filing
(§ 29-1-312(c)). Unlike the earlier preliminary notices, missing this step
is explicitly harmless: the statute says "failure to send the notice
required under this subsection shall not affect the validity of the lien."

Deadline to sue to foreclose

All actions to foreclose or enforce a lien must be commenced within 180
days after the lien statement is filed, and the lien itself simply stops
existing past that point unless a foreclosure action has already been
started (§ 29-2-109). Unlike the filing deadline, nothing in the statute
lets the parties extend this 180-day window by agreement.

Homestead/residential extras

Chapter 2 adds no residential-specific formality of its own. Wyoming's
homestead exemption shields up to $100,000 of a resident's home equity from
"execution and attachment arising from any debt, contract or civil
obligation entered into or incurred" (§ 1-20-101) — but unlike some
neighboring states, that exemption statute names no exception anywhere in
its text for a mechanic's, contractor's, or construction lien. The only
exception the exemption statute actually names is for "the purchase money
of the property" (§ 1-20-108(a)). Neither chapter cross-references the
other, so the plain statutory text alone doesn't resolve how a mechanic's
lien foreclosure interacts with the homestead exemption.

What trips people up

A live commercial lien-form template circulating for Wyoming cites three
different wrong section numbers for three different deadlines: it points to
a repealed section (§ 29-1-301, gone since 2010) for the preliminary notice
instead of the current § 29-2-112; it cites § 29-2-108 — actually about a
contractor's duty to defend a lawsuit, nothing to do with deadlines — for
the 150-day filing deadline; and it cites § 29-2-109 — actually the 180-day
ENFORCEMENT deadline — for the 120-day filing deadline, while separately
citing another repealed section (§ 29-2-110) for the enforcement deadline
itself. Second, the two mandatory pre-lien notices are easy to conflate:
the early § 29-2-112 notice (before payment, or within 30 days of starting
work) is a different requirement from the later § 29-2-107 notice (20 days
before filing) — both are required, on different clocks. Third, the
150-versus-120-day split turns entirely on whether the claimant contracted
directly with the owner, not on whether the claimant is a "general" versus
"sub" contractor in the colloquial sense.

Common questions

Do I need to send a notice before I start work in Wyoming?
Yes. Every contractor, subcontractor, and materialman must send the owner
written notice of the right to lien — before the first payment if you
contracted directly with the owner, or within 30 days of first providing
labor or materials otherwise. Skipping this bars your lien rights entirely.

How long do I have to file my lien?
150 days if you have a direct contract with the property owner; 120 days
for everyone else. Both run from the earlier of your last work or the
project's substantial completion.

Do I have to notify the owner after I file my lien?
Yes, within 30 days of filing — but unlike the earlier notices, missing
this one doesn't invalidate the lien.

Can a lien reach someone's home in Wyoming?
Wyoming's homestead exemption statute doesn't say either way. It protects
up to $100,000 of home equity from execution for debts generally, but
names no exception for a mechanic's lien the way some neighboring states'
statutes do.

Statutes and sources

• W.S. § 29-2-101 (persons entitled to liens) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-2/section-29-2-101/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-1-201 (definitions) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-1/article-2/section-29-1-201/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-2-112 (preliminary notices) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-2/section-29-2-112/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-2-107 (notice of intention to file lien) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-2/section-29-2-107/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-2-106 (when lien statement to be filed) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-2/section-29-2-106/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-1-312 (lien statement contents; notice; fee) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-1/article-3/section-29-1-312/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 29-2-109 (limitation of actions; duration of liens) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-29/chapter-2/section-29-2-109/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 1-20-101 (homestead exemption) —
  https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-1/chapter-20/section-1-20-101/
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• W.S. § 1-20-108 (exception; residency required) —
  https://wyoleg.gov/NXT/gateway.dll/2023%20Wyoming%20Statutes%2F2023%20Titles%2F1%2F52
  (accessed 2026-07-05)