Illinois Payment Bond Claim — The 180-Day Notice Is Filed With the Public Body, Not Mailed to the Surety, and Small Jobs Have No Bond at All (30 ILCS 550, 2026)
✓ Verified against Illinois statutes · Reviewed September 2026 · By Michael Evan — Founder · 50 states · 799 rules
Illinois mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
Preliminary Notice
90 days (sub) — 90-day sub notice
Mechanics Lien
4 months — From last date of furnishing
Enforcement
2 years — From filing
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Illinois Public Work Has Two Remedies, and Neither Is a Lien on the Building
An Illinois subcontractor who spends most of the year on private work thinks in terms of the 90-day subcontractor notice under 770 ILCS 60/24 and a recorded claim for lien against the property. On a school, a county courthouse, or a municipal water plant, that instinct points at a remedy that does not exist. A mechanics lien cannot attach to public property. What Illinois offers instead is two separate statutes that are easy to confuse and run on unrelated clocks. The first is the Public Construction Bond Act , 30 ILCS 550, which requires the prime contractor to furnish a payment bond on covered contracts and gives unpaid claimants a right to sue on it. The second is the lien on public funds under section 23 of the Mechanics Lien Act, 770 ILCS 60/23, which reaches the money the public body still owes the contractor rather than the property. Most published summaries describe the bond as the exclusive public-work remedy in Illinois. It is not, and on smaller contracts it is frequently not available at all — which is where section 23 does its work. The Mechanics Lien Management Method treats the two as parallel tracks to open on day one, not as a primary remedy and a backup.
When a Bond Exists Under 30 ILCS 550/1
The date in that table matters for anyone budgeting work over the next few years. Through 2028, a $140,000 village or park district contract can lawfully proceed with no payment bond. Starting January 1, 2029, the same contract crosses the $50,000 line and must be bonded. Until then, the first question on any smaller Illinois public job is whether a bond was issued at all, and the only reliable answer is a copy of it from the awarding body.
The Notice Goes to the Public Body
Section 2 of the Act is the provision that decides most Illinois bond claims, and its structure departs from the prime-and-surety model most states use. Three features of that sentence carry the weight. The notice is filed , which means the recipient is a public office with a date stamp rather than a claims inbox. It is verified , which means it is sworn. And the copy to the contractor runs from the filing date , so the two steps are linked: a late copy is a defect in a notice that was otherwise timely. The statute also draws no line between tiers. It reaches every person furnishing material, apparatus, fixtures, machinery, or labor “either as an individual or as a sub-contractor.” A first-tier subcontractor with a direct contract with the prime should not assume, as it might under the federal Miller Act, that the notice is only for claimants further down the chain. The verified notice must state the claimant’s name, address, and business address; the name of the contractor; the name of the person who contracted with the claimant or to whom the materials were furnished; a brief description of the public improvement; a description of the work done or materials furnished; and the total amount due and unpaid as of the date of the notice.
Every Illinois Public-Work Deadline in One Table
The Mechanics Lien Management State System runs the 180-day filing window, the 10-day copy, and the one-year suit date from the project record, and tracks the section 23 public-funds notice alongside them. The underlying text sits at Illinois lien statutes , with the private-work calculator on the Illinois mechanics lien hub . The last two rows are a different statute entirely. What matters is who signed the prime contract, not where the money came from. An IDOT project built with federal highway dollars is still an Illinois contract. A project let by the Army Corps of Engineers, the VA, or GSA is Miller Act work under 40 U.S.C. § 3133, with a 90-day notice for second-tier claimants and suit in federal district court.
The Lien on Public Funds Under 770 ILCS 60/23
Section 23 gives a person who furnishes labor, services, material, fixtures, apparatus, machinery, forms or form work to a contractor on a public improvement a lien on the money owed to that contractor. It applies to contracts with a county, township, school district, city, municipality, or other unit of local government, and to State contracts. The deadline is not a number of days from furnishing. It is the moment the public body pays the contractor. That makes section 23 strongest in the middle of a job, when a large contract balance is still unpaid, and weakest at closeout, when there may be nothing left to withhold. A contractor can also force the timing. On written demand served by certified mail, the claimant must give its section 23 notice within 30 days or the lien is forfeited. On a bonded job, section 23 adds pressure on the contract balance while the bond claim proceeds. On an unbonded job below the section 1 threshold, it is the only statutory remedy against anyone other than the party the claimant contracted with.
Generate the Illinois Notices From One Project Record
Illinois Bond Claim & Public Funds Notice Generator Produce the verified 30 ILCS 550/2 notice with every required element, a transmittal for the 10-day copy to the contractor, and a 770 ILCS 60/23 notice for the clerk or secretary — from one project record, with the 180-day window and the one-year suit date tracked from your own last furnishing. Pair it with the property search tool to confirm the owning public body, the bond claim hub for how Illinois compares to other Little Miller Act states, mechanics lien vs. bond claim for choosing a remedy before the clocks start, and the mechanics lien deadlines by state pillar for crews doing public and private work. When a surety denies the claim or a public body refuses to withhold, connect with an Illinois construction attorney through the Mechanics Lien Management network.
Track Both Illinois Public-Work Remedies Automatically
The Mechanics Lien Management lien generator produces the verified 180-day bond notice and the section 23 public funds notice from one project record. The Mechanics Lien Management deadline calculator tracks the 10-day copy and the one-year suit date. Miss the deadline and you lose your bond rights entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do you file an Illinois payment bond claim notice?
With the public body, not the surety. Under 30 ILCS 550/2 the verified notice on a State contract is filed with the officer, board, bureau or department awarding the contract, and on a contract for a political subdivision it is filed with the clerk or secretary of that political subdivision. The claimant must then furnish a copy of the verified notice to the contractor within 10 days of the filing. The statute does not direct the notice to the surety. A claimant that mails its notice only to the prime contractor, or only to the surety, has not made the filing the Act describes.
What is the deadline for an Illinois bond claim notice?
180 days. Section 2 of the Public Construction Bond Act provides that a claimant has no right of action on the bond unless it has filed a verified notice within 180 days after the date of the last item of work or the furnishing of the last item of materials, apparatus, fixtures, and machinery. The clock runs from the claimant's own last furnishing, which it can establish from its own delivery tickets and daily reports. The copy to the contractor is due within 10 days of the filing date, so a notice filed on day 178 still owes a copy by day 188.
How long do you have to sue on an Illinois payment bond?
Under 30 ILCS 550/2 no action may be brought later than one year after the date of the furnishing of the last item of work, materials, apparatus, fixtures, or machinery. Suit is filed in the circuit court of Illinois in the judicial circuit in which the contract is to be performed, and the plaintiff files a copy of the bond certified by the party in whose charge the bond is held. Because the suit deadline and the notice deadline both run from last furnishing, a claimant that files its notice on day 180 has roughly six months left to sue.
Is a payment bond required on every Illinois public project?
No. Under 30 ILCS 550/1, until January 1, 2029 a bond is required on contracts for public work of any kind costing over $150,000 let by the State or a political subdivision, and on Department of Transportation and Toll Highway Authority contracts costing more than $500,000. On and after January 1, 2029 the threshold for all of those entities becomes $50,000. A $120,000 municipal job in 2026 therefore may have no payment bond, and a claimant on that job needs the lien on public funds under 770 ILCS 60/23 instead.
Is the payment bond the only remedy on an Illinois public project?
No. A mechanics lien cannot attach to public property, but 770 ILCS 60/23 gives a person who furnishes labor, services, material, fixtures, apparatus, machinery, forms or form work to a contractor on a public improvement a lien on the money owed to that contractor. The claimant gives written notice of the claim to the clerk or secretary of the local public body, or on a State contract to the official whose duty it is to let the contract, before payment is made to the contractor. The public body must withhold enough to pay the claim, and the claimant must commence an action for an accounting within 90 days after serving the notice.
Does an Illinois bond claim notice have to be sworn?
Yes. Section 2 requires that the claim be verified, meaning it is signed under oath. It must state the claimant's name and address and business address, the name of the contractor, the name of the person who contracted with the claimant or to whom the materials were furnished, a brief description of the public improvement, a description of the work done or materials furnished, and the total amount due and unpaid as of the date of the notice. An unsworn collections letter or an emailed statement of account does not meet that requirement.
Is a federal project in Illinois covered by 30 ILCS 550?
No. The Public Construction Bond Act governs contracts let by the State and Illinois political subdivisions. A project whose prime contract was signed with a federal agency, such as the Army Corps of Engineers, the VA, or GSA, is governed by the federal Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. § 3133. There a second-tier claimant gives written notice to the prime contractor within 90 days of last furnishing, and suit lies no sooner than 90 days and no later than one year after last furnishing, in federal district court. Federal money flowing through an Illinois agency does not convert a State contract into a Miller Act contract.