Louisiana Payment Bond Claim — The 45-Day Clock Starts When the Public Owner Records Acceptance, Not When You Finish (La. R.S. 38:2242, 38:2247, 2026)
✓ Verified against Louisiana statutes · Reviewed October 2026 · By Michael Evan — Founder · 50 states · 799 rules
Louisiana mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
Preliminary Notice
None — N/A
Mechanics Lien
60 days — From acceptance / abandonment
Enforcement
1 year — From filing
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Why Louisiana Public Work Runs on a Bond
On a private Louisiana job, an unpaid subcontractor or supplier works under the Private Works Act, La. R.S. 9:4801 et seq., starting with the notice of contract and ending with a statement of claim or privilege in the parish records. A Jefferson Parish drainage contract, an LSU building in Baton Rouge, a New Orleans school or a DOTD bridge is different. Public property is not subject to a private privilege, so Part III of Title 38, La. R.S. 38:2241 through 38:2248, puts a statutory payment bond and a claim on the contract funds in front of the claimant instead. The Louisiana scheme looks like its private-works cousin more than it looks like the federal Miller Act. Claims are sworn, recorded with the parish recorder of mortgages and measured from a recorded act of the owner. Most of the country runs its bond deadlines from the claimant’s own last day of work. Louisiana runs them from the day the owner records its acceptance of the work or a notice of default of the contractor or subcontractor. The Mechanics Lien Management Method treats a Louisiana public job as a records-watch file . The bond and contract are pulled from the parish records in the first 30 days, and the parish mortgage records are checked for a recorded acceptance from substantial completion on. When it appears, the 45-day and one-year dates go on the calendar that day.
The Bond: Over $25,000, at Least Half the Contract
La. R.S. 38:2241(A)(2) requires the public entity to demand a payment bond on each contract over $25,000 per project , with good, solvent and sufficient surety, in a sum of not less than 50 percent of the contract price . In Ascension Parish the threshold is $250,000 under § 38:2241(A)(3). The bond must be recorded with the contract in the office of the recorder of mortgages for the parish where the work is done, no later than 30 days after work begins. Two features of the bond matter to a claimant. First, it is a statutory bond . Under § 38:2241(C)(1), any payment bond on a public works contract is read as containing the Act’s terms, whatever its form says, and language that goes beyond the Act is read out as surplusage. Second, 50 percent is a floor, not a guarantee of full coverage. On a job with several unpaid subs, the claims can exhaust the penal sum, which is a reason to file early rather than at day 44. The definition of claimant in § 38:2242(A) is broad. It covers anyone owed money under a contract with the owner, a contractor or a subcontractor for labor, work or materials, plus for-hire carriers delivering materials to the site, suppliers of fuel or electricity for machines on the job, lessors of movables under a written lease, and surveyors, engineers and architects employed by the owner, contractor or subcontractor.
Filing 1: The Sworn Statement, 45 Days From Recorded Acceptance
That sentence sets up two acts and one window. The claimant files the sworn statement with the governing authority that let the contract, such as the parish council, school board, levee district or state agency, and records it with the parish recorder of mortgages. Both happen after the claim matures and within 45 days after the owner records its acceptance or a notice of default. The statement does more than preserve the bond claim. Under § 38:2242(D), if the awarding authority makes final payment to the contractor without deducting all outstanding claims served on it, and without obtaining a bond to cover them, the authority becomes liable for those claims itself. Section 38:2248(A) caps retainage at 10 percent on projects under $500,000 and 5 percent at $500,000 or more, held until 45 days after the recorded acceptance. That 45-day hold is timed to the claim window, so a statement filed inside it lands while money is still in the public entity’s hands. Is the statement mandatory? The statute says a claimant “may” file it. In Pierce Foundations, Inc. v. JaRoy Construction, Inc. (La. 2016), the Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated a judgment against the surety for a piling subcontractor in direct contract with the general contractor that never recorded a statement. Do not build a practice on that. Section 38:2247 still preserves the bond right of a claimant “who has complied…
Filing 2: Notice to the Contractor From Remote Claimants
Section 38:2247(A) adds a second filing for one class of claimant: a party with a direct contract with a subcontractor but no contract with the prime contractor . A supplier to an electrical sub, or a second-tier sub under a mechanical sub, is in this group. Before it has a right of action against the contractor or the surety, it must give the contractor written notice within 45 days from the recordation of the notice of acceptance or notice of default. The statute describes only claimants in contract with a subcontractor. A party further down the chain, such as a supplier to a supplier, should not assume the Act reaches it and should have a Louisiana construction attorney look at its position before the 45 days run.
The Supplier Track: 75-Day Nonpayment Notice and a Direct Demand on the Surety
Material suppliers get two extra rules, one a trap and one a tool. The trap is § 38:2242(F). A materialman that has not been paid by the subcontractor and has not sent a notice of nonpayment to the general contractor and the owner loses its right to file a privilege. The notice is satisfied by a certified-mail return receipt showing it was properly addressed to the last known address of the general contractor and the owner and deposited in the mail on or before 75 days from the last day of the month in which the material was delivered, or no later than the statutory lien period, whichever comes first. The subsection applies only to disputes arising out of recorded contracts. Because it runs from each month of delivery, a supplier on a 10-month job is watching ten deadlines, not one. The tool is § 38:2247(B), repeated in § 38:2241(C)(2). The surety must pay a materialman when three things are true: the material was delivered to the specifications in the order; no sooner than 45 days after delivery , the materialman sent a notice of nonpayment to the general contractor, the surety and the owner; and the materialman was not paid in full on or before 90 days after delivery . The surety then has 10 days after the materialman sends it a payment notice to pay. Notices under § 38:2247 go by registered or certified mail to the last known address of the general contractor, the surety…
Every Louisiana Public-Project Claim Deadline in One Table
The Mechanics Lien Management State System calendars the 75-day supplier notices from each month of delivery and the 45-day and one-year dates from the recorded acceptance you enter. Private-work rules are on the Louisiana lien statutes page, with the calculator on the Louisiana mechanics lien hub . The last two rows cover federal prime contracts in Louisiana, such as Corps of Engineers levee and floodwall work in the New Orleans District, Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Johnson. Those run under the federal Miller Act , which counts from the claimant’s own last day, not from an owner’s acceptance. A Louisiana sub working both kinds of jobs runs two different clocks.
Suing: One Year From the Registry of Acceptance
Under § 38:2247(A), a claimant that complied with the notice and recordation rules keeps its right of action on the bond, provided the action is brought against the surety, the contractor or both within one year from the registry of acceptance of the work or of notice of default . The surety keeps every defense its principal could raise except lack of capacity and discharge in bankruptcy. A recorded sworn statement has its own clock. Under § 38:2242.1(F), it stops having effect as to third persons unless a notice of lis pendens identifying the suit is filed within one year after the statement was filed. The contractor or anyone else interested may also bond off a recorded statement by depositing a surety bond or cash of up to 125 percent of the claim with the recorder of mortgages under § 38:2242.2, and must notify the public entity, the claimant and the contractor by certified mail when it does. At that point the claimant’s security is the deposit, not the record. Recording cuts both ways. Under § 38:2242.1, a claimant whose statement was improperly filed, or whose claim has been paid or otherwise extinguished, must give written authorization to cancel it within 10 days after a written request. One that refuses without reasonable cause answers for the requesting party’s damages and reasonable attorney fees. Release a paid claim promptly.
File the Statement and Track the Acceptance
Louisiana Public Works Workflow Prepare the § 38:2242(B) sworn statement and the § 38:2247(A) contractor notice from one set of job facts, and get the 75-day supplier notices, the 45-day filing window and the one-year suit bar on one calendar. Pair it with these resources: When the surety disputes the claim or the acceptance date is unclear, connect with a Louisiana construction attorney through the Mechanics Lien Management network.
Watch the Parish Records, Not the Calendar
The Mechanics Lien Management deadline calculator tracks the 75-day supplier notices, the 45-day sworn statement window and the one-year suit bar for every Louisiana public job. Miss the deadline and you lose your claim rights entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline for a Louisiana public works bond claim?
45 days after the public owner records its acceptance of the work, or records a notice of default by the contractor or subcontractor. Within that window, La. R.S. 38:2242(B) has the claimant file a sworn statement of the amount due with the governing authority that let the contract and record it with the recorder of mortgages for the parish where the work was done. The clock does not run from your last day on the job. It runs from a filing the owner makes, so you have to watch the parish mortgage records for it.
Who has to send notice to the contractor on a Louisiana public job?
Only a claimant that has a direct contract with a subcontractor but no contract with the prime contractor. Under La. R.S. 38:2247(A), that claimant must, in addition to the sworn statement, give the contractor written notice within 45 days from the recordation of the notice of acceptance or notice of default. The notice states the amount claimed with substantial accuracy and names the party it supplied or worked for. It goes by registered or certified mail to any office the contractor maintains in Louisiana.
How long do you have to sue on a Louisiana payment bond?
One year from the registry of acceptance of the work or of the notice of default, under La. R.S. 38:2247(A). The suit may name the surety, the contractor or both. Because the year runs from the owner's recorded acceptance, a claimant whose last delivery was early in a long job can have far more than a year from its own last day, and a claimant who files before acceptance is recorded is not late.
Is the sworn statement mandatory for a Louisiana bond claim?
The statute says a claimant may file it, and Louisiana courts have not always treated a missing statement as fatal. In Pierce Foundations, Inc. v. JaRoy Construction, Inc. (La. 2016), the Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated a judgment against the surety for a subcontractor in direct contract with the general contractor that never recorded a sworn statement. But § 38:2247 preserves the bond right of a claimant who has complied with § 38:2242(B), and the statement is also what makes the public entity hold back funds. File it on time and the question never arises.
What is the Louisiana 75-day notice of nonpayment for suppliers?
Under La. R.S. 38:2242(F), a materialman that has not been paid by a subcontractor must send a notice of nonpayment to the general contractor and the owner by certified mail on or before 75 days from the last day of the month in which the material was delivered, or within the statutory lien period if that comes first. A materialman that skips it loses the right to file a privilege. The subsection applies only to disputes arising out of recorded contracts, and because it runs month by month, a supplier on a long job owes it repeatedly.
Can a Louisiana supplier demand payment directly from the surety?
Yes, under La. R.S. 38:2247(B) and § 38:2241(C)(2). If the material was delivered to the specifications in the order, the materialman sent a notice of nonpayment to the general contractor, the surety and the owner no sooner than 45 days after delivery, and it was still not paid in full 90 days after delivery, the surety must pay within 10 days after the materialman sends it a payment notice. Notices go by registered or certified mail to each party's last known address.
What is the payment bond threshold for Louisiana public works?
La. R.S. 38:2241(A)(2) requires a payment bond on each public works contract over $25,000 per project, in a sum of not less than 50 percent of the contract price. In Ascension Parish the threshold is $250,000. The bond must be recorded with the contract in the parish mortgage records within 30 days after work begins, and any bond given on a public works contract is read as a statutory bond regardless of its form.