Missouri Payment Bond Claim — Only Remote Suppliers Owe a Notice, It Goes to the Contractor Within 90 Days, and the Statute Sets No Bond-Specific Deadline to Sue (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 107.170, 2026)
✓ Verified against Missouri statutes · Reviewed October 2026 · By Michael Evan — Founder · 50 states · 799 rules
Missouri mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
Preliminary Notice
10 days (sub) — Just Notice to Owner
Mechanics Lien
6 months — From last date of furnishing
Enforcement
6 months — From filing
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Why Missouri Public Work Runs on a Bond
On a private Missouri job, an unpaid subcontractor or supplier works under Chapter 429. That means a notice to owner where it applies, a 10-day notice before filing, and a lien filed within six months of last furnishing. A MoDOT bridge, a Kansas City Public Schools renovation, a University of Missouri building, or a St. Louis County facility is different. Public buildings and land are exempt from attachment and execution under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.455. Section 107.170 therefore requires the contractor to furnish a bond that pays the people who built the project. Missouri’s bond statute is unusually generous to claimants. It protects “a subcontractor, a supplier at any tier, or otherwise.” It requires notice only from a narrow class of suppliers. And it contains no short statutory window to sue. Missouri claimants tend to lose bond claims in two ways: a supplier misreads which tier it is in, or a claimant believes a one-year clause in the bond form that Missouri law does not enforce. The Mechanics Lien Management Method treats a Missouri public job as a classify-then-calendar file . First decide whether you are a remote supplier, because that decides whether a 90-day notice exists for you at all. Then calendar suit early anyway, because the absence of a short statutory deadline is a reason to keep options open, not to wait.
What § 107.170.2 Actually Requires
Start with who owes the notice . It is a material supplier, and only one whose customer is a second-tier or lower subcontractor or another material supplier. A subcontractor performing labor owes no statutory notice at any tier. A supplier selling to the prime, or to a first-tier sub, owes none either. Next is who receives it : the contractor. The statute names no other recipient, which places Missouri among the seventeen exceptions to the prime-and-surety pattern on the Little Miller Act deadlines map . Last is what it says and when . The notice is a written statement that the supplier has not been paid. It is due within 90 days of the last time the supplier supplied materials on the project. The statute prescribes no form and no delivery method. Certified mail, with the project name, the public owner, your customer, the materials, the unpaid amount, and your last delivery date, gives you proof of every element.
Who Is Covered, and What the Bond Must Promise
Section 107.170.2 makes it the duty of every public entity to require a bond from every contractor on public works estimated to exceed $50,000 . That covers the state and any county, city, town, township, school district, or other political subdivision. The duty applies to work done for the entity itself and to work done for its lessee, agent, designee, or representative. The bond is in an amount fixed by the public entity and must be conditioned for payment of materials incorporated, consumed, or used in the work, insurance premiums on the work, and labor, “whether by a subcontractor, a supplier at any tier, or otherwise.” Section 107.170.3 deems every such bond to contain those conditions, whatever its printed terms say. A surety cannot narrow the class of protected claimants by drafting. The 2025 amendments, effective August 28, 2025, added a definition of the “contractor” that must furnish the bond. It excludes licensed engineers, architects, and land surveyors, environmental assessment providers, public-art providers, and a construction manager not-at-risk. They also added the leased-land exception discussed below. Those changes matter mostly at the prime level. For a downstream claimant, the main question remains which tier you sold to.
Every Missouri Public-Work Claim Rule in One Table
The Mechanics Lien Management State System tracks the Missouri bond rules below alongside the private-lien deadlines. Private-work rules are on the Missouri lien statutes page, with the calculator on the Missouri mechanics lien hub . The last two rows cover federal prime contracts in Missouri, such as work at Fort Leonard Wood, Whiteman Air Force Base, the Kansas City and St. Louis VA medical centers, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Those run under the federal Miller Act , which is stricter than Missouri law in two ways. Every claimant without a contract with the prime, including a second-tier subcontractor, owes a 90-day notice. And suit must be filed within one year of last furnishing. A Missouri sub used to state work, where it owes no notice and has years to sue, can lose a federal claim by applying the state rules.
The Suit: How, Where, and Why Not to Wait
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 522.300 gives every person furnishing material or performing labor, individually or as a subcontractor, the right to sue on the bond in the name of the public entity, for the claimant’s own use and benefit . The claimant files a copy of the bond certified by whoever has custody of it, and that copy is prima facie evidence of execution and delivery unless denied under oath. The section also confirms that the public entity takes on no greater liability because of the bond. Neither § 522.300 nor § 107.170 contains a deadline. Missouri practice applies the general five-year period for actions on contracts, obligations, and liabilities in § 516.120 . Section 431.030 voids every contract provision that “directly or indirectly” limits the time to bring suit. Read with § 107.170.3, that takes the teeth out of the one-year suit clause many surety forms carry. None of that is a reason to sit on a claim. When a bond claim accrues can be disputed, and some argue for the ten-year period in § 516.110 for writings to pay money. The prime and its sureties also become harder to collect from as a job ages. The Mechanics Lien Management Method sets a one-year working target from last furnishing for Missouri bond suits, the same as the federal rule, and treats the statutory period only as a backstop.
No Lien on the Project, With One 2025 Exception
Section 107.170.8 is blunt. Providing the bond precludes the filing of a mechanic’s lien under chapter 429 by any subcontractor or supplier. A lien filed in violation is void and unenforceable, and a judge of the county where it was filed will summarily discharge it. The exception covers a public entity that leases land to a developer for a project intended to be leased primarily to a private entity for nongovernmental use. Under § 513.455.2 the entity may consent in writing to mechanics’ liens attaching to the project and land. The consent must be acknowledged, contain a legal description, and be recorded with the county recorder of deeds. Where that consent is recorded, § 107.170.6 says no bond is required. On a mixed-use or ground-leased job, search the recorder’s office for a consent before deciding which remedy you have.
Generate the Missouri Notice From One Project Record
Missouri Public Works Notice Generator Produce the § 107.170.2 remote supplier notice to the contractor with the unpaid amount and your last delivery date, and calendar the 90-day notice cutoff from your last delivery. Pair it with these resources: When the surety denies the claim or no bond can be found, connect with a Missouri construction attorney through the Mechanics Lien Management network.
Know Your Tier Before the 90 Days Run
The Mechanics Lien Management lien generator produces the § 107.170.2 notice to the contractor from one project record, and the deadline calculator tracks the 90-day cutoff from your last delivery. Miss the deadline and you lose your claim rights entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to give notice on a Missouri payment bond claim?
Only if you are a remote supplier. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 107.170.2 defines a remote supplier as a material supplier to a public works project that has a contract with a second- or lower-tier subcontractor, or with another material supplier of any tier. A remote supplier cannot recover on the bond unless it gave written notice to the contractor that it has not been paid, within 90 days of the time it last supplied materials on the project. Subcontractors at any tier, and suppliers selling directly to the prime or to a first-tier subcontractor, owe no statutory notice.
Who receives a Missouri remote supplier notice?
The contractor. Section 107.170.2 requires written notice to the contractor that the remote supplier has not been paid. The surety and the public entity are not statutory recipients. Section 107.170.1 defines the contractor as the person or business that provides or arranges for construction services on the public works project under contract to the public entity, which in practice means the prime. Copying the surety is sensible, but the contractor is the party that must receive the notice.
How long do you have to sue on a Missouri public payment bond?
Neither § 107.170 nor § 522.300 sets a bond-specific deadline. Missouri practice applies the general five-year period for actions on contracts and obligations in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120, and § 431.030 declares void any contract provision that limits the time in which a suit may be brought, which reaches the one-year suit clause printed in many surety bond forms. When the period starts depends on the facts, so the safe practice is to sue well inside one year of last furnishing and treat the longer period as a backstop, not a plan.
When does Missouri require a payment bond on public work?
On contracts for public works whose cost is estimated to exceed $50,000, under § 107.170.2. The duty falls on the public entity, which includes the state and any county, city, town, township, school district, or other political subdivision, and covers work performed for the entity or for its lessee, agent, designee, or representative. The bond is in an amount fixed by the public entity, and § 107.170.3 deems every such bond to contain the statutory payment conditions, whatever its own terms say.
Can you file a mechanics lien on a Missouri public project?
Generally no. Under § 107.170.8, providing the bond precludes any subcontractor or supplier from filing a mechanic's lien under chapter 429, and a lien filed in violation is void and will be summarily discharged. The exception, added in 2025, is a project on public land leased primarily to a private entity where the public entity records a written consent to mechanics' liens under § 513.455. In that case § 107.170.6 says no bond is required, and the lien is the remedy.
How do you sue on a Missouri public works bond?
Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 522.300, a person furnishing material or performing labor, individually or as a subcontractor, sues on the bond in the name of the state, county, city, or other public entity, for the claimant's own use and benefit. The plaintiff files a copy of the bond certified by whoever has custody of it. That certified copy is prima facie evidence that the bond was executed and delivered unless execution is denied under oath. Getting the certified copy from the public entity is therefore an early step.
What if the Missouri public entity never required a bond?
Then the claimant has no bond to sue and, because public property is generally exempt from attachment, usually no lien either. Section 107.170 places the duty to require the bond on the public entity, and Missouri courts have held that a county commission's failure to obtain the required bond can expose the commissioners to liability. Section 107.170.4 limits that exposure for officials who acted in good faith on a contractor's representations. A claimant facing a missing bond should speak with a Missouri construction attorney promptly.