Wisconsin Payment Bond Claim — The Notice Is Due 60 Days After You START, Not After You Finish, and Suit Runs One Year From Completion of the Work (Wis. Stat. § 779.14, 2026)
✓ Verified against Wisconsin statutes · Reviewed October 2026 · By Michael Evan — Founder · 50 states · 799 rules
Wisconsin mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
Preliminary Notice
60 days — Notice of Intent
Mechanics Lien
6 months — From last date of furnishing
Enforcement
2 years — From filing
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Why Wisconsin Public Work Runs on a Bond
On a private Wisconsin job, an unpaid subcontractor or supplier works under Chapter 779, Subchapter I: a 60-day notice to the owner early in the job under Wis. Stat. § 779.02(2)(b), a 30-day notice of intent to file , and a lien claim filed within six months of last furnishing. A WisDOT interchange, a Madison Metropolitan School District addition, a UW–Madison research building, or a county jail is different. Public property cannot be liened. Wis. Stat. § 779.14 instead requires the prime contractor to post a payment and performance bond, and lets unpaid subcontractors, suppliers, and service providers sue the bond. Most Little Miller Act statutes copy the federal model: work the job, and if you are not paid, send a notice within 90 days of your last day. Wisconsin does not. Its notice is due 60 days after your first day , it goes to the prime contractor , and it says only that you are on the job. A claimant that treats it like every other state’s bond notice will usually have missed it before anyone was late on a payment. The Mechanics Lien Management Method treats a Wisconsin public job as a front-loaded file . The notice is part of mobilization, sent with the first delivery ticket. The suit date comes from the prime contract’s completion, which the claimant has to track because it is not the claimant’s own date.
What § 779.14(2)(am) Actually Requires
Start with the trigger : first performance or furnishing. A supplier’s first delivery, a sub’s first day of layout, or an engineer’s first drawing starts the 60 days. Nothing later restarts them. Next, the recipient : the prime contractor, with no other party named. That places Wisconsin among the seventeen exceptions on the Little Miller Act deadlines map , with Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the group that serves the prime alone. Last, the content : that you have furnished, or will furnish, labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications to the public work. No amount is required, and no default is required. WisDOT publishes a notice form for its projects that many claimants adapt for local jobs. Include the project name, the public owner, your customer, and a description of your scope, and keep proof of the date it was served.
The Three Exceptions, and Who Can Rely on Them
Section 779.14(2)(am)2 excuses the notice in three cases. First, if the contract for your labor or materials does not exceed $5,000 . Second, if the action is brought by an employee of the prime, a sub, a supplier, or a service provider. Third, if you are listed in the subcontractor and supplier list the prime must keep under § 779.14(1e)(b), or named in a written contract, or a document appended to one, between you and the prime. The third exception is what makes Wisconsin workable for first-tier subs. If you signed a subcontract with the prime that names you, the prime already knows you, and the statute does not ask you to say so twice. For a second-tier sub, or a supplier selling to a subcontractor, it is a gamble. The prime’s list is required only on contracts over $30,000 and only “to the extent practicable,” and you have no way to confirm you are on it. Coverage is a separate question. Section 779.14(1) defines a covered subcontractor, supplier, or service provider as someone with a direct contract with the prime or with a subcontractor of the prime. On WisDOT highway contracts let under Wis. Stat. § 84.06(2), the definition narrows to those with a direct contract with the prime. A claimant further down the chain should have a Wisconsin construction attorney confirm coverage before relying on the bond.
Every Wisconsin Public-Work Claim Deadline in One Table
The Mechanics Lien Management State System carries the 60-day notice from your first furnishing date and the suit date from the prime contract’s completion. Private-work rules are on the Wisconsin lien statutes page, with the calculator on the Wisconsin mechanics lien hub . The last two rows cover federal prime contracts in Wisconsin, such as work at Fort McCoy, the Milwaukee and Madison VA medical centers, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects on the Mississippi and the Fox River. Those run under the federal Miller Act , which measures the 90-day notice from last furnishing. A Wisconsin sub working both kinds of jobs needs two different calendar rules: count from the first day on state and local work, and from the last day on federal work.
One Year From Completion of the Work, Not From Acceptance
Section 779.14(2)(a) lets any party in interest, including any subcontractor, supplier, or service provider, sue the prime contractor and the sureties on the bond no later than one year after the completion of work under the contract . The contract is the prime contract with the public body. A sitework sub that finished in May on a school completed the following August has until August of the next year, not May. Completion is not acceptance. In Arbor Vitae-Woodruff Joint School District No. 1 v. Gulf Insurance Co. , 2002 WI App 24, the Court of Appeals held that completion occurs when the contractor completes the work, not when the work is accepted. A claimant waiting for a board resolution or a final acceptance letter may already be inside the last months of its year. Track the date the prime actually finished, and treat substantial completion paperwork as the earliest possible start. If the bond is not large enough to pay everyone, § 779.14(2)(b) distributes it proportionally. Changes to the contract, changes in the work, and extensions of time do not release the sureties under § 779.14(1m)(e)4.
The Second Remedy: A Lien on the Money Due the Prime
Wisconsin adds a remedy most states do not. Under Wis. Stat. § 779.15 , anyone furnishing labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications used in a public improvement has a lien on the money, bonds, or warrants due or to become due the prime contractor. The claimant must serve written notice of the claim before payment is made to the prime . The rule does not apply in cities of the first class. Service goes to the clerk of the municipality, or the treasurer in the clerk’s absence. Where the money is payable by the state, it goes to the department, board, or commission with jurisdiction over the work. A copy goes to the prime at the same time. The public body must withhold enough to pay the claim. If the prime does not dispute it within 30 days, the money is paid over on demand. If the prime disputes it, the action must be brought within three months of serving the notice, with notice of the action filed with the officer who received the claim, or the lien rights are barred. The funds lien is not a substitute for the bond claim. It works only while money is still unpaid to the prime. Used alongside a timely 60-day notice, it brings the public owner into the conversation early, which is often enough to get a stuck payment released.
Generate the Wisconsin Notice at Mobilization
Wisconsin Public Works Notice Generator Produce the § 779.14(2)(am) notice to the prime contractor from your first furnishing date. Optionally add a § 779.15 notice of claim to the clerk or state agency. Your calendar gets the 60-day cutoff, the one-year suit date from the prime’s completion, and the three-month funds-lien window. Pair it with these resources: When the prime disputes the claim or the year is running short, connect with a Wisconsin construction attorney through the Mechanics Lien Management network.
Start the Wisconsin Clock on Day One
The Mechanics Lien Management lien generator produces the § 779.14 notice to the prime from your first furnishing date. The Mechanics Lien Management deadline calculator tracks the 60-day cutoff and the one-year suit date together. Miss the deadline and you lose your claim rights entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline for a Wisconsin payment bond claim notice?
No later than 60 days after the date you first performed, furnished, or procured labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications for the public work. Wis. Stat. § 779.14(2)(am)1 makes that notice a condition of suing on the bond. The clock starts on your first day on the job, not your last, so the notice is a start-of-work document rather than a claim for a past-due balance. A claimant that waits until it is unpaid has almost always already missed it.
Who do you serve with a Wisconsin bond claim notice?
The prime contractor. Section 779.14(2)(am)1 requires written notice served on the prime contractor and names no other recipient. The surety is not a statutory recipient of the 60-day notice, and neither is the public body. Wisconsin is one of seventeen states on the Mechanics Lien Management Little Miller Act map that break from the common prime-and-surety pattern.
What does a Wisconsin 60-day bond notice have to say?
That the subcontractor, supplier, or service provider has performed, furnished, or procured, or will perform, furnish, or procure, labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications to the public work or improvement. Because the statute speaks in the future tense as well as the past, the notice can and should go out before or immediately after mobilization. It is a statement of participation, not a demand for payment, and it does not need to state an unpaid amount.
When is the Wisconsin 60-day bond notice not required?
Section 779.14(2)(am)2 lists three exceptions. No notice is required if your contract does not exceed $5,000, if the action is brought by an employee, or if you are listed in the subcontractor and supplier list the prime must keep under § 779.14(1e)(b) or in a written contract, or a document appended to a written contract, between you and the prime. A first-tier subcontractor named in its own written subcontract with the prime is usually covered by the third exception. A second-tier supplier usually is not.
How long do you have to sue on a Wisconsin payment bond?
No later than one year after the completion of work under the contract, under Wis. Stat. § 779.14(2)(a). The action is brought in the claimant's own name against the prime contractor and the sureties on the bond. The contract that matters is the prime contract with the public body, not the claimant's subcontract, and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals has held that completion occurs when the contractor completes the work, not when the public body accepts it.
When does Wisconsin require a payment bond on public work?
Under § 779.14(1m), a local government contract with a price over $148,000 must require a payment and performance bond, and a local contract over $74,000 up to $148,000 must require one unless the public body allows a substitute assurance such as a letter of credit or escrow. For state contracts the corresponding thresholds are over $369,000, and over $148,000 up to $369,000. The bond must carry a penalty of not less than the contract price under § 779.14(1m)(e).
Is there anything besides the bond on a Wisconsin public job?
Yes. Outside cities of the first class, Wis. Stat. § 779.15 gives a claimant a lien on the money, bonds, or warrants due or to become due the prime contractor, if the claimant serves written notice of the claim on the municipal clerk, or on the state department, board, or commission with jurisdiction over the work, before payment is made to the prime, with a copy to the prime at the same time. If the prime disputes the claim, the action must be brought within three months of serving the notice, or the lien rights are barred.