Who the deadlines apply to
Each Colorado rule on this page is written for any project type. None is limited to residential work or to work other than residential, so the sorting that does happen is by role and by condition.
The roles split at one stage only. The preliminary notice row reads None required for direct contractors, subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, suppliers and laborers alike [1]. The notice of intent, the deadline to sue and the filing rule tied to a subsection (10) notice also name all five roles.
At the lien filing stage, the default rule names direct contractors, subcontractors, sub-subcontractors and suppliers. Laborers appear in a separate filing rule with its own condition, described below.
How the periods run
Before the lien statement. The notice of intent rule reads At least ten days before the time of filing the lien statement with the county clerk and recorder [1]. The statute requires the notice in order to preserve any lien for work performed or laborers or materials furnished [1]. The page lists its two recipients and the delivery methods under the table. Because the period is counted back from the filing, the calculator gives no date for it.
Filing the lien statement. The default filing period runs from the lien claimant's own last labor or last furnishing of laborers or materials: 4 months after the day on which the last labor is performed or the last laborers or materials are furnished by the lien claimant [1].
For labor and work by the day or piece, without furnishing laborers or materials, a different rule applies, and it names laborers. Its period runs from completion rather than from the claimant's own last labor: 2 months after the completion of the building, structure, or other improvement [1].
A third filing rule depends on a notice the claimant files. Where the claimant files a notice under subsection (10) within the time in subsections (4) and (5), the period becomes Four months after completion of the structure or other improvement or six months after the date of filing of the notice, whichever occurs first [1]. The date that notice is filed is not one of the calculator's inputs, so it counts no date for this rule.
Suing to enforce. Section 38-22-110 sets the last stage as Six months after the last work or labor is performed, or laborers or materials are furnished, or after the completion of the building, structure, or other improvement, or the completion of the alteration, addition to, or repair thereof, as section 38-22-109 prescribes [1]. The statute states what follows from that period: the lien does not hold the property longer unless, within that time, an action to enforce it is commenced and a notice that the action has been commenced is filed for record [1]. The calculator shows this rule's wording in place of a date.
Abandonment and completion
Two of the filing periods above refer to completion. Section 38-22-109(7) treats abandonment of all labor, work, services and furnishing of laborers or materials on an unfinished contract or improvement as the equivalent of completion for these time limits [1]. Abandonment there means that all of it stops for a three-month period [1].
What changed recently
Sections 38-22-109 and 38-22-110 were last amended by L. 2000, pp. 209 and 210, effective August 2, 2000 [1]. The text quoted on this page is the Colorado Revised Statutes 2024 [1].