Who the deadlines apply to
Nearly every rule on this page names the same roles: direct contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, supplier and laborer. At the first stage, the preliminary notice row reads None required for each of them, on any project type [1]. From there, the stages that follow turn on the notice of lien and its filing.
One rule departs from the full list. The second service rule, on the copies § 11-b sends by certified mail, names subcontractors, sub-subcontractors, suppliers and laborers, and leaves the direct contractor out [5] [6]. The owner service rule names every role, the direct contractor included.
Project type does the rest of the sorting. The lien filing and deadline to sue stages each carry one rule for projects other than residential and one for residential projects, and the page keeps them on separate rows.
How the periods run
The two project-type filing periods run from the same event, last furnishing: the final item of work or materials supplied to the job. The rule listed for projects other than residential is 8 months after last furnishing [2]. The rule listed for residential projects, which here means a single family dwelling, is 4 months after last furnishing [3].
For a notice of lien for retainage, a third filing rule applies on any project type: 90 days after the date the retainage was due to be released. [2] The calculator draws no date for it, because the date the retainage was due to be released is not one of its inputs.
Two service rules are labeled 30 days after the notice of lien is filed [4] and 30 days after the notice of lien, or an amendment of notice of lien, is filed [5]. Under § 11 the "lienor" serves the owner [4]. The statute adds a consequence: failing to file proof of that service with the county clerk within 35 days after the notice of lien is filed terminates the notice as a lien [4]. Under § 11-b, a copy also goes by certified mail to the contractor, subcontractor, assignee or legal representative for whom the lienor was employed or to whom it furnished materials [5]. A lienor that contracted with a subcontractor or sub-subcontractor, but not with the contractor, sends one to the contractor as well [6].
The last stage is measured from the filing too. The deadline to sue appears as 1 year after the notice of lien is filed for both project types [7]. Under § 17, the lien lasts no longer than that unless, within that time, an action to foreclose is commenced and a notice of pendency is filed, or the lien is extended [7]. The residential row cites one more sentence of § 17, on extending a lien on single family dwelling property, and the page prints it under the table.
How residential work is treated
Residential, in these rules, means real property improved or to be improved with a single family dwelling [2]. A dwelling unit in a filed subdivision falls outside that term when, at the time the lien is filed, the developer owns the property for purposes other than the developer's personal residence [3]. Two stages differ for such a project: the shorter filing period, and the extra § 17 sentence attached to the deadline to sue.
Counting the days
The General Construction Law supplies the counting. The day of the event is the day the reckoning starts from, and that day is left out of the count [8]. When a period ends on a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday, the act may be done on the next business day, and this applies to every period on the page [9]. Public holidays are those § 24 lists [10].
What changed recently
The current texts of sections 10, 11 and 17 are the revision dated September 22, 2014 [2] [4] [7]. Section 11-b is the revision dated February 20, 2015 [6].