Who the deadlines apply to
Chapter 1311 of the Ohio Revised Code sorts its deadlines partly by who furnished the work. The notice of furnishing rule names subcontractors, sub-subcontractors and suppliers [1]. Two roles sit outside it in the statute's own sentences: an "original contractor" whose contract runs with an owner, part owner or lessee, and a "laborer" [1]. That is why the table lists the direct contractor and the laborer with None required at that stage.
The lien filing, service and suit rules name every role alike [1]. What splits the lien filing stage is the project, not the role: one period covers residential work and another covers other improvements, with oil and gas wells excepted from the second [1].
How the periods run
The notice of furnishing rule turns on a condition. It applies where a notice of commencement is recorded, and not for an improvement under a "home construction contract" [1]. The label reads 21 days after first furnishing or after a notice of commencement is recorded, whichever is later [1]. Where the notice is recorded late, the statute extends the time to serve, counting from that recording [1].
Lien filing counts from the other end of the job, the date the claimant last performed labor or work or furnished material [1]. If the lien arises under section 1311.021 of the Revised Code, the label reads 120 days after last furnishing [1].
The suit stage carries two separate rules.
- How long the lien lasts. The statute keeps the lien in force for a fixed term measured from the filing of the affidavit, shown in the table as 6 years after the lien affidavit is filed [1].
- Suit after a notice to commence suit. A second rule starts only when a notice to commence suit is served on the lienholder. The owner, a part owner, lessee or mortgagee, another person with an interest in the property, or an original contractor or subcontractor who has provided a bond or other reasonable security may give it. Except as otherwise provided in Section 1311.11, the sheriff serves it [1]. Its period runs from the completion of that service: 60 days after service of the notice to commence suit is completed [1]. The calculator counts no date for it, because that date is not one of its inputs.
Notice of commencement
Before any labor, work or materials go into the improvement, the owner, part owner or lessee who contracts for them records a notice of commencement with the county recorder [1]. The requirement does not reach a home construction contract. Even so, where a lending institution requires the notice as part of the financing for one, the owner may record it [1].
How residential work is treated
For these rules, residential means a one- or two-family dwelling or a residential unit of condominium property [1]. The lien filing stage is where that definition matters: the residential rule reads 60 days after last furnishing [1], while other improvements carry 75 days after last furnishing [1].
Counting the days
Ohio's general computation section, Ohio Rev. Code § 1.14, leaves out the first day and counts the last [2]. When the last day lands on a Sunday or a legal holiday, the act may be done on the next day that is neither [2]. A Saturday last day that is not a legal holiday moves only when the office where the act is to be done is closed that day [2]. Section 1.14 lists its legal holidays by name, adds any day the governor or the president appoints and recommends as a holiday, and treats the day after a holiday that falls on Sunday as a legal holiday [2].
What changed recently
Section 1311.04, the notice of commencement section, carries amendments by H.B. 96 of the 136th General Assembly, effective September 30, 2025 [1]. Section 1311.06, which holds the lien filing periods, carries an effective date of January 30, 2014; sections 1311.05 and 1311.13 carry March 30, 2007; and sections 1311.07 and 1311.11 carry April 10, 1991 [1].