Texas Payment Bond Claims on Public Jobs: Two Notice Clocks, One Month Apart

//Public jobs don't get liens. They get bonds.

A mechanic's lien in Texas attaches to the property under Property Code Chapter 53. Government property can't be seized or sold to satisfy a lien, so Texas routes payment disputes on public work through payment bonds instead. Under Government Code Chapter 2253 — commonly called the McGregor Act — the governmental entity awarding a public work contract must require the prime contractor to furnish a payment bond once the contract exceeds $25,000, or $50,000 if the awarding entity is a municipality. A performance bond is required once the contract exceeds $100,000 (Gov't Code § 2253.021). If a subcontractor or supplier on a Texas public job goes unpaid, the payment bond — not a lien — is the claim.

//Two notice clocks, one month apart, and the wrong one kills the claim

How much time a claimant has to send notice depends entirely on whether that claimant holds a direct contract with the prime contractor. Get this wrong and the claim can be time-barred before a lawyer ever sees the file.

A claimant with a direct contract with the prime contractor follows Gov't Code § 2253.041. The statute requires the claimant to mail the prime contractor and the surety written notice of the claim, and that notice "must be mailed on or before the 15th day of the third month after each month in which any of the claimed labor was performed or any of the claimed material was delivered." It must attach a sworn statement of account showing the amount claimed is just and correct, with all known offsets, payments and credits disclosed, and it must separately state any retainage not yet due.

A claimant with no direct contract with the prime — a sub-subcontractor, or a supplier furnishing a subcontractor rather than the prime — follows the tighter § 2253.047 instead. That notice must be mailed "on or before the 15th day of the second month after each month in which the labor was performed or the material was delivered" — one month earlier than § 2253.041. Section 2253.047 also carries a separate, earlier retainage notice: if the contract involves retainage, the claimant must mail the prime contractor written notice that the contract provides for retainage, on or before the 15th day of the second month after the delivery or labor began — a one-time notice near the start of the job, not a monthly one.

//A worked example: the same March invoice, two different deadlines

Say a drywall subcontractor holds a direct contract with the general contractor on a Texas school district renovation, and performs work through March 2027. Under § 2253.041, notice of any unpaid amount for that March work must be mailed on or before June 15, 2027 — the 15th day of the third month (April, May, June) counting from March.

Now say a materials supplier delivered drywall board directly to that subcontractor's crew that same March, with no contract with the general contractor. Under § 2253.047, that supplier's deadline for the identical March work is May 15, 2027 — the 15th day of the second month (April, May) counting from March. Same job, same month of work, a full month apart, because the two claimants sit at different tiers of the contract chain.

//After notice: a 60-day payment window, then a one-year clock to sue

Mailing notice doesn't end it. Under § 2253.073, a claimant can't file suit on the payment bond unless "the claim is not paid before the 61st day after the date the notice for the claim is mailed" — the prime and surety get roughly two months to pay before a lawsuit becomes available. If it stays unpaid, § 2253.078 sets the outer limit: suit on a payment bond can't be brought "after the first anniversary of the date notice for a claim is mailed." A performance bond claim runs on a separate one-year clock, measured from final completion, abandonment, or termination of the contract. Suit is filed in the county where the public work is located.

• +Confirm the contract crosses the bond threshold — over $25,000 for a non-municipal public entity, over $50,000 for a municipality — so a payment bond actually exists to claim against.
• +Identify which tier of the contract chain you're in: a direct contract with the prime means the 3rd-month deadline under § 2253.041; no direct contract means the tighter 2nd-month deadline under § 2253.047.
• +If the job carries retainage and there's no direct prime contract, mail the one-time retainage notice by the 15th of the second month after work began — separate from the monthly claim notice.
• +Mail the sworn statement of account to both the prime contractor and the surety, not the prime alone.
• +Track the 61-day payment window after notice is mailed, then the one-year anniversary of that same mailing date as the outside deadline to file suit.

This covers public jobs and payment bonds specifically. Texas's mechanic's lien deadline on private jobs runs on a different statute and a different clock — that free calculator (available in English and Spanish) is built for private-project liens under Property Code Chapter 53, not for McGregor Act bond notices, so it isn't the right tool for timing a public-job claim. Either way, it's a calculation aid, not legal advice.

If you want the notice and suit deadlines for one of your own public jobs laid out on a single page, email info@noumansadiq.com with the job's state and its start date.