Some readers may have noticed this Construction Lien Blog underwent a design overhaul two or three weeks ago. We let it go without mentioning, as it was just a first step toward this complete overhaul. The blog’s new design now matches Zlien’s website, as we went live with the redesign over the weekend.

Although there are significant design enhancements with the new site design, I consider these two as the most significant improvements:

Mechanics Lien & Preliminary Notice Resources

When we set out to redesign the Zlien website, creating a more organized and user-friendly mechanics’s lien resource center was our top priority, and we believe we successfully redesigned this element of our offerings.

Now, the user can click on a state, and be brought to that state’s homepage for lien and notice resources.  All resources, whether it be deadline charts, state projects, private projects, statutes or forms, are all easily accessible from one spot online.  Plus, we even pump our mechanic’s lien law alerts from this blog onto the state’s homepage.

In addition to the design enhancements, we also have content enhancements.  There are more mechanic lien law and preliminary notice requirements published on the Zlien website than ever before, and we’ve got the web’s most extensive mechanic’s lien and preliminary notice forms database.  The best part about all of these forms?  They’re organized, easy to find, and free.

The Fastest, Smartest and Easiest Ordering System On The Planet

Although our Mechanic’s Lien Ordering System was the best and most sophisticated on the planet, we thought it could be even better. Now, it is.

We’ve improved our progress bar, so that instead of seeing a generic colored bar, you can see each step that is required to complete your order and just how much further you have left to fill out.  We’ve completely re-designed our order contact management system, making it more intuitive and easy to add project contacts to your order.  We’ve utilized APIs to match zip codes, cities, states and counties to ensure order accuracy. And finally, we’ve just made the dang thing look prettier.

If your company needs to deliver a preliminary notice, or file a mechanic’s lien or bond claim, there isn’t a faster, easier or more accurate way to get this done.  The Zlien Filing Wizard is the best on the planet, and you can give it a shot here: Order A Mechanic’s Lien Now.

In light of the blog series here for material suppliers, I’ve collated a lot of our lien law resources to create a state-by-state breakdown of what a material supplier needs to know about preliminary notices, mechanic liens and bond claims on state, county, federal and private projects in the United States.

The state-by-state guide is a little robust to include within the post, so you have to click on this link to view it, or you can download it at the link below.  Enjoy!

The best place to start is on our Lien Law Punchlists and Forms page, within the Support section of the Zlien website.  Here, you can download free forms (for liens, notices and more), as well as a brief one-page summary of each state’s lien laws.  Currently, our most popular states are represented, but we’re adding more resources everyday.

Coming soon?   Useful links, videos, and more.

It’s our goal to be the single most comprehensive resource to contractors for construction liens and bond claims.   How are we doing?

As one of its resources, the website has re-published an article written by Lloyd N. Shields, one of New Orleans’ premiere construction attorneys.   The article, titled Mechanics Liens and Construction Bonds under Louisiana Law, offers a good discussion of Louisiana’s sometimes peculiar lien laws.

When doing work in a particular state – like Louisiana – it never hurts to spend time reviewing the overall lien laws in your area.   Understanding and following lien laws is important for your company to avoid bad collection situations, and is increasingly important in this penny-pinching economy.

It would be a prudent start to the new year to spend some time getting familiar with the lien laws in Louisiana.  You can read some basic information about Louisiana lien laws at the Construction Lien Blog here.   The allbusiness.com article is also a good resource.

Also, be sure to check out the Construction Industry Center at AllBusiness.Com.