New York Construction Payment Counsel
Kushnick Pallaci helps owners, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers resolve unpaid construction balances through contract claims, mechanic’s liens, payment bonds, trust-fund remedies, negotiation, arbitration, litigation, and judgment enforcement.
Construction debt collection is not ordinary collections
Payment recovery starts with preserving the right remedy
An unpaid construction balance may look like a straightforward invoice dispute, but the available leverage can depend on the project type, the payment chain, the contract, the work dates, approval records, lienable property interests, bond language, and the movement of project funds. A demand letter may resolve one matter. Another may require a New York mechanic’s lien, payment-bond notice, Article 3-A trust analysis, arbitration demand, or breach-of-contract action.
Our role is to identify the remedies that remain available, protect them before deadlines expire, and select a commercially sensible path. That means measuring the likely recovery, available security, cost, timing, defenses, and the client’s ongoing business relationship—not simply filing the largest possible lawsuit.
Client problems we address
From a rejected requisition to a contested final account
Unpaid payment applications and invoices
We review approval requirements, conditions precedent, pay-if-paid or pay-when-paid language, supporting documentation, and the actual reason payment stopped.
Retainage disputes
We evaluate contractual release triggers, substantial or final completion, closeout requirements, statutory limits, offsets, and whether retainage has become due.
Disputed change-order work
Recovery may turn on written-notice clauses, owner or construction-manager directives, field records, course of dealing, pricing support, and waiver defenses.
Mechanic’s lien filing and enforcement
We advise on lienability, timing, amount, service, itemization, discharge, extension, and mechanic’s lien foreclosure.
Payment-bond claims
Public and bonded projects require prompt review of the bond, claimant tier, notices, proof of delivery or performance, and suit limitations.
Prompt Payment Act remedies
Qualifying private construction contracts may support statutory payment timing, interest, retainage, suspension, and expedited dispute-resolution rights.
Lien Law Article 3-A trust claims
We trace project receipts and disbursements, identify trust beneficiaries, assess records, and evaluate civil trust-fund diversion claims.
Contract claims and negotiations
Focused demand letters and pre-suit negotiations can frame the accounting, document defaults, preserve rights, and create a realistic route to payment.
Arbitration, litigation, and judgments
When informal collection fails, we prosecute and defend construction arbitration, litigation, and post-judgment enforcement proceedings.
Commercially focused strategy
Not every unpaid balance should take the same route.
The fastest practical recovery may come from curing an incomplete payment package, escalating to the right project decision-maker, filing security before a deadline, or commencing a focused proceeding. We build the sequence around the documents and the client’s business objective.
Remedies and leverage
Choosing the claim that fits the project
| Route | Where it can help | Questions to answer early |
|---|---|---|
| Contract demand or claim | Unpaid base work, approved or disputed extras, retainage, delay impacts, and closeout balances. | What does the contract require for notice, billing, change orders, dispute resolution, and venue? |
| Mechanic’s lien | Secures qualifying private-improvement claims against the improved real property and can create closing or financing leverage. | Is the claimant eligible, is the work lienable, what is the last qualifying work date, and is the claimed amount supportable? |
| Payment bond | Provides a payment source on many public projects and some private bonded projects where lien rights may be limited or unavailable. | Who issued the bond, what claimant tier applies, and what notice and suit dates control? |
| Prompt Payment Act | May add timing, interest, retainage, suspension, and expedited arbitration rights to qualifying private contracts. | Does the statute apply, was the invoice complete, was a timely written objection made, and what amount is undisputed? |
| Article 3-A trust claim | Addresses diversion of project funds that should have been applied to trust purposes and beneficiaries. | What trust assets were received, how were they used, what records exist, and who are the beneficiaries? |
| Arbitration or litigation | Resolves disputed entitlement, damages, offsets, defective work, delay, and competing project-account claims. | What forum is required, what proof is available, and can interim security or early dispositive relief improve the position? |
| Judgment enforcement | Turns a judgment into recovery through information subpoenas, restraints, levies, turnover proceedings, and negotiated payment plans. | Where are the debtor’s assets, receivables, accounts, and property, and what competing liens or exemptions exist? |
Critical New York deadlines
Dates should be calculated from project-specific facts
| Remedy | General timing point | Why the file must be reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Private mechanic’s lien | New York Lien Law § 10 generally provides eight months after completion or final furnishing; the period is generally four months for a single-family dwelling. A retainage lien may have a separate 90-day filing rule after retainage becomes due. | Corrective or warranty work may not extend the date. Property type, claimant role, last qualifying work, and service requirements matter. |
| Lien duration | Under Lien Law § 17, a private lien generally lasts one year unless a foreclosure action is commenced with the required notice of pendency or the lien is properly extended. | Extensions and foreclosure steps have technical requirements; a lien can expire even while payment discussions continue. |
| Public payment bond | State Finance Law § 137 includes a 90-day nonpayment threshold, a 120-day notice rule for certain lower-tier claimants, and generally a one-year suit period after project completion and acceptance. | The bond, claimant tier, contracting agency, completion and acceptance facts, and any federal or local law may change the analysis. |
| Article 3-A | Lien Law § 77 imposes a separate limitations framework for representative trust proceedings, commonly measured from project completion or when final payment became due to a subcontractor or material supplier. | Trust claims are fact-intensive. The identity of the trust, beneficiary, assets, payment dates, and other pending proceedings must be evaluated. |
| Contract, arbitration, and notice | Contractual notice periods can be much shorter than a lawsuit limitation period and may require notice within days of an event. | Forum clauses, claim-certification requirements, change-order procedures, and public-contract notice provisions can determine whether a claim survives. |
These are general guideposts, not a deadline calculation. Other statutes, contracts, bonds, public-agency rules, project facts, and procedural requirements may control.
How we approach a collection matter
A disciplined route from project record to recovery
Review the record
We examine the contract, payment applications, invoices, change documentation, payment history, correspondence, and controlling deadlines.
Identify security and leverage
We assess property interests, bonds, trust assets, undisputed amounts, guarantees, retainage, contractual remedies, and available defendants.
Preserve remedies
We calendar and protect lien, bond, trust-fund, notice, arbitration, and litigation rights while negotiations continue.
Pursue the sensible route
We select the fastest commercially reasonable path, from a focused demand through negotiated resolution, arbitration, litigation, or enforcement.
Who we represent
Payment counsel across the construction chain
Owners and developers
We address unsupported requisitions, defective or incomplete work, improper liens, overbilling, completion costs, releases, and project closeout while separating legitimate payment obligations from contested claims.
General contractors and construction managers
We pursue owner balances, retainage, and approved or directed extra work, and help coordinate downstream claims, releases, bonds, and project accounting.
Subcontractors and trade contractors
We evaluate lien and bond security, payment defenses, change directives, notice compliance, trust-fund issues, and claims against the appropriate contracting parties.
Suppliers and other project participants
We analyze purchase records, delivery proof, payment terms, lien or bond eligibility, trust status, and the most efficient route to collect documented balances.
Frequently asked questions
Construction payment and collection questions
Should I send a demand letter before filing a mechanic’s lien?
Often, but not at the cost of a lien deadline. A focused demand can clarify the accounting and create a settlement record, while lien documents are prepared in parallel when timing is tight.
Can I recover payment for unapproved change-order work?
Possibly. The analysis may include written-change requirements, directives, emergency work, waiver, course of dealing, project records, and whether the recipient accepted the benefit. The contract and contemporaneous documents are central.
What if retainage has not been released?
We first identify the contractual and statutory release trigger, remaining closeout requirements, claimed offsets, and whether the New York Prompt Payment Act applies. Retainage also may affect lien timing.
Is a payment-bond claim the same as a mechanic’s lien?
No. A bond claim seeks payment from bond security, while a mechanic’s lien encumbers a qualifying property interest or public improvement fund. Eligibility, notices, deadlines, and enforcement procedures differ.
Does New York’s Prompt Payment Act apply to every project?
No. It applies to qualifying construction contracts and contains definitions, thresholds, and exclusions. The invoice, written objections, contract value, project type, and payment chain should be reviewed before relying on a statutory remedy.
Can Article 3-A help when project funds were used elsewhere?
It may. Article 3-A creates statutory trusts for certain project funds. A claim requires analysis of the trust, beneficiaries, receipts, disbursements, records, and the representative nature of a proceeding.
What happens if the contract requires arbitration?
A valid arbitration clause may require the payment dispute to be decided in arbitration rather than court. Court proceedings may still be relevant to lien foreclosure, provisional remedies, enforcement, or parties outside the arbitration agreement.
Can the firm help collect an existing construction judgment?
Yes. Judgment enforcement is a separate phase that may involve asset investigation, information subpoenas, account restraints, levies, turnover proceedings, property liens, or a structured payment resolution.
Related New York construction payment guidance
Review the remedy that fits the project
New York construction debt collection counsel
Protect the deadline before choosing the collection route.
Bring the contract, payment record, disputed invoices, change-order documents, bond information, and key project dates. We can help identify the claims, defenses, leverage, and next commercially sensible step.