By now, you’re likely no stranger to preliminary notices.

When sent at the start of a project, they can be the difference between getting paid and experiencing slow pay, short pay, or no pay situations.

Better yet, they are necessary for securing your mechanics lien rights in the event that you are not paid for your work.

We’ve talked before about the importance of preparing your prelims correctly and the many pitfalls you can encounter when doing so, which is why it can be advantageous to utilize preliminary notice services.

But little thought is given to the mailing process after your pre liens have been prepared.

Many preliminary notice service providers utilize off-site third parties for the actual mailing process. This can lead to several disadvantages for you because the company you hired to send your prelims doesn’t actually have control of that notice in its final steps.

At CNS, we have our own in-house mailing team to ensure that we oversee the entire process of your prelims, from research to preparation and finally delivery to the required parties.

Continue reading to learn about the benefits of utilizing an in-house mailing team with CNS.

To get a preliminary notice started, contact CNS today or call us at 800-366-5660.

Avoid Additional Costs When Mailing Your Pre Liens

Preliminary notice service providers often utilize third-party mailing services. This results in incurred costs that are then placed on you as additional fees for postage.

A couple more dollars might not seem like a lot at first, but the more work you get and the more prelims you send, the more these costs will amount to in the long run.

Especially given the fact that your prelims need to be sent out to various parties, typically the general contractor, owner, and lender. In some instances, however, these parties could include several more individuals.

That means you’ll be charged additional fees for each prelim copy that needs to be sent.

At CNS, however, we have our own in-house mailing team. By doing so, we are able to reduce the cost of mailing and, in turn, remove any hidden fees that might otherwise fall on you.

Control Potential for Error in Mailing

In order for your pre lien to protect your mechanics lien rights, it must be received by the required parties.

Having your pre liens sent through a third party means that your pre liens need to pass through more hands to get to their destination. This can increase the margin of error.

Relying on a third party for mailing services also complicates matters further if an error does occur. It becomes more difficult to determine what exactly happened, at what step in the process it happened, and who should be contacted to resolve the issue.

At CNS, our in-house mailing team reduces the risk of processing mistakes by minimizing the points of contact, allowing us greater control over the mailing of your preliminary notices. If an error does occur, we are able to monitor the documents and correct the situation.

Sometimes prelims can be sent back due to a faulty address. In this instance, the CNS team would perform additional research to see why the address was incorrect, rectify it, and resend the prelim to the new address as part of our service.

Recordkeeping of Your Pre Liens

Most states require prelims to be sent as certified mail with signature confirmation in order to track the notice in transit and verify that it was delivered to the appropriate parties.

If a prelim is returned unclaimed (a recipient wasn’t available to accept the notice) or refused (the recipient decided not to accept the notice), it is still considered delivered from a legal perspective. However, if you choose to enforce a mechanics lien, you’ll likely be required to provide a proof of service affidavit.

Through our in-house mailing team, we file any and all returned, refused, or unclaimed documents as proof of your lien rights. We also maintain a logbook stamped by the postmaster and audit trails to ensure thorough record-keeping for our customers.

If you ever require proof of service, CNS can immediately provide you with all the necessary documentation as a complementary service rather than having to go through a third party.

Mailing Your Preliminary Notices With CNS

Preliminary notices are incredibly useful for resolving slow pay, short pay, and no pay situations.

But they will only work as they are supposed to if they are properly prepared, mailed out, and recorded.

At CNS, we utilize an in-house mailing team to provide our customers with accurate and dependable preliminary notice services. This, in turn, saves you money and ensures that your mechanics lien rights are protected.

Contact us today to get a prelim started.

Prefer to call? You can reach us at 800-366-5660.

Disclaimer: CNS is not an attorney, and if you need legal advice, please contact one.