Know your lien deadlines before they pass.

On residential projects (four units or fewer), give the owner, the owner’s authorized agent, or the owner’s registered agent the exact statutory warning (Attachment A) before you commence work (§§ 18-44-106 and -107 define “owner” and “contractor”). Deliver it personally, send it by certified mail (no signature required), or incorporate it into the signed contract. Given by the contractor before work begins, it covers every later claimant, including subcontractors, laborers, and suppliers. Two exceptions and one limit on that coverage are set out under “Who must give notice” in Part II. A residential contractor who does not give this notice loses its right to lien, and commits a violation punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. Subcontractors, laborers, and suppliers lose the lien only if the owner never received the notice from anyone; one copy, from any claimant, protects them all. The current rule bars the lien only, not a suit for the unpaid contract balance, and Arkansas appellate courts have applied that softened rule retroactively, so a claim on the contract generally survives. § 18-44-115

On commercial real estate (any nonresidential property, or residential property with five or more units), serve the owner and the contractor within 75 days of your last labor or materials provided. This notice (commonly called the “75-Day Notice”) must state that you are currently entitled to payment and have not been paid. It describes the labor, service, or materials and the amount due and unpaid, gives your name and address and the name of the person who contracted to purchase them, identifies the job site, and includes the Attachment B language. Subcontractors, service providers, material suppliers, and laborers all owe this notice (see Part II). § 18-44-115

Before you file a lien, give the owner at least ten days’ notice, stating that you hold a claim against the improvement, the amount due, and from whom it is due. Keep verified proof of delivery. This notice is required on every project, residential and commercial alike. § 18-44-114

File a verified lien with the circuit clerk of the county where the property sits, within 120 days of your last labor or materials (for contractors, substantial completion). Include a correct legal description of the property, an accounting of the amount due after all credits, and proof of every required notice. The recording fee is $15 for the first page and $5 for each additional page. The lien must contain a correct legal description of the property. A street address is not a correct description, and Arkansas appellate courts have held that a description so broad it cannot identify the improved area fails for the same reason. § 18-44-117

Enforce the lien by filing suit and a lis pendens within fifteen months of recording. Miss the fifteen-month deadline and the lien is void by operation of law. Winning alone does not earn you a fee: to recover one, first serve notice of the filed lien on the owner by one of the service methods the 75-day notice allows, then go twenty days unpaid, and only then sue. If instead the owner prevails, the owner is allowed a reasonable fee against you. The fifteen-month deadline is hard: if the claimant does not file suit and a lis pendens by then, the lien is void by operation of law. The fee is separate and can be lost without losing the lien: the claimant’s fee depends on notice of the filed lien and the twenty-day wait, so informal notice, or suing before the twenty days run, forfeits it. Those twenty days must also fit inside the fifteen months. §§ 18-44-119, -128