Founder's Blog

TRADITION SOFTWARE is announcing tentative pricing for Tradition forms. The new legal size, certified mail forms are a replacement for Pettit Forms, whose support in PreLien2Lien is set to expire in the second quarter of 2010.

Pricing for the laser, two sided legal form for use in printing 1st notices sent by certified mail will begin at $50 per 100 forms. Discounts of $1 per 100 forms purchased can be realized for quantities up to 1,000 forms.

Current customers using Pettit forms will be given 30 day codes to exhaust their current supply of forms before considering the adoption of the new Tradition forms.

Certified Mail Log, First Class Mail Log, Pettit Forms, Tradition Forms

IP Address verification has been added to MyLienCenter.com to enhance the logon security for companies who want users from certified company sites or PCs with company specific IP addresses to enter project information.

An example would be MEGA BUILDERS INC. Their HQ and their fifty state branches all have IP addresses that begin with 77.4.8. The last byte could be any number between 1-254. If you were at a PC at any of these locations, MyLienCenter.com would look to verify that you were logging on from a 77.4.8 address.

If a terminated employee went home and tried to use their company logon and password combination from a PC that has a 81.6.22 address, their logon would fail with an error message that would say “Your IP Address is not authorized for use of MyLienCenter.com.”

Lien Service Edition, MyLienCenter.com, TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES

PreLien2Lien v. 14.03.01 has a new “BRANCH” drop down menu added for large companies who have multiple offices/divisions and whose notices are printed by two or more regional locations.

An example of would be MEGA BUILDERS INC., headquartered in Denver, Colorado. They might have business divisions in several states, like TEXAS MEGA BUILDERS and ILLINOIS MEGA BUILDERS. The notices for the TEXAS location are handled by the Austin Regional Credit office. The notices for the ILLINOIS location are handled by the St. Louis Regional Credit office. Both regional credit offices use PreLien when they logon to Citrix or Terminal Server boxes.

In this example after doing the one time setup of definining the Individual Office locations in COMPANY SETUP, users now can setup the two (2) Regional Credit Offices in the BRANCH field. Everyone can enter new projects for any office/division/branch, and select which branch this project should be assigned to. Simply select the Individual Office from the COMPANY drop down menu and the Regional Credit Office from BRANCH drop down menu.

Mass printing first notices now can be done by Branch. The printing of the Daily Mail Log (Certified or First Class) can also be done by Branch.

Certified Mail Log, Citrix, First Class Mail Log, Mass Printing, Terminal Server

Confusion has been rampant since the CALIFORNIA legislature passed revisions to the lien laws that were signed into state law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in August 2009. These changes DO NOT TAKE EFFECT until January 1, 2011.

To help property owners know right away that a lien on their property has been recorded, a new NOTICE OF MECHANIC’S LIEN will be required. It will require bold 10pt. text with a heading titled:

NOTICE OF MECHANIC’S LIEN

ATTENTION!

Additionally, to insure delivery of a recorded lien to a property owner, a new notice called a PROOF OF SERVICE AFFIDAVIT will need to be recorded along with the Mechanic’s Lien. It will be a one page notice that affirms the date, address, and name of the property owner that the Mechanic’s Lien and Notice Of Mechanic’s Lien were delivered to.

CALIFORNIA, Mechanic's Lien

TRADITION SOFTWARE is launching TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES (www.TraditionNoticeServices.com) as part of an effort to better serve current and potential customers who would like an alternative for the lien recording process in the state(s) they do business in. Many of our PreLien2Lien customers use the software to do 1st notices or payment Waivers and Releases, but don’t want to go to a county Recorder or Clerk’s office to record a lien. Each month we get hundreds of sales leads from companies for our software. The most common reason people don’t purchase PreLien2Lien is not because they can’t use the software or afford to purchase it. It is because they don’t want to record a lien themselves. This is where TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES can help companies.

PreLien2Lien is used already by twenty (20) leading lien services across the U.S.. While
TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES will be competing against these lien services for new accounts, there is plenty of business for everyone without our company jeopardizing our great business relationships with our lien service customers that rely every day on PreLien2Lien.

TRADITION SOFTWARE’s national marketing expertise will be directedtowards promoting TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES online starting January 1st. An aggressive $150 price per recorded lien will be offered to all customers who sign a contract for services in 2010. A unique, partial money back payment of $50 will be offered to a customer who is not successfully paid within each state’s statutory time period for a lien to remain recorded.

Mechanic's Lien, TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES

The GEORGIA State Legislature passed several changes in state lien laws and corresponding notices that take effect on March 31, 2009. PreLien2Lien has been updated as follows:

1. The Print Menu explanation and Lien Reminder text has been changed from 3 months to 90 days for the filing deadline for a GA Claim Of Lien after the last day equipment, labor, materials or services are provided for a project.

2. The Print Menu explanation and Lien Reminder text has been changed to reflect that a GA Claim Of Lien must be sent to the property Owner by personal delivery or certified mail within 2 business days of the GA Claim Of Lien being recored.

3. The Print Menu explanation and Lien Reminder text has been changed to reflect that a GA Claim Of Lien must be foreclosed upon within 365 days after the GA Claim Of Lien is recorded. The old deadline used to be 12 months after the date the GA Claim Of Lien was due.

4. The Waiver And Release forms were all changed to 12 pt. bold face fonts with capital letters.

5. Both the Interim and Final lien waivers become unconditional and binding 60 days after the date of the waiver, even if a payment bounces or is not received as promised. The only recourse is the timely recording of Notice Of Nonpayment.

6. The word “Unconditional” was required to be removed from the final lien waiver.

7. Lien waiver now include the release of future bond rights in addition to lien rights.

8. The Notice Of Nonpayment was also required to be changed to 12 pt. bold face fonts with capital letters. Additionally, statuatory language in the notice was required to be changed.

9. The GA Claim Of Lien must include new statuatory language in 12 pt. bold face fonts regarding the statuatory deadline to foreclose on a lien. Additionally, statutory language must also be included that advises the property Owner of the right to file a Notice Of Contest Of Lien.

10. March 31, 2009 is the first day all the changes take effect. All old notices and corresponding legal requirements and deadlines remain in effect until March 30, 2009.

I am sure that there are well thought out intentions that make these changes beneficial for both contractors and property owners. I do have to question the excessive legislation on type fonts and bolding. While a legal document should certainly be legible to read, it should also be a professional legal document on the merit of its content, not the format in which in appears.

GEORGIA, Mechanic's Lien, PreLien2Lien, Template Updates GEORGIA

I admire companies that are leaders. Common traits they have include understanding and qualifying risks, not accepting the status quo, listening to customers and understanding the difference between features and benefits.

Even though I am a stauch PC proponent, I have become a big user of APPLE’s itune service. They broke out of the pack of companies trying to commercialize music downloads for money. I am very impressed with how Netflix seems to stay one step ahead of Blockbuster for online movie rentals.

One of TRADITION SOFTWARE’s 10 Core Business Values is leadership. “As a company, we will set the standard in our markets by having the best product, at the best price with the best customer service and technical support.”

This daily commitment has resulted in a significant new feature in PreLien2Lien which will benefit all users in 2009. The Lien Reminder (LR) system, co-developed by myself and Miriam Liskin, is a new part of the PROJECT tab, helping guide users towards significant state lien deadlines.

The first phase of the system will focus exclusively on private (Commercial and Residential) deadlines. As the year progresses, reminder capability will be added for Public jobs.

All PreLien2Lien2Lien users can benefit from using the Lien Reminder system. States with first notice deadlines like CA, AZ, MI (20 days), OH (21 days) NV (31 days), and FL (45 days) allow zero forgiveness to file a lien later on if the first notice is not delivered. The lien reminder system will calculate how many days you to deliver the notice from the first date equipment, labor, materials or services are provided to the jobiste.

Owners and General\Prime Contractors can shorten the lien timeframe by filing a Notice Of Completion. AZ, CA, NV and MA are just a few of the states that the Lien Reminder system will calculate the revised lien deadline when a Notice Of Completion recording date is entered.

Also, deadlines often are shorter for Existing\New Residential projects compared to Commercial projects. Several states, including AL, MO, NY, OH, TX and VA fall into this category.

Lien Laws By State, Mechanic's Lien, Miriam Liskin

I would like to see more of Laramie, WY than two brief overnight stays at the Holiday Inn off 30th Street that hosted me as I drove cross country on Highway 80 from Batavia, IL to San Jose, CA in 1992.

Thirty-five (35) WYOMING notices were entirely re-written in PreLien2Lien this month. They also have (CTT) Custom Template Technology, enabling each template notice to be customized for a one-time $50 fee.

Both General/Prime Contractors and Subcontractors in WYOMING have mandatory 1st notices they must deliver at the start of a construction related improvement. WYOMING Statutes § 29-2-110 mandate that a Notice To Owner must be served by the Prime Contractor or Subcontractor to the Owner within thirty (30) days after first furnishing construction related labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools to a jobsite. Furthermore, on all private (commercial or residential) projects where the General/Prime Contractor’s contract is for $50,000 or greater, WYOMING Statutes § 29-2-111 mandate that a Notice Of Right To Claim A Lien must be served by Subcontractor or materialman to the General/Prime Contractor within sixty (60) days after first furnishing construction related labor, professional services, materials, machinery, fixtures or tools to a private (commercial or residential) or public (city, county, state or authority) jobsite.

General/Prime/Sub Contractors (Private Projects):  WYOMING Statutes §§ 29-1-301; 29-2-106 mandate that you have 90 days (Subcontractors) or 120 days (General Contractors) to file a Lien Statement (Mechanic’s Lien) in the county at the County Clerks office where the project occurred after the last day labor was provided at a jobsite or materials were delivered. All legal parties must be notified by Certified Mail or personal delivery of the recorded Lien Statement. A Lien Statement must be perfected through a foreclosure action at the Superior Court in the county where the project is located within 180 days of the Lien Statement being recorded.

Mechanic's Lien, PreLien2Lien, Template Updates, WYOMING WYOMING

There is always a business challenge when faced with picking a technology company that will become the branded partner for your company and its products. An example is our use of the industry standard Installshield Windows installer for PreLien2Lien. It is well respected by the majority of professional IT people who either use it by default when installing software or like TRADITION SOFTWARE licenses it for use in their products.

Our company reached a decision recently to add a licensed GOOGLE custom search button to all 600+ pages of the TraditionSoftware.com website.  After paying the yearly Annual Subscripton fee, it took a half day of myself and Miriam Liskin playing around with the HTML that exists for the search button and finding the right permanent home on our website so that it could appear in the same location across our 600+ content pages that currently comprise the site.

I have test the results, and will say the accuracy has been very solid. Perhaps the greatest benefit lies in the fact that you articulate what sites you would like queried. For us, it is our main site, the ecommerce section that has 200+ products for purchase and this blog.

Miriam Liskin, Search Engines

A change was made today in PreLien2Lien for NORTH CAROLINA that affects Subcontractors. Since they should be delivered jointly, the Claim of Lien On Real Property (Subcontractor) that is recorded is now combined with a Notice Of Claim of Lien By First, Second Or Third Tier Subcontractor/ Supplier (in essence, a Stop Notice of money from the funds source to the General Contractor.

Subcontractors (Private Projects): NORTH CAROLINA General Statutes §§ 44A-20(d), 44A-23 mandates that a Claim of Lien On Real Property (Subcontractor) be filed within one hundred twenty (120) days of last providing labor or materials for a project. It must be filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the project is located. The Claim of Lien On Real Property must then be enforced through a lawsuit within one hundred eighty (180) days of last providing labor or material for a project.

Delivered jointly with a recorded Claim of Lien On Real Property (Subcontractor) is a Notice Of Claim of Lien By First, Second Or Third Tier Subcontractor/Supplier. NORTH CAROLINA General Statutes § 44A-19(b) mandates that it be sent to the property owner and any other legal parties on the project (General/Prime Contractor, Lender, Customer. It does not need to be filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the project is located. There is no time limit to enforce through a lawsuit a Notice Of Claim of Lien By First, Second Or Third Tier Subcontractor/Supplier. The Owner or party owning the money for the project has an obligation to withhold payment to the General/Prime Contractor until the Lien Claimant’s payment is satisfied.

Mechanic's Lien, NORTH CAROLINA, PreLien2Lien, Template Updates NORTH CAROLINA