Founder's Blog

From time to time, I like to get out of the office and visit with customers. You get an up close and personal view of what issues companies are encountering today, and what issues employees are now facing and dealing with in today’s tough business climate.

Earlier this month I visited in person with a customer in Aurora, IL. As usual, I invited feedback from the customer as to how we could improve PreLien2Lien, Soon after that, we got a phone call from the user I visited with suggesting that we autopopulate our online order page for Property Owner Report requests with project location data from PreLien2Lien.

The Property Owner Report button in PreLien2Lien was originally added as a new feature in 2009. I instructed Miriam Liskin, Software Development Manager for PreLien2Lien, to have the Property Owner Report button for Property Owner Reports now autopopulate the project information from the PROJECT tab of PreLien2Lien on the TraditionSoftware.com website page for Property Owner Report requests.

This is just one of the many examples where ease of use and saving time for PreLien2Lien users is the goal every day for the team of employees at TRADITION SOFTWARE.

PreLien2Lien users who want a professional lien service to record a Bond Claim, Mechanic’s Lien or Stop Notice can now transmit their project information instantly to TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES account managers for instant evaluation and possible legal action.

TRADITION SOFTWARE’s goal for PreLien2Lien is for users to use the program for all facets of a state’s lien process, from 1st notice to a claim being recorded and subsequently released. Some users however don’t have the time or professional resources to effectively record and release claims (Bond Claim, Mechanic’s Lien Claim, Stop Notice) in a timely manner. They turn to professional lien service solutions to support their collection efforts that begin often with the printing of a 1st notice in PreLien2Lien.

In the first six (6) months since it’s inception, twenty (20) US construction contractors and subcontractors have contracted with TRADITION NOTICE SERVICES for professional lien managment services.

Due to a recent Janauary 12, 2010 WYOMING Supreme Court ruling, WYOMING’s Lien Statment and Amended Lien Statement in PreLien2Lien were updated with the following new text:

I, SIGNERNAME, having been duly sworn upon oath, do hereby swear to the truth and accuracy of the information set forth in this Lien Statement.

The WYOMING Supreme Court based its ruling on WYOMING STATUTES §29-1-301:

Statement of Lien, Contents, Notice
(a) In order to have a perfected lien pursuant to this title, a lien claimant shall file with the county clerk a lien statement sworn to before a notary public. The county clerk shall file the statement and index by date, name of claimant and property owner, and legal description.

The Joint Check Agreement that is included with with the OTHER DOCUMENTS tab of the PRINT menu has been enhanced.

Users now have the choice of choosing what legal parties (CUSTOMER, OWNER, GENERAL, LENDER) they want added at the bottom within the signature area. Additionally, you have the option of adding the SIGNER’S NAME and SIGNER TITLE, if known, for printing alongside their respective signature line.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.