Two sections, one document
The contents of a California preliminary notice come from two places. Section 8102 lists what every notice under the works-of-improvement part must contain. Section 8202 adds three things specific to the preliminary notice. The preliminary notice section says so in its first line:
The preliminary notice shall comply with the requirements of Section 8102, and shall also include:
So the form is §8102 plus §8202. This page takes them in that order and quotes each required line.
The six items every notice carries (§8102(a))
Notice under this part shall, in addition to any other information required by statute for that type of notice, include all of the following information to the extent known to the person giving the notice:
Note the qualifier before the list: to the extent known. The statute expects the claimant to give what it knows and does not demand facts it has no way to learn. The six items:
(1) The name and address of the owner or reputed owner. (2) The name and address of the direct contractor. (3) The name and address of the construction lender, if any.
Items one to three are the three recipients, each with an address. The lender line carries its own if any; a job with no construction lender has no third recipient and no third line to fill. The recipients page covers what reputed does in these lines.
(4) A description of the site sufficient for identification, including the street address of the site, if any. If a sufficient legal description of the site is given, the effectiveness of the notice is not affected by the fact that the street address is erroneous or is omitted.
The site line asks for enough to identify the property, and names the street address as part of it when the site has one. The second sentence is a safety valve: a sufficient legal description carries the notice even if the street address is wrong or missing. The wizard asks for both and prints both when you have both.
(5) The name, address, and relationship to the parties of the person giving the notice.
Item five is you: name, address, and how you are connected to the job. Subcontractor to the direct contractor, supplier to a subcontractor, and so on. The relationship line is what tells the owner where in the chain the notice comes from.
(6) If the person giving the notice is a claimant: (A) A general statement of the work provided. (B) The name of the person to or for whom the work is provided. (C) A statement or estimate of the claimant's demand, if any, after deducting all just credits and offsets.
Item six applies to a claimant, which a party giving a preliminary notice is. A general statement of the work, the name of the party you are furnishing it to or for, and a statement or estimate of the demand if there is one, net of credits and offsets. The words if any matter on a job where nothing is yet owed: the line can say so.
The three additions for a preliminary notice (§8202(a))
(1) A general description of the work to be provided. (2) An estimate of the total price of the work provided and to be provided.
Section 8102 asked for the work provided; §8202 adds the work to be provided and an estimate of the total price across both. On a job that has just started, the estimate is most of the number. It is an estimate, and the statute calls it one.
The third addition is the statement, and the statute dictates both its words and its weight:
(3) The following statement in boldface type:
NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNER
EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE PAID YOUR CONTRACTOR IN FULL, if the person or firm that has given you this notice is not paid in full for labor, service, equipment, or material provided or to be provided to your construction project, a lien may be placed on your property. Foreclosure of the lien may lead to loss of all or part of your property. You may wish to protect yourself against this by (1) requiring your contractor to provide a signed release by the person or firm that has given you this notice before making payment to your contractor, or (2) any other method that is appropriate under the circumstances.
This notice is required by law to be served by the undersigned as a statement of your legal rights.
This notice is not intended to reflect upon the financial condition of the contractor or the person employed by you on the construction project.
If you record a notice of cessation or completion of your construction project, you must within 10 days after recording, send a copy of the notice of completion to your contractor and the person or firm that has given you this notice. The notice must be sent by registered or certified mail. Failure to send the notice will extend the deadline to record a claim of lien. You are not required to send the notice if you are a residential homeowner of a dwelling containing four or fewer units.
Four paragraphs, all of them required, all in boldface. The first warns the owner that paying the contractor does not extinguish a lien from further down the chain and suggests the signed release as protection. The second and third tell the owner what the notice is and is not. The fourth places a duty on the owner who records a notice of cessation or completion, with an exemption for a residential homeowner of a dwelling containing four or fewer units. NoticeSent prints the statement verbatim, in bold, on every California preliminary notice; the words are not ours to edit.
The laborer line (§8202(b))
If preliminary notice is given by a subcontractor that has not paid all compensation due to a laborer, the notice shall include the name and address of the laborer and any person or entity described in subdivision (b) of Section 8024 to which payments are due.
A subcontractor with unpaid laborer compensation must name the laborer and the payees described in §8024(b), which is not quoted on this page. The wizard exposes the line as an optional field with this rule beside it; whether it applies to a given notice is the subcontractor's fact to state.
When a line is wrong
Notice is not invalid by reason of any variance from the requirements of this section if the notice is sufficient to substantially inform the person given notice of the information required by this section and other information required in the notice.
Section 8102(b) is the forgiveness clause for content. A variance does not invalidate the notice when the notice still substantially informs the recipient of the required information. It is a standard about the reader's information, not the writer's effort, and where a particular error falls against it is a question for an attorney. What the clause does not cover is timing: the 20-day rule in §8204(a) has its own terms, on the late notice page.
Invoices and certified payroll (§8202(c))
If an invoice for material or certified payroll contains the information required by this section and Section 8102, a copy of the invoice or payroll, given in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 8100) of Title 1, is sufficient.
A supplier's invoice or a certified payroll can be the notice, provided it carries every required item, including the boldface statement, and is given by a method the notice chapter allows. Most invoices do not carry the statement, which is why a purpose-built notice is the usual route.
How the generated notice maps to these lines
The wizard collects the six §8102 items, the §8202 description and estimate, and the optional laborer line, then prints them under the statutory headings with the citations on the page and the boldface statement in full. You review the document before paying. It is then certified-mailed to each recipient named in §8200(a), by a method §8110 allows, and archived with the tracking record. Sending it is the next page.
Frequently asked
Is there an official California preliminary notice form?
The pinned text of §8102 and §8202 prescribes contents, not a layout. Section 8202(a)(3) does dictate one block of words, the Notice to Property Owner statement, and requires it in boldface type. Everything else is a list of information the notice must include, to the extent known to the person giving it.
What if I get an address slightly wrong?
Section 8102(b) says notice is not invalid by reason of any variance from the requirements of this section if the notice is sufficient to substantially inform the person given notice of the information required. For the site, §8102(a)(4) adds that a sufficient legal description saves an erroneous or omitted street address. Whether a particular error is a variance or something worse is a question for an attorney.
Can an invoice serve as the preliminary notice?
Section 8202(c) says a copy of an invoice for material or a certified payroll is sufficient if it contains the information required by §8202 and §8102 and is given in compliance with the notice chapter. That means the invoice would have to carry the boldface statement and every required item, and be served by a method the chapter allows.