§ 8600 Contractor Payment Bond Liens

• •Before starting a big project, the owner must file a contract and a payment bond (like a promise to pay) with the county. The bond must be at least half the price of the project.
• •If the owner does this, the court can limit how much money people can take from the owner if they weren’t paid for their work.
• •If the owner doesn’t pay the contractor enough, the court can make the contractor and the bond company pay the rest to the workers.

A homeowner hires a contractor to build a new house for $500,000. Before work starts, the owner files the contract and a $250,000 payment bond with the county.

If the contractor doesn’t pay the workers, the workers can only take money from what the owner still owes the contractor. If the owner owes the contractor $200,000 but the workers are owed $250,000, the court can make the contractor and the bond company pay the extra $50,000.