We use cookies to keep you signed in and to see what's working and what breaks. No advertising cookies, nothing sold. Details in our Cookie Policy.

Ontario

Construction liens in Ontario

A lien is a clock, and it starts running off dates on site rather than off the day you decided to do something about it. These guides cover preserving and perfecting a claim, the prompt payment timelines running alongside it, and the order to work through when a client has gone quiet and the money is still out.

Try this on a real business

Open a seeded business in your trade. Nine jobs on the pipeline, a quote sent and viewed, a deposit paid, an invoice overdue, and a holdback on the current month.

Open the demo business

No card, no form. Sign in later and everything you built stays on the same account.

6 guides on this

How to run the businessWhen a client will not payFive steps in the order that costs least: check whether they ever opened it, send the reminder from your business, read the statutory dates, put it in writing, then pick the remedy that matches the amount.How to run the businessPrompt payment clocksOntario gives the payer 28 days to pay a proper invoice and 14 to dispute it, and gives you 7 to pay your own subs once you are paid. Put in one date and every deadline it sets is counted, with the section it comes from.How to run the businessConstruction liens in OntarioSixty days to preserve, ninety more to perfect, and the clock starts on your last day on site rather than on your invoice. Get your date first, then decide whether a lien is the right instrument at all.How to run the businessInvoice and get paid on timeBuild the invoice straight from an accepted quote, with HST at 13 percent and the 10 percent Construction Act holdback computed for you. Send it with a timestamped record, log partial cheques, and put every held-back dollar on a countdown.How to run the businessGet your 10% holdback backTake the 10% off every invoice automatically, on the pre-tax value, so your client sees what is payable now. Record each release date once, and every held dollar lands in one tracker that turns red the day you are allowed to collect it.After you qualifyOperational SetupBusiness banking, construction-specific accounting, payroll setup, trust obligations under the Construction Act, and day-to-day operations.

Count it instead of estimating it

Ontario lien deadline calculatorLast day on site and contract date in. Preservation, perfection and the annual holdback dates out, counted with the periods in the Construction Act.Free, no signup.
Every calculator

The rest of the Ontario library

Finding construction work in OntarioBidding and prequalification in OntarioPricing construction work in OntarioChange orders and extras in OntarioGetting paid on Ontario constructionConstruction holdback in OntarioHST for Ontario contractorsConstruction bookkeeping in Ontario
Every guideThe whole Ontario libraryHow to run the business