Legal Question in Construction Law in New Hampshire

Sorry to hear about your payment problem. Obviously, I am working with only limited information, and my comments below are not intended to be legal advice, but rather just to give some information about some of the rights available in New Hampshire to contractors in your predicament.

The first thing that comes to mind is to file a mechanic's lien, provided you are still within your right to do so. Under New Hampshire's mechanic's lien statute subcontractors have the right to a lien on real estate that they contribute to improving, to the extent of their work, provided they preserve their rights by taking certain procedural steps. The first step in NH is to send Notice of Lien, basically a letter to the owner that states the project you are providing work on and who you are providing work for at that project. This notice should be served via regular mail and certified mail return receipt requested so that you have proof when it was served on the owner. Pursuant to NH law, you will have a lien on the project up to the amount due from the Owner to the GC at the time you file your lien. The second step is to provide a Statement of Account to the owner every 30 days after the Notice of Lien is served, providing an update as to the amount of work you've provided, amount you've been paid and amount you are owed. Thereafter, the third step to preserve your rights is to file suit to enforce your lien within 120 days of your last work or supply. If you are doing work as a corporation or an LLC, you will need an attorney to represent you for this step since entities can't represent themselves in New Hampshire.

All of the above is in addition to your right to proceed against the GC directly under your contract (depending on the terms).

While it is not always the case, many GCs will repeatedly claim they have not been paid for your work as of yet by the owner, when in fact they have. Shortly after providing Notice of Lien, you will know whether the GC is being honest with you.

Depending on the amount of money at stake, and your comfort level in dealing with legal issues on behalf of your company, you may want to seek formal advice from a New Hampshire attorney experienced in commercial collections and construction law. I'd be happy to discuss your case with you in more detail. I regularly counsel subcontractors and material suppliers relative to their accounts receivable and am very familiar with the NH Mechanic's lien process.