Few things can sour the completion of an otherwise successful construction project more than a lingering mechanics’ lien claim—especially where the developer or project owner did not see it coming. Pennsylvania’s General Assembly took steps to assist developers and project owners in preventing against this scenario when it passed Act 142 of 2014, which led to the establishment of Pennsylvania’s State Construction Notices Directory (the “Directory”) in December 2016. This post, Part I of a two-part series, discusses the benefits of registering a project on the Directory. Part II will highlight how underutilized the Directory is in many parts of Pennsylvania.
The Directory is an online database that was developed and is now managed by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. It is used for the filing and dissemination of certain project-related information on qualifying construction projects in Pennsylvania. When the cost of a private construction project meets or exceeds $1.5M, the project is eligible to be “registered” on the Directory. Project registration is wholly voluntary, and whether to register is a decision for the owner or developer. A project that is registered is known as a “searchable project” per the statutory terminology. Registering a project offers important benefits to developers and owners.