By far and away the easiest to gain leverage in being paid for work performed is to use the Utah SCR database. It cost $2.00 and is fairly easy to fill out in about 5 minutes. Sometimes it is a little tricky getting the actual parcel number but the general contractor should be providing that.
If somehow you forget, mess up the days in which you need to file or file incorrectly you can always take the offending party to court but that is expensive and not assured as to a win.
There is however an intermediate step and it is one that has worked quite nicely. Look up the parcel’s owner and call them directly. They hate controversy and feeling like their brand new baby (building) is already jeopardized somehow.
Also the information on the contract with the GC should be investigated. There is a large construction company in Utah and Montana that is not properly registered with the state. There are no rulings to point to but you might be able to use that to your advantage both to get the money you are owed and to keep them honest. I’m not talking blackmail. I’m talking that you can point out that contract is signed by a non-entity and therefore no contract at all therefore any negative provisions they are attempting to use against you don’t really exist and they have to deal with you in a completely different way.
