lienzero

The revolu*onary method for simple construc*on payment that makes everyone happy.

Hi, I’m @sco,wolfejr… and I’m @natebudde.

We’re on a mission to kill liens and payment frustra*ons.

We know a lot about construc*on payment problems.

Founded

Prac*ced construc*on law.

Created Construc*on Payment Blog.

(Relied on by 100,000+ contractors & suppliers to make payment docs fast & easy)

(Between us, we’re licensed in mul<ple states across the country)

(Read by more than 1,000,000 industry players every year)

Wrote The Book On It!(We literally wrote the book on how to make construc<on payment simple and fair)

No one wants bad things to happen.

Let’s start with an easy fact.

Literally no one.

No one walks onto a job and thinks, “I can’t wait to lien this job.”

100%of people hate liens.

(true sta<s<c)

So, then, what happens?

Why is construc*on payment is such a mess?

Oh, wait.

Are you saying that payment stuffis all easy-peasy for you?

“We always get paid.”(I’m all set)

“We pay our subs quickly so we never run into problems”

(I’m all set)

Okay.

That doesn’t seem to be the case when you look at the industry as a whole,

but maybe you’re an excep*on.

(you’re probably not)

“We only do business with people we trust”

“We’re protected by our contracts.”

(We’ll be fine)

(We’ll be fine)

Sure. I suppose that works some*mes.

Maybe you’ll never run into any issues, and payments will always be fast, easy, and fair for you.

(again, of course, probably not)

“We don’t have any problems right now.”

We get it.

But, wai*ng un*l a problem — like a lien —

pops up is just too late.

Wait, a lien?

That makes me angry!

What low-down,

dirty, no-good,

yella, scumbag

would file a lien on the job?

You’re not alone.

Everyone hates liens.

We hate liens.

Remember

100%of people hate liens.

(true sta<s<c)

Here’s a scale of things everyone loves and hates.

HANDSHAKE DEALS

GOODPARTNERS

LONG, STRONG

CONTRACTSUSING

LEVERAGE

LIENS SLOW PAY

& DISPUTES

this is great! well, I guess we can live with this. Pure hatred.

These days…

this is hard to find.

HANDSHAKE DEALS

GOODPARTNERS

LONG, STRONG

CONTRACTSUSING

LEVERAGE

this is great! well, I guess we can live with this. Pure hatred.

LIENS SLOW PAY

& DISPUTES

With so many regula*ons and things that can

go wrong…

everyone winds up doing this.

HANDSHAKE DEALS

GOODPARTNERS

LONG, STRONG

CONTRACTSUSING

LEVERAGE

this is great! well, I guess we can live with this. Pure hatred.

LIENS SLOW PAY

& DISPUTES

(Psst: Your aOorneys really like this solu<on)

And so too oTen…

We wind up here.

HANDSHAKE DEALS

GOODPARTNERS

LONG, STRONG

CONTRACTSUSING

LEVERAGE

this is great! well, I guess we can live with this. Pure hatred.

LIENS SLOW PAY

& DISPUTES

• Hope

• Suffocate others

• “Stay ahead”

• Write Offs

• Put their head in sand

• Turn down business

• Try to ‘transfer risk’

• Deal with it

• Lawyers!(These are all preZy bad strategies)

Here’s a list of things companies do to protect themselves against bad outcomes like liens.

All of this “protec<on” is part of the problem. :(

• Lien waivers

• Strict pay app requirements

• Prompt pay laws

• Retainage laws

• Misappropria*on of funds laws

• Prelim No*ces

• Liens

• Bonds

It’s created a bunch of noise for you to deal with…

…Not to men*on that everyone has their own way.

no, thisuse this

use this this is the best

use this

but, my lawyer says…

So how do folks manage all of this noise today?

Protect. Protect. Leverage. Protect. Protect.

LAWYER-UP USE COLLECTION

SERVICES

STRICTLYPREQUALIFYEVERYONE

“It’s just so hard to find good subs these days”

“Stay ahead of that one”

“Let’s work this one on a joint check.”

pay-when-paid

pay-if-paid

risk-transfer provisions.

must give noAce of claims within 7 days…

“do I have to sign this, or can I strike out some of this stuff?”

“Secure your payment”

“Take advantage of your lien rights.”

“Make sure you check the credit of that sub.”

(Psst. This stuff hasn’t worked very well)

The overall state of affairs is depressing. Margins are decreasing. Paperwork and compliance is increasing. Retainage prac*ces are growing.Payments are slowing. Suppliers file liens just to get aZen*on. Stakeholders lack trust and have bad inten*ons.

And so the industry has fallen deep, deep, deep, deep, into a bizarre-o game of leverage tug-of-war.

It’s not working.

Since it’s all so complicated, it’s no surprise

that things go wrong.

…

And what happens when things go wrong?

LIENS!(hey, we just got liened. I don’t even know who this person is. Were they even on this job? Argh!)

(hey, even though its a last resort we have to file a lien on this job. Otherwise, we won’t get paid and we’ll lose our rights. Argh!)

Liens are nuclear.They create a heart aOack on the project. Money stops. Schedules get delayed.Contracts get breached. Rela*onships spoil.

And it has a ripple effect across so many different par*es and jobs.

don’t. go. nuclear.

Remember

100%of people hate liens.

(true sta<s<c)

Okay, okay, okay.

I don’t want anything nuclear to happen on our job. I want the

process to be easy.

What’s a beZer way?

(what in the world is lienzero?)

Takes the headaches with construc*on payment and gets them out of your way.

Instead of protecZon. It focuses on collaboraZon.

Instead of leverage. It focuses on good outcomes.

And it helps you build, maintain, and prosper with:

Good rela*onships Repeat business Compe**ve advantage

Wow, that sounds great. Can I hear more?

Yes, we’re glad you asked.

It’s actually quite simple.

There are 3 killers to collabora*ve & simple construc*on payment.

Fears Fric*ons

Fires

Fearbreeds paranoia.

Which leads to a protec*onist mindset and unhealthy use of leverage.

FricZonsbreed frustra*on.

Which erodes trust, rela*onships, and puts people into a bad and unhelpful state of mind.

Firesbreed war!

Which entrenches the par*es into comba*ve posi*ons and offers few ways out.

You can take one of two approaches to these collabora*on killers.

Lots of forces fan the flames of fear, and love the old way:

- Lawyers make piles of money in contract nego*a*on and protected disputes

- Collec*on agencies found specialty in material supply & equipment rental collec*ons

- Trade associa*ons and lobbyist have business in promises & advoca*ng for the next miracle pill for their cons*tuents.

OLD WAY

• Set up protec*ons

• Assert leverage

• “Stay ahead”

• Hope

• Lawyer-up

You could just keep doing all off this…

Lots of forces fan the flames of fear, and love the old way:

- Lawyers - Make $$ from contracts & disputes

- Collec*on Agencies - Many focus and have niche of collec*ng for suppliers and equipment providers!

- Lobbyist (& Trade Groups) - Raise $$ to advocate for the next miracle pill that’s going to solve it all!

OLD WAYIn fact…

But what about you?

How do you think the old way is working out for you?

“Every na<on has the government it deserves”

Declara<on of French writer and diplomat Joseph de Maistre, 1811

You are a good person.

You are part of a good company.

You have good inten*ons.

The industry is full of good people with good intenZons like you.

It is high-Zme that good people come together to stand up to the fear, the fricZon, and the fires… and put collaboraZon-first in the payment process.

REDUCE

REDUCE

REDUCE

FEARBYSeeing Everyone & Priori*zing Visibility

BYMaking easy paperwork easy

BYCrea*ng channelsto talk it out!

FRICTION

FIRES

We call this theSET Framework

When you get a new job, think about having to “SET” the job.

See Everyone On The Job (& Reduce Fear)

Easy Paperwork (& Reduce Fric*ons)

Talk It Out (& Reduce Fires)

These three simple principles can shi_ the paradigm of risk and fear on your next job, and drama*cally improve the results for everyone.

Principle #1: See Everyone

“…we know there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don’t know we don’t know…it is the laOer category that tend to be the difficult ones.”

— Donald Rumsfeld.

Problems With Not Seeing Everyone…

- You’re exposed to risks you don’t know about

- It’s inefficient to get docs to and from people you don’t know

- The unknown, unknowns create fear

THE PROBLEMIS FEAR

Principle #1: See Everyone

The 4 Steps To Overcoming Visibility Challenge

1.Be a good steward and send no*ce to others on job

2.Encourage others to send no*ce. Elect to work with lienzero contractors and suppliers who send no*ce.

3. Send requests to everyone you do know to provide the informa*on they know. Make. It. Easy.

4.Leverage tools, services, databases to fill in your job tree.

HOW TO SEE EVERYONE & REDUCE FEARS

Principle #2: Make Paperwork Easy

“An<cipate the difficult by managing the easy.”

— Lao Tzu

Problems With Paperwork…

- You encounter basic paper that tries to do legal posturing.

- You have to deal with unnecessary, invented requirements.

- It’s just plain hard to understand.

THE PROBLEMIS FRICTIONS

The 3 Steps To Overcoming The Paper Chase

1.Be a good steward of easy paperwork

2.Tools, tools, tools

3. FEeD (Fight frustra*on, Educate to your world view, and Do your best) when you encounter non-lienzero paperwork

HOW TO MAKE PAPERWORK EASY

Principle #2: Make Paperwork Easy

& REDUCE FRICTIONS

Principle #3: Talk It Out

Problems With Fires…

- It’s impossible to avoid them completely.

- Common approaches of geong lawyers, silence, or procras*na*ng make things worse.

- It’s too easy to get past a point of no return.

THE PROBLEMIS FIRES

The 4 Steps To Talking It Out

1.Be a good steward of communica*on

2.Build channels for communica*on

3.Actually talk. With your voice.

4.Widen your op*ons.

HOW TO MAKE TALKING EASY & REDUCE FIRES

Principle #3: Talk It Out

“I wish we would have started sooner.”

It Works!

Vjera Thompson AccounAng Manager

9 Wood

Gets payments faster

Files less liens

Grew business!

“I really believe that we can bring the tyranny to an end if more liNle guys had you in their corner.”

It Works!

Kathlene Miller President

JK Design LLC

Gets payments faster

Files less liens

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A tool to help you implement the lienzero methodology.

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