A preliminary notice must be served within 20 days after the claimant first furnishes labor or materials. What is the primary consequence of serving it late?

Explanation

Civil Code §8204(a) says a claimant who did not give preliminary notice is not precluded from giving one later, but is then entitled to record a lien, give a stop payment notice, or claim against a payment bond only for work performed within the 20 days before service, and at any time afterwards. (a) is the harshest misreading — late notice costs the early work, not the remedy. (c) is the mildest, and it ignores the look-back altogether. (b) invents a doubling of the period; nothing in the section extends the 20 days, which is why the practical rule is to serve at the start of every job.