court must determine whether the requirements of the statute have been met and, if so, the priority of the mechanic's lien being foreclosed relative to the other liens or encumbrances on the title. Once that is determined, the court will order the property sold and the proceeds of the sale applied to the liens in the order of their priority. Limitations States may have various limitations on mechanic's liens. In California Law a contractor must wait to take advantage of the lien rights until any of the following conditions occur; otherwise the lien will be considered premature: a) The work is completed according to the contracted scope of work, b) the project has stopped (cessation), or c) the person is prevented from finishing the work (terminated). Each of these required events occur at the end of the project life-cycle (or at the end of the scope of work for the subcontractor, the project may be far from completed). The end of the project may not be remotely close to the actual time when the work was performed (and the time at which labor and materials were paid out of pocket for the work by the contractor). Also, the work must go directly toward the work of improvement of the property. This may seem obvious, but there are numerous construction costs that are not subject to mechanics' liens. A portion of construction costs may not qualify for a mechanic's lien because the work did not improve the property. A good example are items that are not intended to be permanent, but nevertheless, necessary in the course of construction. A temporary construction fence may be required, may serve a valuable function in safety and security, but is never expected to become part of the realty, so therefore is not a cost that is permitted under a mechanic's lien. The attractive nature of the mechanic's lien is that the lien is secured by real property and the property can be sold in order to pay the lien. This is powerful tool, but not always efficient. In reality, this is a drawn out process that is not very efficient. However, given the economic conditions, and that lenders' usually have priority, the sale of the property may not be sufficient to pay for the value of the lien. What is often overlooked is that the contractor is now financing the project when they perform work