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Amazing! I suffered a $300,000 non payment from work done on the Sterling House assisted living buildings in Kentucky and Tenessee owned by Alterra. After over a year in court I only received $42,000. Most of this was paid up front. Don't depend on the legal system, the general's, or in this case the owner's attorneys are paid far more than we could afford. The fact that we were not the only contractor treated this way on these projects across the country tells me that we are all in this together. There were no complaints abuot the installations and everything was on schedule. I have now joined the IBEW and NECA for some backing. So far so good!

RickF
Just read your post and admire your courage and mettle for sticking with it. An amount that size to me just sounds insurmountable and reminds me of the old saying, about crying because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

Good luck to you !

Unfortunately, the larger your business becomes, the more you get strung out, the more capital you need to save back, the bigger the customer, the bigger their debts, and the longer they take to pay. The larger their accounts payable depts. is, the less efficient they are. This is a given.
The best advice here, I feel, has been from Dana 1028. Find out what your lien law is. Submit a copy of the law with your contract.
SHOW NO MERCY IF YOU DON'T GET PAID
(We've got a "20 days from last time on the job" law here in CA. I've gone back after 6 mos. to do a "free warranty checkup" call. No charge to customer, just sign work order. Gone the next day to the courthouse).

Also, an assisted-living location may have had government grants or backing somehow. If that's the case, I wonder if there are some ways to tap the government agencies or officials for leverage. If it's a gov't agency you get paid from, check on the Prompt Payment Act (enacted in '82, amended in '88) and http://www.fms.treas.gov/prompt/ for more info.

When it looks like it's gonna go bad, send all requests for payment via US Mail "Certified, return receipt requested" Some GC's know all the tricks, and we often don't. ("The bill never got here" is just the beginning of this)
Always finish your contractual obligations. The "I'll pull out all the breakers" mentality doesn't hold up in court.
Make a GIANT paper trail. FLOOD them with paperwork. Document it all, dates, times, etc.
(And if they say "You'll never work for me again", consider it a Godsend.)

Electure
You make a good point about the Mechanics Lien, but what about for smaller jobs, say a residential service your talking on average 650-700 dollars for say a 100 amp service.
In my state you have so much time to send via registered mail a Notice of Furnishing, there is a filing fee of course and the time required to do this. For a large job I would be all for it but its the small jobs one tends to get burned on. I have tried Small claims but they are the pits here. Once the PoCo taps the customer in permanently there isnt much a contractor can do.
This was one of the reasons I have resorted to a letter of aggreement and require payment at least partial up front. After posting the above two posts, I decided to not require the payment upfront going against my better judgement and sure enough I havnt heard 'hide nor hair' from the landlord whose service I just had inspected.
We work hard for what we get and in all kinds of weather and to have to up wiht non-payment is really the pits.