Lien Waiver Generator

Conditional or unconditional? This is the one that matters

A lien waiver gives up your right to put a lien on the property. The conditional version only does so once the payment actually clears. The unconditional version does so the moment you sign it, whether you get paid or not. Sign the wrong one at the wrong time and you have handed over your security for nothing.

Conditional waiver

Sign this to get paid. It says: when the money arrives and clears, my rights for the work covered are released. If the cheque never clears, the waiver never takes effect. This is the one you exchange for a payment.

Unconditional waiver

Sign this after you have been paid, and only once the funds have cleared — not when the cheque is in your hand, and not when it has been posted. It is effective on signature with no condition attached. A cheque that bounces after you have signed one of these leaves you with an unsecured debt.

Progress

Covers work through a stated date only. Everything after that date, and anything you list as an exception, is untouched.

Final

Covers the whole project. Retainage is the thing people forget: if retainage is still outstanding, either it is being paid now or it belongs in the exceptions, or you are waiving it.

The exceptions field is the whole game

A waiver covers everything it does not explicitly exclude. The items that most often get signed away by accident:

• Retainage. On a progress waiver it is usually still held and should be excepted. On a final waiver it must either be included in the amount you are being paid or excepted.
• Pending change orders. Work performed but not yet approved or priced. List it with a description and, if you have one, an amount.
• Disputed backcharges. If someone has deducted money you do not agree with, saying nothing here can read as acceptance.
• Delay and acceleration claims. These rarely appear on an application for payment at all, which is exactly why they get waived.

Sequence: what to send when

1. Submit the application for payment with a conditional waiver for the amount requested.
2. Collect conditional waivers from your own lower-tier subs and suppliers for the same period — the GC will usually ask for them.
3. Wait for the funds to clear.
4. Then send the unconditional waiver for that amount, and collect unconditional waivers from your lower tiers.

The step that goes wrong is number four happening before number three. The pressure to sign an unconditional early is real and constant; it is also exactly the thing lien rights exist to protect you from.

State law varies, and this is a starting draft

Lien waivers are governed state by state. A number of states — California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming among them — prescribe statutory waiver forms, and in several of those a waiver that does not follow the statutory form is not effective. Others place limits on what can be waived in advance: New York's Lien Law §34, for example, makes an agreement to waive lien rights before any work is performed void as against public policy, while a waiver given in exchange for an actual payment is ordinary practice.

This generator produces a plain-language, payment-triggered waiver, not a statutory form for any particular state. Treat it as a starting draft to fill in and take to whoever advises you, and check whether your state prescribes a form or requires notarisation before you sign anything.

Frequently asked

Can I sign a waiver before I have been paid?

A conditional waiver, yes — that is what it is for, and it is the normal exchange. An unconditional one before payment clears gives up your security with nothing in return.

Does a lien waiver have to be notarised?

It depends on the state and the type. Several states require notarisation on unconditional or final waivers. The checkbox in the signature section adds an acknowledgment block if you need one.

Does signing a waiver waive my payment bond or retainage claim too?

Often, yes — many waiver forms release bond claims and stop-notice rights alongside lien rights, and retainage goes with a final waiver unless excepted. This one says what it covers in plain terms, and anything you put in the exceptions field is carved out.