Collecting lien waivers isn’t a one-time task at the end of a job. If you only chase them at closeout, you’ll spend the last two weeks of every project hunting down subs who have already moved on — and you’ll have been exposed the whole time in between. The fix is to build waiver collection into your payment cycle, so a waiver rides along with every dollar that leaves your account.
The core principle: pair every payment with a waiver
Every time you pay a sub or supplier, that payment should be matched by a waiver covering exactly that payment. Do that consistently and, by the end of the job, your waiver file is already complete. Skip it “just this once” and that’s the sub who files a lien.
Here’s how it maps to a typical draw schedule.
Progress payments (each draw)
For every progress payment during the job:
- When you send the payment, collect a conditional waiver on progress payment. Conditional means it only takes effect once your payment actually clears — so the sub is protected if the check bounces, and you’re protected the moment it clears. This is the safe document to exchange at payment time.
- After that payment has cleared, you can collect (or upgrade to) an unconditional waiver on progress payment confirming the money was received. Many GCs collect the unconditional-on-the-previous-draw at the same time they issue the conditional-on-the-current-draw. It keeps a clean one-draw-behind rhythm.
Each progress waiver should be scoped to a through-date and the specific amount — and it should carve out retainage you’re still holding, so the sub isn’t waiving rights to money you haven’t released yet.
Final payment (closeout)
For the last payment on the job:
- Collect a conditional waiver on final payment when you release final funds.
- Once that final payment clears, collect the unconditional waiver on final payment.
The final unconditional waiver is the one that closes the book — it typically covers all remaining lien rights, including released retainage. Don’t release final retainage without it.
Don’t forget lower-tier suppliers
Your direct subs aren’t the only parties who can lien the property. A sub’s material supplier or a second-tier sub can file too, even though you never paid them directly. On larger jobs, ask your subs for waivers from their suppliers as a condition of payment. It’s the tier most GCs forget until a supplier they’ve never heard of records a lien.
Why the timing trips people up
The exposure window is the gap between “I paid” and “I have the waiver.” Collect at closeout only, and that window is the entire job. Collect draw-by-draw, and it shrinks to days. The waivers are the same documents either way — the difference is entirely when you get them.
That’s also why this is such a natural thing to automate. The trigger for “collect a waiver” is always the same event: you made a payment. If your accounting system knows you paid a bill, it already knows a waiver is due. Wiring the waiver to the payment — instead of to a calendar reminder or a closeout checklist — is what turns waiver collection from a scramble into a non-event.