Free Conditional Waiver on Progress Payment Form
Signed BEFORE you have the money. It only takes effect once the progress payment actually clears, and it covers work through a specific date.
A conditional waiver only takes effect once the payment actually clears. If the check bounces, your lien rights survive. This is the form to hand over when a general contractor asks for a waiver before releasing the check.
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Where this form fits in a pay application
On a job paid in draws, this is the form that travels with each pay application. You bill for the work done in the period, the general contractor or the owner's lender asks for a waiver before releasing the money, and this is the one you can hand over without giving anything away first. It says that once this particular payment reaches you, your lien rights for the work it pays for are released.
A common arrangement is two waivers with every draw: a conditional one for the payment you are asking for now, and an unconditional one for the payment you received last time. If the general contractor asks for that pair, it is normal. If they ask for an unconditional waiver on the payment you are still waiting for, it is not, and this form is the answer to that request.
The through date is the part people get wrong
Set the through date to the last day of the period you billed for, the same day the pay application runs through. The waiver reaches back to the start of the job and stops on that day. Everything you build after it is still covered by your lien rights, which is the whole reason the date is on the form.
Forms filled in by someone else are where this slips. A waiver prepared on the first of the month with the end of the month already typed in releases four weeks of work you have not billed yet. Change the date before you sign, and initial the change.
Name the payment the waiver is waiting on
The condition is a payment, so the form should say which one: the amount, and who is paying it. A conditional waiver that only says it takes effect on receipt of payment, with no figure, leaves room for an argument that some smaller payment satisfied it.
If the check that arrives is smaller than the figure on the form, do not treat the draw as settled. Tell the payer in writing that the amount on the waiver was not received, and when you later sign the unconditional waiver for that draw, write the amount you actually got.
What goes in the exceptions box on a progress draw
Retainage is the one most often lost. Many contracts hold back a share of every draw until the end of the job. Some waiver forms leave retainage out in their own wording and some say nothing about it at all. If yours says nothing, write the retainage held to date in the exceptions box, with the amount.
Add any change order you have finished and not been paid for, and any extra the two of you are still arguing about. A dispute left off the form can be read as released along with the rest of the work through that date.
What this form must contain
- The words conditional and progress, so nobody can read it as a final or an unconditional release
- Your name as claimant, and the name of whoever is paying you, which on most jobs is the general contractor
- The job address, precise enough that there is no doubt which property it is
- The amount of this payment and who it is coming from, because that payment is the condition the waiver waits on
- The through date, normally the last day of the billing period this draw covers
- Exceptions: retainage held so far, change orders you have done and not been paid for, extras still in dispute
The other three waiver forms
Questions people ask
When do I sign a conditional waiver on progress payment?
With the pay application, before the draw is paid. It does not take effect until that payment actually reaches you, so you can hand it over in exchange for the check without giving up anything first.
The general contractor wants an unconditional waiver before paying me. What do I do?
Offer this form instead. It gives them the same release, effective the moment the money arrives, and costs them nothing. A payer who insists on an unconditional waiver for money not yet paid is asking you to release your lien rights on credit.
Do I need a new one for every draw?
Yes. Each conditional progress waiver covers one payment and one through date. The next draw needs its own form, with its own amount and a later through date.
Does a conditional progress waiver release my retainage?
That depends on the wording of the form, which is why the exceptions box matters. If the form does not expressly leave retainage out, list the retainage held so far as an exception.
Is this form valid in my state?
It follows the structure common to most states. Twelve states prescribe the wording of a waiver in their own statute: California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Missouri, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Michigan and Mississippi. On a job in one of those, use that state's form instead, free on this site. This is not legal advice.
More detail on the difference is in conditional vs unconditional lien waiver.