Free Unconditional Waiver on Progress Payment Form
Signed AFTER you have been paid for that progress payment. It gives up lien rights through a date whether or not anything else clears.
An unconditional waiver takes effect the moment you sign it, whether you were paid or not. A check in your hand is not cleared funds. If you have not been paid yet, use the conditional version instead.
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Sign it only once the payment has cleared
This is the receipt side of a progress draw. You were paid for a billing period, and this form says so and releases your lien rights for the work in that period. It takes effect the moment you sign it, so the payment it describes has to be money you already have.
A balance that shows the deposit is not the same as a check that has been paid. Banks often let you spend a deposit before the check behind it has been collected, and a check can still come back after the funds appear. On a large draw, wait for the bank to confirm the check was paid, or ask to be paid by wire.
It usually goes in with the next pay application
Many general contractors and lenders ask for this form one draw behind. With this month's pay application you hand in a conditional waiver for this month and an unconditional waiver for last month's payment, which has had time to clear. That rhythm is the safe one, because it means you never sign an unconditional waiver for money that is still in the mail.
Write what you were paid, not what you billed
If you billed $20,000 and received $17,500, the waiver says $17,500. A waiver for the billed figure is a signed statement that you received money you did not, and it can be put in front of you later when you try to collect the difference.
List the shortfall in the exceptions box with a word on what it is: retainage held, a disputed line, a change order not yet approved. Each one stays alive only if it is written there.
The through date has to match the money
The through date should be the end of the period the payment actually paid for. If the payment covered work through the end of March and the form you are handed says the middle of April, the extra two weeks are released for nothing. Correct the date and initial it, or ask for a new form.
What this form must contain
- The words unconditional and progress, so it cannot be mistaken for a release of the whole job
- The amount you actually received, which is not always the amount you billed
- The through date of the period that payment covered, and no later
- Your name as claimant, and the customer who paid you
- The job address, so the release is tied to one property
- Exceptions: retainage held so far, and any change orders or extras still unpaid
The other three waiver forms
Questions people ask
When do I sign an unconditional waiver on progress payment?
After that draw has cleared your bank, usually when you submit the next pay application. Signed any earlier, it releases the work in that period whether or not the money ever arrives.
What if the payment was less than the pay application?
Put the amount you actually received on the form and list the difference as an exception, saying what it is. Do not sign for the full billed amount to keep things moving.
Does it release work I do after the through date?
No. A progress waiver stops at its through date. Work after that day is still covered by your lien rights until a later waiver releases it.
Who asks for this form?
Usually whoever is paying you: the general contractor if you are a subcontractor, or the owner or the owner's construction lender if you contract with the owner directly. Lenders often want the unconditional waivers for the last draw before they fund the next one.
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.