Don't release the draw until the waivers are in
Before payment goes out, you get a straight answer to one question — who has signed and who hasn't. Requests get chased, what comes back is checked for the right type and through date, and it all files itself against the job.
Lien waivers — Halloway Ave duplex
Draw 4 pending
| Sub | Draw 1 | Draw 2 | Draw 3 | Draw 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kessler Electric | received | received | received | outstanding |
| Vega Drywall | received | received | outstanding | outstanding |
| Ironwood Framing | received | received | received | received |
| Halvorsen Plumbing | received | outstanding | outstanding | outstanding |
| Coastal Concrete | received | not applicable | not applicable | not applicable |
Draw 4 is $86,400. Three subs on it have nothing signed, and one hasn't signed since Draw 1.
Works with
- Gmail
- Outlook
- DocuSign
- Google Drive
- Google Sheets
Waivers go out for signature through DocuSign or as email attachments, and come back as PDFs that file themselves against the right job and draw.
The chore
How this goes right now
The draw request goes to the owner or the lender, and somewhere in that packet you're supposed to include signed waivers from everyone who worked in that period. So the week before, you email six subs asking for waivers. Four send something back. Two don't, and one of the four sends the wrong type.
You chase the two. One is on a roof and doesn't check email until Sunday. So you either hold the whole draw — which delays your own money and everyone else's — or you release payment and tell yourself you'll get the waiver after, which you both know means never.
The version that really hurts is quieter. A sub signs an unconditional waiver on Draw 2, you pay them, everything is fine. Then on Draw 3 the same sub signs a conditional waiver and the payment gets held up for an unrelated reason, and now there's a gap in your chain nobody notices until the owner's attorney reads the file at closeout.
The difference
The chain either holds or it doesn't, and you find out late
Try it
Walk through it yourself
This is the actual shape of the workflow — the same trigger, the same steps, the same draft waiting for your say-so. Click through it.
Collect lien waivers
Draw 4 submitted — waivers outstanding
Halloway Ave duplex, $86,400 draw. Five subs worked in the period. Three have nothing signed against it and one hasn't signed since Draw 1.
What it does
Work out who actually worked in the draw period
Five subs on Draw 4. Coastal Concrete finished at Draw 1 and isn't required on this one.
Google SheetsCheck what's already filed against each of them
Ironwood signed and filed. Kessler, Vega and Halvorsen outstanding. Halvorsen has been outstanding since Draw 2.
Google DriveDraft the requests, naming the type each one needs
Three requests, each stating the waiver type, the through date, and the payment amount it covers.
GmailFlag the gap in the chain before the draw is released
Halvorsen has three unsigned draws behind them — that's a chain gap, not a late piece of paper.
Google Sheets
Draft comparison — nothing has been sent
| Subcontractor | Amount | Type required | Through | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ironwood Framing | $28,900 | Conditional progress | 30 Apr | Signed and filed |
| Kessler Electric | $14,200 | Conditional progress | 30 Apr | Requested today |
| Vega Drywall | $19,600 | Conditional progress | 30 Apr | Requested today |
| Halvorsen Plumbing | $23,700 | Conditional progress | 30 Apr | Outstanding since Draw 2 |
Halvorsen is the one to deal with before this draw is released. Three consecutive unsigned draws is a gap in the chain, and it doesn't get easier to close once they've been paid for all three.
Send the three requests and flag Halvorsen before the draw goes?
Check the type and through date on each one before it goes — those are the two fields that make a waiver useful or useless, and only you know what your draw schedule and your contract actually require.
Signed waivers file themselves against the draw
Each request goes out with the type and through date stated. What comes back is checked against what was asked for, filed under the job and the draw, and the grid updates — so the answer to "are we clear to release Draw 4" takes one glance.
That's the whole workflow.
It drafts, you approve, nothing sends on its own.
How it works
What it's actually doing
Runs against your draw schedule. It tracks and chases paperwork — it does not produce it.
- 1
- Google Sheets
- ExExcel
It knows who worked in each draw period
From your job tracker — which subs were on site, in which period, for what value. That's what determines who owes a waiver on a given draw, and it's the part people get wrong when they do it from memory the night before.
- 2
- Google Drive
It checks what's already on file first
Before asking anyone for anything it looks at what's actually in the job folder, so subs don't get chased for waivers they already sent. It also spots the gaps behind the current draw, which is where the real risk sits.
- 3
- Gmail
- OuOutlook
- DocuSign
It states the type and the through date in the ask
This is where most of the value is. Conditional or unconditional, progress or final, and the date the waiver runs through. A request that spells those out gets the right document back first time instead of on the third attempt.
- 4
- Google Drive
- Google Sheets
It checks what comes back before filing it
The right type, the right through date, the right amount, signed. Anything that doesn't match what was asked for gets flagged for you rather than filed — because a wrong waiver in the folder is worse than a missing one, since it looks like the box is ticked.
It chases and files. It does not draft your waivers.
This is the page with the hardest limit on it, and we'd rather be blunt. Lien waivers are statutory documents in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and others — the wording is prescribed by law and a document that deviates can be worthless. So this handles the chasing and the filing, and never the drafting.
Step one
It drafts
Step two — you
You read it and approve
Step three
Only then does it send
It never generates a waiver
Not from a template, not from an example, not "as a starting point". The forms come from your attorney, your title company, or the statutory form for your state. It sends what you give it.
Requests wait for you
Every request is a draft until you approve it. The type and through date are the two fields that determine whether the document is any use, and they're worth thirty seconds of your attention each draw.
Flagging is internal
Marking a sub as outstanding changes your grid. It doesn't tell them, doesn't hold their payment, and doesn't contact anybody's lender. Whether Draw 4 goes out is your decision.
It won't tell you if you're protected
It can tell you a document is missing, or that its through date doesn't cover the period. Whether your chain is sound is a legal question about your contract and your state, and that's a conversation with your attorney.
Setup
What setting this up involves
- 1
Connect
- Gmail or Outlook, to send requests from
- DocuSign, if you get waivers signed electronically
- Google Drive, where signed waivers are filed
- Your job and draw tracker, in Sheets or Excel
- 2
Tell it how you work
- Your waiver forms — the ones your attorney or title company gave you
- Which type is required at which point in your draw schedule
- Your draw dates per job, so through dates line up with periods
- Whether any of your states require notarisation, because some do
- 3
Then it runs
About an hour, once
The longest setup here, and most of it is loading your own forms and mapping them to the right point in your draw schedule. If your attorney has already given you a set, it's mostly uploading.
Edge cases
Where it's careful, and what it won't do
What it handles
Conditional signed where unconditional was needed
The single most common error, and the easiest to miss because the document looks right. It compares the returned waiver against the type requested and flags a mismatch rather than filing it.
Through dates that don't cover the period
A waiver through 15 April against a draw period ending 30 April leaves a fortnight uncovered. That gets flagged, because it's the kind of thing that only ever gets noticed when someone is looking for a problem.
Subs who finished earlier in the job
Someone who completed at Draw 1 shouldn't be chased on Draw 4. It works out who actually worked in each period rather than asking every sub on the job every time.
Lower-tier subs and suppliers
Your sub's own subs and material suppliers can have lien rights too. It tracks whoever you tell it to track, but it can only chase people it knows exist — and it flags that as a limitation rather than implying the chain is complete.
What it does not do
It doesn't draft or generate waivers
The one hard rule on this page. Statutory forms are prescribed by law in several states and vary by waiver type. It circulates your documents; it never writes one.
It doesn't give legal advice
Which type is required when, whether notarisation is needed, whether your chain is sound — all of that depends on your state and your contract. It tracks what you tell it to track.
It doesn't hold anyone's payment
No connection to payments at all. It tells you who is outstanding before a draw goes out. Releasing the draw is entirely your decision.
It doesn't handle preliminary notices
Preliminary notices and lien filings have statutory deadlines that differ by state and are unforgiving. Those are not in scope, and you should not rely on this for them.
Time back
Four to seven hours a month, and a chain that actually holds
- Time back
- Four to seven hours a month, and a chain that actually holds
- Spent on
- The work that bills
- What it costs
- $49 / monthGrowthplan — see what’s included
How that’s worked out: Based on two or three draws a month across live jobs, with five to eight subs each, at roughly 10 minutes per waiver to request, chase, check and file. The hours are straightforward. The value is a chain with no gaps in it, which you only ever get to price properly when it's missing.
Fair questions
The things contractors ask first
Our title company handles waivers.
They handle the forms and the closing requirements, which is the part you want them handling. What they generally don't do is chase your subs during the month. This fills the gap between their requirements and your inbox, using their forms.
Can't it just generate the waiver forms for us?
No, and we'd be suspicious of anything that offers to. In California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and several other states the wording is set by statute, and a document that deviates can be unenforceable. Getting a form marginally wrong across a whole job is a much worse outcome than typing them yourself.
My subs are slow with paperwork no matter what I do.
They will be. What changes is that the request goes out early rather than the night before the draw, states exactly which document is needed so they don't send the wrong one, and chases itself — and you find out who's outstanding before you release payment rather than after.
More construction chores
Other things that keep falling off the list
Collect subcontractor COIs
Thirty days before a certificate lapses, the request goes to the sub and their agent. What comes back gets filed and dated.
Chase unpaid invoices
Reminders that escalate with the age of the debt, the invoice attached, and a Monday aging summary that includes unbilled retainage.
Chase change order approvals
A reminder to the client on anything unsigned past two days, and a running total of work you're performing without a signature behind it.
Compile daily jobsite reports
Photos off the foreman's phone become a written daily log — crew, weather, work completed, delays — filed by project every evening.
Request reviews after handover
The ask goes out a few days after final payment clears — mentioning their actual job, with the direct review link, while they still like you.
Compare supplier quotes
One RFQ to every supplier, and the replies read into a single table so you can see who's actually cheapest line by line.
The same job in other trades and industries
FAQ
Questions worth answering properly
Does it create the waiver documents?
No, and this is the firm limit on this workflow. Lien waiver wording is set by statute in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and elsewhere, and a form that deviates can be worthless. You supply the forms from your attorney or title company, and it circulates, chases, checks and files them.
Can it tell the difference between conditional and unconditional?
Yes — it checks the returned document against the type that was requested and flags a mismatch instead of filing it. That's the most common failure, because the wrong waiver looks perfectly correct sitting in a folder and nobody notices until closeout.
What is a through date, and why does it check it?
It's the date the waiver covers work up to. A waiver through 15 April against a draw period ending 30 April leaves two weeks uncovered — the paperwork looks complete and there's still a gap. It compares the through date against the draw period and flags anything short.
Will it stop a draw going out if waivers are missing?
No. It has no connection to payments and can't hold anything. It tells you who's outstanding before you release, which is the point — the decision stays yours.
Does it handle lower-tier subs and suppliers?
It tracks whoever you tell it to. It can chase your sub's subcontractors and material suppliers if you list them, but it can only know about parties you've told it exist — and it says so rather than implying the chain is complete when it might not be.
What about preliminary notices and lien deadlines?
Out of scope, deliberately. Those are statutory, vary by state, and are unforgiving about dates. This is about collecting waivers during a job — it is not a lien compliance tool and shouldn't be relied on as one.
Know who's outstanding before the money leaves
Load your waiver forms and connect your draw schedule. Before the next draw goes out, you'll have a straight answer on who has signed.
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