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.
Download the blank template
Print it and sign by hand, or open it in Word and type.
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This releases work up to one date only
A progress waiver releases lien rights for work performed through the through date written on the form, and nothing after it. Work you do the following week is still protected.
Never accept a form with a through date in the future. That releases work you have not been paid for, and sometimes work you have not even performed.
What this form must contain
- Whether it is conditional or unconditional, which decides if it takes effect before or after the money clears
- Whether it covers a progress payment or the final payment
- The claimant, meaning you or your company
- The customer, meaning whoever is paying you, which may be the general contractor and not the owner
- The job location, written precisely enough to identify the property
- The through date, because a progress waiver only releases work up to a specific day
- The payment amount, and any disputed or unpaid amounts listed as exceptions
The other three waiver forms
Questions people ask
When do I sign a unconditional waiver on progress payment?
Only after the payment has cleared your bank account. It is effective from the moment of signing regardless of whether you were paid, so signing it early gives up rights for nothing.
Does it need to be notarized?
In most states, no. A few states require notarization for certain waiver types and some general contractors ask for it as policy. Check your state and read what your contract requires.
What goes in the exceptions box?
Every amount still owed to you on that job: retainage, disputed change orders, pending extras. Anything not listed there is released when you sign.
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.