Free Lien Waiver Forms: All 4 Types (PDF Templates)
A lien waiver is a receipt for payment on a construction project: in exchange for money, you give up lien rights on the amount or project it covers. There are exactly four standard types, and signing the wrong one — or signing the right one at the wrong time — can waive rights to money you haven't actually received. This page gives you all four as fillable PDF templates, free — just tell us where to send them — plus plain-English rules for when each one is safe to sign.
The four types — and when each is safe to sign
1. Conditional Waiver — Progress Payment
Waives rights through a stated date, but only once the payment actually clears. If the check bounces, you've waived nothing.
Safe to sign: when you're handing over the waiver at the same time as receiving a progress check.
⬇ Download (PDF)2. Unconditional Waiver — Progress Payment
Waives rights through a stated date the moment you sign — even if the payment later bounces.
Safe to sign: only after the money is actually in your account and cleared. Never sign in exchange for a promise.
⬇ Download (PDF)3. Conditional Waiver — Final Payment
Waives all remaining rights on the project, effective only when the final payment clears.
Safe to sign: at closeout, when the final check is being exchanged.
⬇ Download (PDF)4. Unconditional Waiver — Final Payment
The most powerful waiver: everything, immediately, on signature. This is the one that ends disputes before they start — in the payer's favor.
Safe to sign: only after the final payment has fully cleared, and only once the exceptions (retention, disputed claims, unbilled changes) are written in.
⬇ Download (PDF)Three rules that prevent most waiver disasters
- Match the waiver to the money. A progress waiver for a progress check, a final waiver only at true closeout — never sign a final waiver for a partial payment.
- "Conditional until cleared" is your default. Only sign unconditional after funds have cleared, not when a check is handed to you.
- Write in the exceptions. Retention, pending change orders, and disputed amounts should be listed in the exceptions block — a blank exceptions line means "nothing is excepted."
Waivers are the easy part — deadlines are the trap
Most contractors don't lose lien rights by signing a bad waiver. They lose them by missing a preliminary-notice or filing deadline they never knew was running. That's the part LienWarden automates: enter your project dates, and it computes every deadline in your state, alerts you at 60/30/7 days, and prepares the documents — preliminary notices, notices of intent, demand letters — when they're needed.
Never lose lien rights to a missed deadline
Deadline autopilot for everyone who holds lien rights — contractors, subs, suppliers, rental yards, design professionals. Your first project is free.
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