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A date on the form says through. Your last day on site may differ. You hover your pen over the signature line, pausing to cross-reference the date against your logged time entries for the past three weeks. You don’t want to sign off on work you haven’t yet been compensated for, even if the GC’s admin is hovering by your desk waiting for the signed form to process the current pay application.
Define the through date on your lien waiver
What that line means is every hour of labor, every material delivery, every installed fixture completed on or before that listed date is being waived as a claim for additional compensation once you sign. You are confirming you have been paid in full for all work performed up to that specific date, no exceptions, unless explicitly noted elsewhere on the form. This date rarely aligns perfectly with the end of your pay period or the last day you worked before the draw was submitted, so you never sign off without verifying it first. It does not matter what the pay application covers, what your foreman told you over the phone, or what the admin handing you the form says – the through date is the binding cutoff for work you are confirming you have been paid for once you put your signature on the line.
Cross-reference the date against your approved work logs
Follow these steps to confirm the through date aligns with the work included in this pay draw:
- Pull all time entries for your crew that were marked as approved by the GC’s site foreman in the 30 days leading up to the listed through date
- Match each entry to the line items included on the current pay application to confirm no completed, approved work falls outside the listed through date
- Flag any work that was completed after the listed through date but included in the current pay application for follow-up
- Cross-check material delivery receipts to confirm all paid materials were delivered on or before the listed through date
This process takes 10 to 15 minutes for most small to mid-sized draws, and cuts down on discrepancies that delay payment for future work. Many people skip this step because they assume the GC’s billing team has already aligned the dates correctly, but billing teams process dozens of pay applications a week for dozens of subcontractors on a single site, so small mistakes are common. Those small mistakes can lead to you waiving payment for hundreds or thousands of dollars of completed work if you don’t catch them before you sign. Illustrative example: If your through date is listed as October 14, 2024, and you logged 12.5 hours of concrete form work on October 15 that was pre-approved for inclusion in this draw, that work is not covered by the waiver as written. You have to adjust the date or add a line noting that specific work is excluded from the waiver before you sign.
Adjust for pending change order work included in this pay draw
Change order work is often approved verbally first, then processed on paper after the work is complete, which means it can fall outside the formal through date listed on the waiver even if it’s included in the current pay draw. You add a typed or handwritten note directly on the waiver that lists the change order number, a brief description of the work, and the date it was completed, explicitly noting it is excluded from the waiver’s coverage until payment for that line item posts to your account. If you use digital waiver processing, you can add this note as an attached addendum that is included with the signed form. Draw Jacket stores these addendums alongside the signed waiver for easy reference if questions arise later. If the GC refuses to let you add an addendum to the waiver, you ask them to adjust the through date to the date the last change order work included in this draw was completed. That way, all work in the current draw is covered by the through date, so you don’t have to worry about excluded work falling through the cracks. You never sign a waiver that covers work you haven’t been paid for, no matter how small the amount of work is.
Clarify partial pay holdbacks before you sign
Most standard pay draws include a 10% retainage holdback that is paid out at project completion, and that holdback is not included in the compensation covered by the through date waiver. You confirm the total amount being paid in this draw matches the amount listed as paid on the waiver, minus the pre-agreed retainage percentage, before you add your signature. Some waivers list the full amount of the work completed through the listed date, not the amount actually being paid in this draw after retainage is removed. You have to make sure the language explicitly states that the waived amount is the amount being paid in this draw, minus the pre-agreed retainage, so you don’t waive your right to collect the retainage at the end of the project. This is one of the most common mistakes people make when signing lien waivers, and it can lead to months of follow-up to collect funds you are owed when the project wraps. If the amount listed as paid does not align with the line items you approved for this draw, you flag the discrepancy with the GC’s billing team before moving forward with the signature. You never assume a misprint is harmless, even if the admin says the form is a standard template that doesn’t need edits.
Stop: this reading is done
You have all the context you need to review the through date on your waiver right now. You put this guide out of your mind and focus on the entries and numbers in front of you, taking as much time as you need to confirm every line matches your records. You don’t rush this step, even if you get multiple follow-up emails asking for the signed form. If you have questions that aren’t covered by what you just reviewed, you reach out to your company’s billing manager for clarification before you sign. You don’t guess at what a line means, because guessing can lead to costly mistakes down the line.
Pull this waiver back up when you submit your next pay application
When you sit down to prepare your next pay application, you pull up this signed waiver to cross-reference the previous through date with the start date for work included in the next draw. You make sure there is no gap between the end of the previous through date and the start of the work listed on the new pay application, so you don’t leave any completed work unaccounted for. You also reference any addendums you added to this waiver to confirm the change order work you noted was paid in full before you sign the next waiver for the subsequent draw. You also use this signed waiver to reconcile your company’s accounts receivable records at the end of the month, confirming the payment for this draw posted to your account for the correct amount. If you have multiple active projects, you store this waiver in the dedicated folder for this project so you can pull it up quickly if there are any disputes about work completed or paid for during this draw period. If you notice any missing payments for work listed on this waiver, you flag it with the billing team before you submit your new pay application to avoid delays.
