I have a contract with a sub who will not provide me with their supplier waivers unless the supplier has preliened the project and requires a joint check. Do they have to provide me with these documents?
Although your contract may require such waivers and releases from ANY material supplier to your subcontractor, the reality is that many suppliers will not give a statutory waiver on a project they did not prelien since they are unlikely to have lien rights. In fact, many of these suppliers (who may not have recorded material purchases against a particular job account) have policies in place not to provide such waivers. That said, if your project is a public project or if this was a private project with a payment bond required, it is possible that the supplier would still have a statutory claim against the project even though it did not serve a statutory waiver and release and in these situations, it would be prudent to insist upon securing a waiver and release from each of the subcontractor's suppliers. In cases where a general contractor cannot secure all proper waiver and releases, the general contractor may choose to wait until statutory claims have expired (e.g., 90 days from actual completion or 30 days from the recording of a valid notice of completion) to verify no claims have been made by such suppliers before payment is released to the subcontractor. You should consult a construction attorney to help you analyze your particular situation.