We have a new customer who just signed three separate quotes and made three deposits. He is a contractor himself and immediately mentioned that he wants an Unconditional Waiver for Progress payment. I explained that our office policy is that we do not issue Unconditional waivers until the job (s) are completed but I am happy to complete and send the Conditional for Progress Payment, as is the recommendation of our Legal Team. He became very irritated and quoting legal jargon saying our legal team is wrong and this is common practice. I have never heard such practice and am wondering, in California, is there a situation where this would be considered Standard Practice, so that I can prepare my owners for the phone call with this customer/contractor?
You can use a conditional or unconditional progress payment waiver. I think conditional waivers tend to be more common. The reason is that, with an unconditional waiver, you want the payment in hand before giving an unconditional waiver. But, your client will want the unconditional waiver before they give you payment. The solution to that conundrum for progress payments is using conditional waivers. Hope this helps.