Can a contractor agree in an unconditional waiver to indemnify for any claims by a subcontractor? We are a residential house owner working with a licensed contractor. We do not love him and plan to pay him in full. Throughout the project, he has had us sign conditional lien waivers with his company. We want him to sign an Unconditional Lien Release form in CA. However, we don't know any of his subs, suppliers, etc. and want to avoid claims on the back end. We added the following language to the CA form: The claimant represents and warrants that it has paid all subcontractors, materialmen and suppliers for any equipment, material, labor or service provided to Customer at the Job Location, and agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Customer harmless in the event of any such claims. Will that work? This is a smaller project, total paid under $25,000. Thanks!
I would be wary about adding any additional information on a California lien waiver. California is one of just 12 states that regulate the form and content of lien waivers . Under Cal. Civ. Code §8124(a), the waiver and release needs to be in "substantially the same form provided." Any alterations or additions could jeopardize the validity of the waiver.
The best practice to avoid any potential lien claims is to have the GC collect waivers from their subs and suppliers before closing out the project. Here are two articles that dive a bit deeper into this process: