Deploy a Lien Agent and Release Payments With Every Waiver in Hand
The AgentWorks Lien Agent makes sure no payment goes out until the right lien waiver is in hand, and no payment sits waiting on one. Before each payment release, it requests the correct waiver from every sub and supplier being paid, checks it, chases the missing ones, and tells your office manager when a payment is clear to release. The Lien Agent does the requesting, checking, and chasing; your office manager releases the money.
What it takes off your plate
In most construction offices, waiver collection is the bottleneck in every payment cycle. The check run is ready, but three subs have not sent a waiver. Another sent an unconditional waiver for a payment they have not received yet, or a conditional one for last month. A sub's material supplier has not been paid and nobody knows it until a notice shows up. The office manager spends the week on the phone, and subs call asking why their check is late.
The cost is cash flow and trust. Subs who get paid late stop answering your calls on the next bid. And a payment released without the right waiver can leave the company exposed to a claim later.
We covered preliminary notices and filing windows in a separate post. This one is about the waiver exchange that happens every time money moves.
What the Lien Agent does, step by step
The work starts with the subs and suppliers and ends in a clean payment file.
- Requests the waiver. When a payment to a sub or supplier is scheduled, the agent emails and texts them through Gmail and Twilio with the project, the amount, the pay period, and the waiver form required for it.
- Asks for lower tiers. Where your company's policy calls for it, the agent also asks the sub for waivers from their own suppliers and second-tier subs on that project.
- Checks the waiver. When it arrives, the agent checks the type, conditional for the payment going out and unconditional for the payment already received, plus the amount, the period, the project, and the signature. Anything that does not match goes back to the sub with the correct form and a note on what to fix.
- Chases what is missing. Before the check run, it follows up with every sub or supplier whose waiver is not in, and tells the office manager which payments are on hold and why.
- Clears the payment. When every required waiver for a payment is in and checked, it marks that payment clear to release. Releasing it, holding it, or making an exception is the office manager's decision under your company's policy, with counsel where it calls for one.
- Collects the unconditional. After the payment clears, it requests the unconditional waiver for that amount and follows up until it arrives.
Where the work is recorded
An agent that cannot write down what it did is a chatbot. The Lien Agent records its work where your team already looks.
In the CRM, each sub's and supplier's contact record shows every waiver request, reminder, correction, and reply, in order. When a sub calls asking about their check, whoever answers can tell them exactly what is missing.
In the project file and QuickBooks, each payment carries its conditional and unconditional waivers, lower-tier waivers where required, and the date it was cleared. The next morning the office manager opens one view and sees payments clear to release, payments on hold with the missing waiver named, and unconditional waivers still outstanding.
What your people do instead
Your office manager spends time with subs and clients on the conversations that keep the job running, not on reading waiver forms. Your project managers stay on site with the client. Your subs get paid on time and keep bidding your work. A company that pays cleanly is one good subs and clients want to work with.
The AgentWorks Lien Agent keeps the requests, checks, and follow-ups moving around them. For other parts of the business, read how a Change Order Agent prices the change and chases the signature, how to deploy the Daily Reports Agent, and how to deploy the Quantity Takeoff Agent.
One next step
Waivers may not be where your company loses the most time. The free Industry Assessment shows which workflow an agent should take first in your business, and the construction industry page lays out every agent built for contractors like you.
See where the Lien Agent would start in your construction business.
I'm Jackie, the Construction ambassador here. The free Industry Assessment reads your website and asks how calls, follow-ups and records happen today, then shows the first workflow worth handing to an agent like this one — and what your team gets back. Leave your email and I'll send the link.
Jackie replies from construction@agentworksstudio.com. One email with the link — no list, no drip, unless you ask for the weekly letter. Or go straight there →