How to Stop Checks Leaving QuickBooks Without a Lien Waiver

QuickBooks can't check whether a lien waiver is signed before a bill gets paid. Nothing in it knows what a waiver is. The fix is one rule your AP team follows, plus two QuickBooks habits that make the rule easy to check.

We make LienDone, a tool that only does lien waivers, so read this with that in mind. Most of this post works with no extra software at all.

Short version. Attach the signed conditional waiver to the bill in QuickBooks before you pay it. On QuickBooks Online Advanced, add a bill approval step so someone checks for that attachment. After the payment clears, collect the unconditional waiver and attach it to the same bill.

Why checks go out without a waiver

The payment lives in QuickBooks. The waiver lives in email, a shared drive, or a sub's truck. Nothing connects the two.

So on a busy pay run, a bill gets paid because it's approved, not because the waiver came back. Nobody decided to skip it. The waiver just wasn't in front of the person clicking pay. If that sub's own suppliers go unpaid, you can end up facing a lien on work you already paid for.

The rule

Write this into your AP process, word for word:

No bill for a sub or supplier gets paid until the matching conditional waiver is signed, and the amount and through-date on the waiver match the bill.

Conditional before payment, unconditional after. The conditional waiver only takes effect once the payment clears, so it's safe for the sub to sign before you pay. The unconditional waiver takes effect the moment it's signed, so it comes after the money has cleared. Here is the difference in plain English: conditional vs unconditional lien waivers.

In the 12 states that prescribe the waiver's wording, the form also has to follow the statute. See lien waiver requirements by state.

How to enforce the rule in QuickBooks Online

On any plan: attach the signed waiver to the bill

QuickBooks Online lets you attach files, including PDFs, to a bill (Intuit: add attachments). Make the signed waiver that attachment.

Now "is the waiver back?" is a two-second check on the bill itself. And when an owner, lender or auditor asks for proof, the waiver sits right next to the payment it releases.

Name the file the same way every time: project, sub, pay period, conditional or unconditional. You'll thank yourself at closeout.

On QuickBooks Online Advanced: add a bill approval step

According to Intuit's help center, bill approval workflows need QuickBooks Online Advanced or QuickBooks Bill Pay Elite (Intuit: bill approval workflows). A bill waits for an approver before it can be paid.

Make the waiver part of that approval: the approver opens the bill, confirms the signed conditional waiver is attached, and checks that the amount and through-date match. QuickBooks doesn't read the waiver for you. The approver does. What the workflow adds is a moment where someone has to look.

On other plans: a pay-run checklist

Before each pay run, list the unpaid bills for subs and suppliers. Open each one and confirm the signed waiver is attached. Bills without one wait for the next run. The same checklist works if you're on QuickBooks Desktop.

After the payment clears: get the unconditional

Once your bank shows the payment as cleared, ask for the unconditional waiver for the same amount and through-date, and attach it to the same bill. That pair, conditional and unconditional, is your proof that the pay period is closed.

At closeout, the same thing happens with the final waivers. The details are in conditional waiver and release upon final payment and unconditional waiver and release upon final payment.

Where LienDone fits, and where it doesn't

LienDone doesn't connect to QuickBooks. It sits next to it and handles the part QuickBooks can't: getting the waiver signed.

1. Export your approved bills from QuickBooks as a CSV file.
2. Import the file into LienDone and match your columns to vendor and amount. LienDone guesses them from your headers, and you fix any it got wrong.
3. Set the waiver type and through-date for the batch. Each vendor gets a link with their own name and amount. In the 12 statutory states, the state's form is used word for word.
4. Your subs sign on their phone in about two minutes, with no account.
5. Download each signed PDF and attach it to the bill in QuickBooks. You can also export your waiver list as a CSV file.

Once the payment has cleared, open the signed conditional and click "Paid? Send the unconditional". The project, sub and amount carry over. More on the import in the QuickBooks bill import.

What LienDone doesn't do: it has no live sync, it doesn't read or write your books, it can't stop a payment in QuickBooks, and it doesn't move money. Your approval step is still what holds the check.

When you don't need a tool

If you send a handful of waivers a month and your subs return them quickly by email, the attachment habit and a checklist are enough. Make the form with the free lien waiver generator and track it in the free lien waiver tracking spreadsheet.

A tool starts to pay off when you're collecting from many subs on every pay run, or when chasing signatures is what holds up the payment.

Try it on one pay run

Import one week of approved bills and send the waivers in one batch. Start a 14-day free trial, no card needed. It's $99 a month after that, with unlimited waivers.