Prime contracts, change orders and every sub's lien waiver, signed
A general contractor sits in the middle of everyone's paperwork. The owner signs your contract and change orders, the subs sign your subcontracts, and every draw needs lien waivers from people who'd rather be working. SignMaster sends each document to the right people in the right order, chases them for you, and keeps a sealed record of every signature on the job.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 3 min read
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The paper trail on a job
| Document | Signers | Signing order |
|---|---|---|
| Owner–contractor agreement | Owner, you, sometimes the architect | Owner first, you countersign |
| Subcontracts and purchase orders | Each sub or supplier, then you | Sub first, you last |
| Change orders | Owner, you, the architect where the contract calls for it | In the order your contract sets |
| Pay applications | You, then the architect or owner's rep who certifies them | You first |
| Conditional and unconditional lien waivers | Each sub and supplier, with every draw | One envelope per sub |
| Substantial completion and closeout | Owner, you, the architect | Everyone, often all at once |
Bring the forms you already use, whether that's PDFs from your contract documents software or your own paper. Upload them, add fields, and turn the ones you send every job into templates. If you need a starting point for your trade partners, the library has a subcontractor agreement and a change order form.
The monthly draw, without the chasing
- 1
Build the waiver template
Upload the conditional waiver form your state or lender requires and add labeled text boxes for the job name, the through date and the amount.
- 2
List this draw's subs
Export a CSV from your accounting or pay app with each sub's contact, company and amount. Save it from Excel as CSV UTF-8, or paste the rows.
- 3
Bulk send
On the template's bulk send screen, Add people from the CSV, Match columns to the amount and date boxes, fix anything flagged at Check rows, then Send. Each sub gets their own waiver, and a sign-by date before the draw is due starts the reminders.
- 4
Watch the batch
Each row shows as waiting, sending, sent, failed or skipped, and the results file tells you who still owes a waiver. Skipped rows stay on the batch to fix and send later. When payment clears, do the same with the unconditional form.
Use the right waiver form
Several states require lien waivers on a statutory form, word for word, and a waiver on the wrong form may not hold. Others leave the wording to you. Upload the form your state requires as your template rather than writing your own. Read what a lien waiver is and the difference between conditional and unconditional waivers.
Change orders that keep up with the field
The superintendent finds the problem; the owner has to approve the money. Your PM fills the change order from a template, with the description, the cost breakdown, the days added and a calculated new contract sum, and sends it with the owner first and the architect after, if your contract requires their signature. The owner signs on their phone between meetings. If they want to talk first, they can decline with a reason, and you see it straight away instead of finding out at the next OAC meeting.
Notices have deadlines too, and preliminary notices and notices to owner usually must be delivered the way your state's statute says, often by certified mail. Keep doing that; SignMaster is for the documents people sign. See notice to owner and retainage.
One workspace for the whole company
Estimators, PMs, supers and the office each send from the same templates, and roles decide who can edit them. Company is $99 a month for 15 people, and Crew is $49 a month for 5; both put your logo on emails and signing pages and include webhooks and the API, so signed change orders can flow to your project tools. Extra seats are $8 a month. New workspaces get 14 days of Crew free. Compare plans.
What SignMaster isn't
- It isn't project management or construction accounting software. It's the signing piece next to them.
- It doesn't notarize. If a lender or owner wants notarized pay applications or waivers, use a notary or an online notarization service.
- It doesn't pay subs or track retainage balances.
- It doesn't decide which notices or forms your state requires.
Questions? Answers.
Can I collect lien waivers from every subcontractor at once?
Yes. Make the waiver form a template with labeled text boxes for the amount and through date, then bulk send it from a CSV. Each sub gets their own envelope with their amount printed in the waiver.
Can the owner and the architect both sign a change order?
Yes. Add each as a signer in the order your contract requires and yourself where you countersign. Nobody's turn comes until the person before them has signed.
Are e-signed construction contracts enforceable?
For most construction contracts, yes. The federal ESIGN Act and state laws based on UETA treat electronic signatures like ink. Some documents, like notarized ones, have extra steps. See are electronic signatures legal.
Can I use my own contract forms?
Yes. Upload any PDF and add fields, or upload a fillable PDF and its fields come in with it. SignMaster doesn't change your wording.