The Award Review Step: What It Is, Why It's Worth Doing

Here is what tends to happen. You send the award for formal signature, the opposing appraiser opens the SignWell email, scans the line items, spots a $200 figure they disagree with, and hits decline. Now you have to edit the award, void the old signature request, build a new one, send it again, and hope they actually agree the second time. One disagreement turned into a full restart of the signing process.

The signature step is expensive in time and ceremony. Every restart costs you a day or two of calendar time and a thread of back-and-forth email. The review step is cheap on both sides. The opposing appraiser opens a web link, comments on the specific line items they want changed, and replies. You catch the disagreement once, fix it, then route for signatures with confidence.

This pays off most for anyone whose opposing appraisers tend to push back on details, anyone working high-stakes line items, or anyone where the negotiation happened mostly by phone and the written version has not been pressure-tested. If both sides truly agreed already, review costs you nothing. If they did not, review costs you a day instead of a week.

A lot of appraisers skip the review step and send the award straight to SignWell. That works fine when both sides genuinely agree. When they do not, the opposing appraiser declines the signature, you fix the award, and you start the signature process over. The review step exists so you find that disagreement before the signature round-trip, not after.

Review vs. straight-to-signature

Skip review

Opposing party first sees the award inside SignWell. If they disagree on a line item, they decline. You restart the award, rebuild the signature request, and re-send. One round-trip becomes three.

Send review

Opposing party sees the award in a web link, comments per-item, and replies. You catch disagreements while edits are cheap. SignWell only sees a version everyone already agrees on.

How to send a review request

Open the Award tab

On the appraisal, click into the Award tab. Confirm the line items match what you intend to send.

Click "Send for Review"

The button sits near the top of the Award tab. It is separate from the Send for Signature button so you cannot mix them up.

Confirm the recipient

The opposing appraiser auto-populates based on representing party. Double-check the email address.

Add a short note (optional)

A one-sentence note sets expectations. Something like "Take a look and let me know if anything needs adjusting before we route for signatures."

Send

AwardLettr emails the opposing appraiser a unique web link. No login required on their end.

What the opposing appraiser sees

A web page showing the award items side-by-side with totals
A comment field on each line item so disagreements are scoped to the specific row
A free-text overall comment box for context that does not belong on a single row
A simple "Agree" or "Request Changes" action at the bottom

What happens when they reply

You get a notification (email and in-app). Their comments appear on the Award tab alongside the items they refer to. If they hit Agree, you can move directly to Send for Signature with confidence. If they request changes, you edit the award items, then either send another review pass or, if the changes are minor and aligned, go straight to signature.

Review is not a legal signature

The review step is a soft pre-signature pass. Agreement on the review does not legally bind the opposing party. The SignWell signature step is what locks the award in writing.

When is it absolutely worth it?

Cases with more than three line items, cases where you negotiated by phone or text, and cases involving an umpire panel. Anywhere there is a higher-than-baseline chance the other side is interpreting the numbers differently than you are.