Keep track of these vendor documents to maintain good client relationships, excellent records, and a healthy community.
Key takeaways
- There are five main documents you need to monitor with an HOA or other community
- Failing to monitor these documents can have devastating consequences
- VendorSmart vets vendors for you
When you manage an HOA, a property, or a community, you know you need vendors to do things like groundskeeping, security, and plumbing. You need to ensure vendor compliance in several ways, including keeping up with the appropriate paperwork and vetting your vendors.
Monitoring your compliance documents is a crucial part of maintaining good vendor relationships and your business. How do you know which documents are the most important to keep track of? In most cases, it’s obvious. What isn’t as obvious is the idea that they need to be in order and reviewed regularly.
The risks involved if you acquire these documents and never reference them again include:
- Claims
- Lawsuits
- Loss of accounts
- Damage to relationships
Each of these risks, and others, are costly in terms of both time and money. You obviously want to avoid them. An easy way to do that is to put a process in place for monitoring and updating these documents regularly.
Check out these five documents that you should be keeping an eye on.
1. W-9 tax form
Officially called the Form W-9 by the Internal Revenue Service, this form is essential to maintaining a good vendor relationship and should be carefully supervised. The good thing about the W-9 is that it does not expire. However, if the vendor’s information has changed, you will need to update their W-9. So you won’t want to file it away and forget it.
2. General liability insurance
Your vendor must have proof of their liability insurance, which covers things like bodily injury, property damage, and reputational harm. Monitoring the status of their insurance is a key part of vendor compliance for a few reasons, including:
- ensuring they are staying current with their insurance,
- protecting themselves and you.
Liability claims are very common and will come up more often than you think.
It’s important to monitor this document to cultivate a good reputation among your communities and potential new clients. If there are a lot of claims or lawsuits associated with your business, it will take time to rebuild your credibility.
3. Workers’ compensation insurance
Safety is often a priority for many businesses, but there is always a possibility that someone will get hurt on the job. If that happens, workers’ compensation insurance protects your business and helps the employee with getting back on their feet.
Knowing that workers’ compensation insurance certificates expire twice a year will ensure that you’re requesting updated copies when you need them.
4. Business licensing
While many people believe that obtaining a business license is just another way for the government to take money away from you, it ensures businesses are legitimate and are qualified to provide the services that they do.
Keeping up with a vendor’s business license is just good sense. You want to make sure that they are following all of the regulations that your state requires and upholding a certain quality of work. It also lets you know who you’re working with.
5. Commercial vehicle insurance
Commercial vehicle insurance covers physical damage and liability to company vehicles. This type of business insurance covers several types of commercial vehicles, including company cars and a wide variety of commercial trucks and vehicles.
Your vendors must have this to be able to operate vehicles used for business purposes. Staying on top of this documentation keeps your business from becoming liable if something goes wrong with a vehicle on your property.
VendorSmart helps you stay Compliant
There are several important things to keep up with when you run an HOA or other property community. You can’t let any of them fall by the wayside if you’re going to protect yourself and your business, so make sure to stay on top of these documents with your vendors.
Monitoring these documents takes time and resources. Time and resources you may not have. VendorSmart makes it easy to stay current on documentation and protect your business.
Contact us today for more information on how we can partner with you, and pick up a copy of our free vendor vetting guide to help you make the right decisions in how you manage your vendors.