HOA Vendor Insurance Requirements: A Board Member's Guide
The CertifiKit team
Certificate-of-insurance desk
Every vendor an HOA hires — from the landscaper to the pool company to the roofer — should carry general liability and workers' compensation insurance, name the association as an additional insured, and prove it with a current certificate of insurance. For a volunteer board, the goal is simple: if a vendor's work hurts someone or damages property, the vendor's insurance pays, not the association's.
Why this matters more for an HOA
An HOA board is spending other people's money and carrying a fiduciary duty to the membership. When an uninsured landscaper's mower throws a rock through a window — or worse, injures a resident — and the vendor has no coverage, the claim lands on the association's master policy. That means a deductible, a possible premium increase, and a special assessment that every homeowner feels. Requiring proper vendor insurance is one of the cleanest ways a board protects the community's money.
What to require from every vendor
| Coverage | Typical minimum | Why |
|---|---|---|
| General liability | $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate | Property damage and bodily injury from the work |
| Workers' compensation | Statutory limits | Covers the vendor's injured employees — so they don't come after the HOA |
| Auto liability | $1M | Vendors driving on or around the property |
| Additional insured | Association named, by endorsement | So the vendor's policy defends the HOA directly |
Workers' comp is the line boards most often forget. Without it, an injured worker can pursue the property owner — the association — for their medical costs. For the reasoning behind each line, the subcontractor insurance requirements guide applies just as well to HOA vendors.
Don't settle for certificate holder status
A common board mistake: requiring the management company or association be listed on the certificate, but only as the certificate holder. As covered in certificate holder vs. additional insured, that just puts the HOA on the mailing list — it confers no coverage. The association needs to be a named additional insured, backed by an endorsement, to actually be protected.
A workflow a volunteer board can sustain
Boards turn over, and "verify the insurance" tends to fall off when it depends on one diligent member. Keep it simple and repeatable:
- Require a COI from every vendor before work starts — no certificate, no start.
- Verify each certificate against the requirements above, not just that it exists.
- Track expiration dates so coverage doesn't lapse mid-contract — a COI tracking spreadsheet is enough to start.
- Re-verify at every renewal.
Make the verification step painless
Step 2 is where boards get stuck — reading limits and endorsement signals off a PDF isn't something a volunteer treasurer should have to learn. Upload the vendor's certificate to the free CertifiKit checker: it reads the limits, dates, and additional insured status, checks them against your requirements, and tells you in plain English whether the vendor is properly covered — so any board member can do the review with confidence.