How I keep coi tracking simple across every vendor and handyman

Question

Something that doesn't get talked about enough on the landlord side: every handyman, cleaner, and contractor who steps onto your property is a liability question. If someone gets hurt and their insurance lapsed, guess whose property they were on.

I work with property managers and landlords on the operations side, and the organized ones all run some version of this:

1. COI before keys. Nobody gets property access until their certificate of insurance is on file — GL at minimum, workers' comp if they bring a crew. No "I'll send it over tonight."

2. One tracker, all properties. Vendor name, which properties they service, policy expiry dates. A simple spreadsheet, reviewed monthly. Takes 20 m

inutes.

3. Annual refresh. Insurance renews yearly — so does your file. Set a calendar reminder per vendor, or batch it every January.

4. Match the requirement to the risk. The roofer needs higher limits than the lawn guy. Write down your minimums once, then it's copy-paste.

The landlords who get burned are never the ones who didn't care — they're the ones who trusted a verbal "yeah I'm insured" and never checked the dates. Paperwork isn't paranoia. It's the cheapest insurance you have.

How are you all handling vendor docs — formal system or still in the "I'll get to it" phase?

Jim Johnson · Answer

Definitely needs to be more than an "I'll get to it" item once you're coordinating multiple vendors. The tricky part isn't getting the COI the first time, it's making sure the documentation stays current as vendors renew policies throughout the year. That's where having some kind of consistent tracking process really matters.

Mark Updegraff · Answer

@Willson Dinayen I’d add one distinction: the tracker is the reminder system, not the risk-control system.

We try to make the documentation part of vendor onboarding itself — agreement, insurance requirements, expiration dates and who is actually authorized to approve an exception.

Then the operating rule is simple: if the required documentation expires, that vendor doesn’t quietly stay “approved” because everybody knows him.

I also want the file to tell us what work that vendor is approved to perform. The insurance requirement for a guy mowing a lawn shouldn’t necessarily look like the requirement for somebody doing roofing, electrical or structural work.

The real enemy at scale is the sentence, “I’m pretty sure we have that somewhere.”

If the vendor relationship lives in somebody’s memory instead of a durable record, eventually convenience wins over process.

Willson Dinayen · Answer

That's the distinction I keep coming back to, Mark — the tracker reminds, the onboarding decides. Love the trade-specific bar: a lawn guy and a roofer should never clear the same requirement. And 'I'm pretty sure we have that somewhere' might be the most expensive sentence in property management.

Divin Kanyama · Answer

@Willson Dinayen This is a great reminder that vendor management is part of risk management. A COI is a good starting point, but landlords should also confirm that the policy is active, the limits match the work, and the vendor’s name matches the person or company performing it. For higher-risk projects, the contract should also address additional insured status, indemnification, licensing, permits, and subcontractor requirements.

A simple tracker and consistent “no documents, no access” policy can prevent convenience from overriding the process. It may feel overly formal for a small repair, but one uninsured incident can erase years of cash flow. The key is building the requirement into onboarding so it becomes routine rather than something reviewed only after a problem.

Willson Dinayen · Answer

Divin — great add. The name-matching point especially: the COI means a lot less if the name on it isn't the person or company actually doing the work. Confirming the policy is active and the limits match the job are the two checks most people skip, and they're the two that matter when something goes wrong. Appreciate you spelling out the additional-insured and indemnification angle for higher-risk projects too — that's the piece landlords tend to learn the hard way.

How I keep coi tracking simple across every vendor and handyman

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