What Insurance Should an HOA Require From Contractors?

An HOA should require contractors to carry general liability insurance, workers compensation, and auto liability where vehicles are used, with higher limits and umbrella coverage for larger reserve projects. Just as important, the association should be named as additional insured on the contractor general liability policy, not merely listed as certificate holder, so a claim from the vendor work responds under the vendor coverage first instead of the association master policy.

Every homeowners association and condo association hires outside help: landscapers, pool services, janitorial crews, pest control, snow removal, and, on bigger jobs, roofers, painters and paving contractors. Each one creates liability the moment it sets foot on common property. The board has a fiduciary duty to confirm those contractors are insured before work starts, and getting the requirements right is what keeps a vendor accident from turning into an assessment on owners. Here is what to require, and why.

What insurance should an HOA require from contractors?

At a minimum, most associations require general liability insurance, workers compensation, and commercial auto liability for any vendor that drives on the property. The limits and any added coverages depend on the size and risk of the job. A solo handyman hanging a few fixtures is a different exposure than a roofing crew working at height over occupied units.

These are common starting points, not legal advice. Confirm your own requirements against your vendor contracts, governing documents and your association master policy.

Why does the HOA need to be named additional insured?

Being named additional insured means the association is added to the contractor general liability policy and can be defended and covered under it if a claim arises from the vendor work. Being listed only as certificate holder gives the association notice that a policy exists, but no coverage at all. That difference is the single most common gap on a community association certificate.

When the association is properly named additional insured, a slip-and-fall or property-damage claim tied to a vendor flows to the vendor insurer first. Without that status, the same claim can land on the association master policy, driving up premiums and exposing owners. Ask for the additional insured endorsement and confirm the wording names the correct association entity, not just a management company. To understand the distinction in depth, see our guide on additional insured vs certificate holder.

How much coverage should reserve and capital projects carry?

Reserve and capital work, roofing, painting, paving, fencing and clubhouse renovation, carries more exposure than routine maintenance, so the requirements should rise with it. For these jobs, many associations require a $2,000,000 general aggregate, umbrella coverage of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, and confirmed workers compensation, because crews are working at height, with heavy equipment, near residents.

This is exactly where verifying the certificate matters most. A board that approves a six-figure roofing contract on an unverified or expired COI can expose every owner to assessment if something goes wrong. Read the limits, confirm workers compensation is in force, and check the additional insured wording before the contract is signed.

What happens if an HOA hires an uninsured contractor?

If an uninsured or underinsured contractor injures someone or damages property, the claim can fall back on the association master policy. That can raise the association premium at renewal, trigger a special assessment on owners to cover a deductible or shortfall, and put the board in the position of explaining why it did not verify coverage. Boards have been challenged on exactly this point, because confirming vendor insurance is part of their fiduciary duty.

The fix is simple in principle: get a current certificate, confirm the right coverages and limits, confirm additional insured status, and keep it current as the policy renews. The hard part is doing that consistently across every vendor and every renewal, which is where a tracking process earns its keep.

How does a community association manager keep certificates current?

Recurring vendors like landscaping, pool, pest and snow services renew every year, each with a new certificate and a new expiration date. A management company runs that same problem across dozens or hundreds of associations at once. Keeping every certificate current by hand, in a spreadsheet per community, is where coverage quietly lapses.

The practical approach is one system of record that reads each certificate, checks it against the requirement, organizes it by association, and chases the next certificate before the current one expires. That is what COI tracking for HOAs and community associations is built to do, and the same verification checks behind certificate of insurance verification flag a certificate that is short, expired or missing the additional insured wording. For managers who run vendor compliance across a whole portfolio, vendor insurance compliance software ties it together in one view.

A simple checklist before a vendor starts work

Before any contractor begins work on association property, confirm the certificate shows: general liability at the limit you require, workers compensation in force, auto liability if vehicles are used, umbrella coverage for larger projects, the association named as additional insured for the correct entity, current effective and expiration dates, and a carrier in good standing. If any line is missing or expired, hold the work until you have a corrected certificate.

That same onboarding moment is a good time to handle the rest of the vendor paperwork. Many managers have the contractor e-sign the vendor agreement at the same time, digitize the vendor W-9 and licenses so the file is complete, and issue a purchase order for the reserve project once insurance is verified. Getting insurance, contract and paperwork done together keeps the whole vendor file clean and audit-ready.

Verifying insurance is not about paperwork for its own sake. It is the board doing its job: making sure that when something goes wrong on the property, the cost lands on the vendor that caused it, not on the owners who trusted the board to check.