What Every Property Manager Needs from a Vendor Before They Start Work

Before a vendor sets foot on your property, you need to verify a minimum set of credentials. This isn't optional — it's a liability requirement that protects you, your client (the property owner), and the tenants or occupants of the building.

The standard vendor insurance compliance checklist includes: a Certificate of Insurance with adequate coverage limits, a current WSIB Clearance Certificate, applicable trade licences or certifications, and in some cases, a health and safety policy or site-specific training certificates.

How property managers verify vendor credentials varies — some use spreadsheets, some rely on email, and some have adopted digital tools. But the checklist itself is universal.

If you manage 5 vendors, email works. If you manage 50, it doesn't. The problem isn't collecting the documents — it's tracking their expiry dates, following up when things lapse, and maintaining an auditable record of when you verified what.

Most property managers end up with a folder of PDFs organized by vendor name. Some certificates are current. Some expired months ago. When an auditor or insurer asks for proof of vendor compliance, the PM has to manually check every document — a process that takes hours and inevitably reveals gaps.

The question of how to collect proof of insurance from subcontractors at scale has a straightforward answer: stop collecting documents. Instead, have each vendor provide a single live link that shows their current compliance status. You check the link instead of the PDF. The status updates automatically. If something lapses, you see it the next time you look — or better, you get an alert.

Named insured matches the contract. The business name on the insurance certificate should exactly match the entity named in your service agreement. A mismatch could void coverage.

Coverage limits meet your requirements. Standard is $2M general liability for routine maintenance. Construction, renovation, and high-risk work should carry $5M or more. Check with your property owner or your own insurer for specific requirements.

Expiry dates are current. This sounds obvious, but it's the most common gap. A certificate from last year is not proof of current coverage. Always verify the expiry date is in the future.

WSIB is in good standing. A WSIB clearance certificate confirms the vendor has paid their premiums and has no outstanding obligations. Without it, you could be liable for workplace injuries on your property.

The best way to request a COI from contractors is to avoid requesting documents entirely. Instead, send them a CavaIt proof request. You enter their email, and they receive a prompt to set up a live credential profile (or share their existing one). Once they do, you have a permanent link to their compliance status.

This works whether the vendor is already on CavaIt or not. If they are, they share their existing link. If they aren't, they create a free profile — which takes under 10 minutes — and you get the link automatically. Either way, you never chase a PDF again.

For PMs managing larger vendor networks, this approach eliminates the overhead of a certificate of insurance tracking software — because there's nothing to track when every vendor's status is live. The vendor maintains their own credentials; you just check the link.