How do we track contractor insurance and compliance?
Quick answer
The contractor register holds each contractor's licence details and insurance cover with expiry dates, so lapsed or soon-to-expire cover is visible before a new job is issued, rather than discovered after an incident.
Key takeaways
- Insurance cover needs periodic re-checking, not a one-off sighting
- The contractor register tracks licensing and insurance expiry alongside job history
- Building-level compliance obligations sit in a separate compliance register
Insurance cover that's lapsed without anyone noticing is one of the more expensive mistakes a committee can make, usually only discovered when it's too late to matter — after an incident on site.
Why this needs tracking, not just filing
A certificate of currency sighted at the start of a relationship doesn't stay current forever. Contractors' policies renew annually (or more often lapse and get renewed late), and a committee relying on a PDF from eighteen months ago has no real idea whether cover is still in place today.
What the contractor register tracks
- Licence type and number, where relevant to the trade
- Public liability (and workers' compensation, where applicable) insurance cover
- Expiry dates for both licensing and insurance
- Job history with the building, so patterns of reliability are visible over time
How this changes day-to-day decisions
Before issuing a new work order, the committee (or whoever's coordinating maintenance) can check the register rather than digging through old emails to find the last certificate someone was sent. If cover has lapsed or is about to, that's visible before the job is issued, not after.
What still needs a human check
The register is only as good as the information entered into it — if a renewed certificate isn't uploaded, the register won't magically know cover is current. Building a habit of asking for an updated certificate at renewal time, and logging it promptly, is what actually keeps the register useful.
Beyond insurance
Compliance isn't only about contractors — the building itself carries compliance obligations (fire safety, essential services checks, and similar), which sit in Flex Strata's separate compliance register rather than the contractor register, since they belong to the building rather than to a tradesperson.
Common follow-up questions
Want this handled for your building? See what Flex Strata costs or ask us directly.