A plumber falls off a ladder on common property. Breaks his ankle. Can't work for three months.

Turns out his workers compensation lapsed six weeks ago. He didn't renew it. Nobody checked.

Guess whose problem that just became?

This isn't a hypothetical. It happens. And when it does, the committee is left scrambling to understand how a routine plumbing job turned into a potential legal and financial nightmare.

The truth is, most strata committees assume someone is checking contractor insurance. The strata manager. The building manager. Someone. But in too many buildings, no one actually is — or if they are, they're not checking properly.

The Insurance Assumption That Gets Committees in Trouble

Here's how it usually works: a contractor is engaged, they do the job, they send an invoice, it gets paid. At some point in the past, someone might have asked for their insurance details. Maybe there's a certificate on file somewhere. Job done.

Except insurance certificates aren't permanent. They expire. Policies lapse. Coverage limits change. A certificate from 18 months ago tells you nothing about whether that contractor is insured today.

And here's the uncomfortable reality: many committees don't even know who's supposed to be checking. Is it the strata manager's job? The building manager's? The committee's own responsibility?

The answer is that it doesn't really matter whose job it is — because if an uninsured contractor gets injured on your common property, the owners corporation is exposed. And that exposure flows through to the committee members who approved the work.

"We assumed they were insured" isn't a defence. "We thought the strata manager was checking" isn't a defence either. Due diligence means actually verifying, not assuming.

The Difference Between Having Insurance and Having Adequate Insurance

Even when contractors do have insurance, it's not always sufficient. A handyman with $1 million public liability might be fine for changing light bulbs, but what about the contractor doing waterproofing work on your roof? What about the company replacing your fire doors?

Different work carries different risk profiles. Higher-risk work requires higher coverage limits. And some work — particularly anything involving heights, confined spaces, or hazardous materials — requires specific insurances that not all contractors carry.

A contractor might technically "have insurance" while still leaving your building significantly exposed.

What Should Be Verified Before Any Work Begins

Every contractor working on common property should have their insurance verified before they start — not after, not retrospectively, before. Here's what that verification should include:

Public Liability Insurance

This covers damage to property and injury to third parties. For most strata work, you want to see a minimum of $10 million coverage — and for higher-risk work like roofing, facade work, or anything involving heights, $20 million is increasingly standard. Check the certificate of currency, confirm the policy is current, and verify the coverage amount matches the risk profile of the work.

Workers Compensation Insurance

If a contractor has employees, they're legally required to have workers compensation insurance in NSW. This covers their workers if they're injured on the job. If they don't have it and someone gets hurt on your property, you could be drawn into the claim. Sole traders may be exempt, but if they're using subcontractors, those subcontractors need to be covered too.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

For work that involves design, advice, or professional judgement — think engineers, architects, fire safety consultants — professional indemnity insurance covers errors and omissions. If a consultant's advice turns out to be wrong and it costs you money, this is the policy that responds. Not all trades need it, but when they do, it's critical.

Currency Verification

This is where most buildings fall down. A certificate of currency is only valid for the period stated on it. If the work is happening in March and the certificate expired in January, you're not covered. Verification needs to happen for each job, not just once when the contractor is first engaged. Policies can lapse between jobs.

Building a Contractor Compliance System

Ad-hoc checking isn't a system. Hoping someone remembers isn't a system. What you need is a repeatable process that ensures no contractor sets foot on common property without verified, current, adequate insurance.

Here's what that looks like:

Pre-qualification: Before any contractor is added to your approved supplier list, collect and verify all relevant insurance certificates. Set minimum coverage requirements based on the type of work they'll be doing. No certificate, no approval.

Per-job verification: Before any work order is issued, confirm the contractor's insurance is still current. This takes two minutes. It prevents disasters.

Expiry tracking: Maintain a register of all contractor insurance certificates with expiry dates. Set reminders to request updated certificates before they lapse. Don't wait for the contractor to send them — chase proactively.

Documentation: Keep copies of every certificate on file, organised by contractor and date. If something goes wrong, you need to be able to demonstrate that you verified insurance at the time the work was done.

Escalation: If a contractor can't provide current insurance, they don't do the work. No exceptions. No "I'll send it tomorrow." No starting the job while paperwork catches up. The certificate comes first, or the work doesn't happen.

The Building Manager's Role

This is exactly the kind of work a competent building manager should be handling. Not because it's exciting — it's not — but because it's essential risk management that protects the building and the committee.

A good building manager maintains the contractor register, tracks insurance expiries, verifies certificates before issuing work orders, and escalates to the committee if there are any concerns. They take this administrative burden off the committee's plate while ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.

If your building manager isn't doing this — or if you're not sure whether they are — that's a conversation worth having. Ask them: "What's your process for verifying contractor insurance?" The answer should be specific, systematic, and reassuring.

If it's vague, that's a red flag.

The Two-Minute Check That Prevents Disasters

Contractor insurance verification isn't complicated. It doesn't require special expertise. It just requires discipline — someone who actually checks, every time, without exception.

The cost of checking is two minutes and an email. The cost of not checking could be a six-figure liability claim, an insurance dispute, and years of stress for everyone involved.

Don't assume someone's checking. Make sure someone is. And make sure you can prove it.

Is your building properly managing contractor risk?

Take the free Building Management Scorecard to assess your contractor compliance systems and identify gaps before they become problems.
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