HOA Vendor Management and Work Orders

This document is the current source of truth for HOAfy vendor records, vendor access, work orders, and vendor bills. It describes implemented behavior and material limitations, not roadmap requirements.

Availability

Vendor Records

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HOAfy separates three kinds of data:

• A Vendor is the canonical business identity and shared contact profile.
• A Vendor User is a person authorized to use that vendor workspace.
• An Association Vendor Relationship contains association-specific status, payment terms, preferred status, default expense account, notes, and work history.

Authorized association users can search, create, link, and edit vendors. Exact-match warnings help avoid duplicate canonical businesses. An association can edit an unclaimed vendor's shared details. Once claimed, vendor-controlled identity and association-private relationship settings remain separate.

Current relationship settings include active status, preferred status, payment terms, a default GL expense account, private notes, and links to work orders and bills. Sensitive banking details and tax identifiers do not belong in free-form notes.

Invitations, Claiming, and Vendor Mode

An association can invite an unclaimed vendor. The recipient can accept the invitation, create or connect a user, and claim the vendor workspace. A vendor can also create or claim an eligible profile through the vendor onboarding flow when the verified identity rules allow it.

Vendor Mode provides vendor-specific navigation for profile management, assigned work orders, comments, progress updates, invoice submission, and bill status. Vendor users can see only records tied to their vendor identity and assigned association work; they do not receive general association accounting, membership, violation, or voting access.

The current identity model is limited for users who need to administer several unrelated vendor businesses. Larger vendor-team administration is not a complete workflow.

Work Orders

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A work order can be created directly or converted from a maintenance request. It can contain:

• Title, description, status, and priority context
• Source request and unit or location context
• Internal or vendor assignment
• Estimate and expense-account mapping
• Notes, comments, and photo URLs
• A linked vendor bill and payment state

The current workflow is:

1. Create the work order or convert an eligible request.
2. Assign it internally or select an active association vendor.
3. Share the scope and estimate requirements.
4. The vendor accepts or declines.
5. The vendor records progress, comments, and photo links.
6. The vendor marks work complete and submits invoice details.
7. The association reviews and posts the linked bill.
8. Authorized accounting staff record payment status.

A completed work order is not the same as an approved or paid vendor bill. Converting a resident request is preferred when source context must remain traceable.

Vendor Bills

A vendor can submit an amount, invoice and due dates, memo, and attachment URLs from an assigned work order. Association users can review the submission, post the bill to accounting, and record payment state.

Current accounts payable is centered on work-order-linked bills. HOAfy does not currently provide a complete workflow for independent bill intake, email-forwarded capture, OCR, recurring bills, configurable approval chains, batch payment runs, printed checks, integrated vendor disbursement, compliance-document tracking, or 1099 filing.

Recording a bill as paid does not originate funds through a vendor payment network. Associations must use their actual payment channel and maintain any required W-9, insurance, licensing, sanctions, and local-compliance controls outside HOAfy.

Marketplace Boundary

The current Vendors workspace is an association vendor directory, not a public marketplace. HOAfy does not currently provide general vendor discovery by location, public service catalogs, association tenders or RFPs, competing proposal comparison, clarification, award, or marketplace reviews. An Opportunities screen or empty state does not imply that a tender feed is operating.

Operating Guidance

• Search before creating a vendor.
• Keep association-specific terms in the relationship, not the shared profile.
• Require a clear scope and completion evidence before posting a bill.
• Review the default expense account for every unusual job.
• Keep work completion, bill review, payment authorization, and actual disbursement distinct.
• Correct posted accounting through documented reversal workflows rather than deleting history.

Support Answers

• Can a vendor claim or create a profile? Yes, through invitation/claiming and eligible vendor onboarding flows.
• Can a request become a work order? Yes. Eligible maintenance requests preserve their source context when converted.
• Can a vendor submit an invoice? Yes, for assigned work. The association still reviews and posts the bill.
• Does HOAfy pay the vendor? No complete payment-run service currently originates vendor funds.
• Can an association compare competing bids? No. Tender publication, proposals, comparison, and award are not current workflows.
• Does HOAfy file 1099s or track W-9 and COI compliance? Not currently.

Related Topics

• HOA Financial Management
• HOA Community Management
• HOA Platform Administration