Quick Summary
A supplier provides goods, a vendor sells or distributes those goods, and a contractor performs on-site services. Their compliance needs are different because suppliers and vendors mainly deal with product safety and documentation, while contractors need licences, insurance and safety paperwork. For strata managers, understanding these differences reduces risk and makes it easier to keep every building safe and compliant.
If you’re managing strata buildings, you deal with a steady stream of people who help keep everything running: electricians, fire safety teams, lift companies, cleaning crews, wholesalers, product distributors… the list goes on.
And somewhere in that busy mix, the terms contractor vs supplier vs vendor compliance start blending together.
The problem?
They’re not interchangeable.
Each one comes with a different role and a different level of compliance your building needs to stay on the right side of the law. Mix these up, and you could end up with expired licences, unsafe work, invalid warranties or a whole lot of avoidable risk.
This article breaks it all down, so you know exactly who does what, what compliance each group needs, and why strata managers must treat them differently.
By the end, you’ll have a clear picture of how the three roles fit into your building’s maintenance workflow and how to stay ahead of compliance without drowning in admin.
What Is a Supplier?
A supplier is a business that provides products. They don’t service, install or repair anything; they just supply the goods that your trades later use.
You’ll deal with suppliers all the time, even if it’s indirectly. These include:
- Electrical wholesalers
- Plumbing parts suppliers
- Timber and building material suppliers
- Paint suppliers
- Fire system parts suppliers
- Chemical and cleaning product distributors
They’re the reason your contractors show up with quality materials on the day.
What Are Supplier Compliance Requirements?
Suppliers don’t usually need trade licences or insurance unless they’re doing physical work. Their compliance is all about product safety, such as:
- Product safety certificates
- Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
- Warranty documents
- Certificates of conformity
- Proof of safe or ethical sourcing
- Australian Standards certifications
If a product fails or doesn’t meet standards, it can cause defects, damage, or warranty issues, so supplier compliance is still important.
What Is a Vendor?
A vendor sells or distributes goods, sometimes directly, sometimes as an authorised partner for a manufacturer. Vendors often supply more complex systems or equipment and may provide support services as well.
Vendors tend to be more specialised, such as:
- Access control and intercom system vendors
- Building automation and sensor system vendors
- CCTV and security vendors
- Lift technology vendors
- Fire system panel vendors
- Energy monitoring system providers
If it plugs in, connects online, or needs ongoing support, chances are you’re dealing with a vendor.
What Are Vendor Compliance Requirements
Vendor compliance sits in the middle, more than a supplier but less than a contractor. Common requirements include:
- Proof of authorised distribution
- Product compliance certificates
- Warranties and support agreements
- Cybersecurity and data-protection documents (for connected systems)
- SLAs covering response times and system uptime
- Software update policies
Because many vendors work with digital systems and sensitive building data, cybersecurity compliance is becoming a major part of their responsibility.
What Is a Contractor?
A contractor is the person or company that physically works on your building. They install, repair, inspect, clean and maintain anything on-site.
These are the people strata managers book daily:
- Electricians
- Plumbers
- HVAC technicians
- Fire service technicians
- Painters
- Roofers
- Cleaning crews
- Gardeners
- Lift technicians
- Pest control teams
- Handymen
Because they work directly on common property, contractors come with the highest level of compliance risk.
What Are Contractor Compliance Requirements
This is where things get serious. Contractors must have:
- Current trade licences
- Public liability insurance
- Workers compensation cover
- SWMS for high-risk tasks
- Police checks or WWCC (where needed)
- Industry accreditations (e.g. fire, lift, electrical)
- Safety and training documentation (e.g. working at heights)
If anything goes wrong, an accident, property damage, or a failed job, you need to prove the contractor was 100% compliant when you engaged them.
Supplier vs Vendor vs Contractor: The Key Compliance Differences
Here’s the simplest breakdown of how they differ:
Getting compliance right for all three groups protects the building, the owners corporation and you as the strata manager.
What Are The Compliance Challenges Strata Managers Face
Even when you understand the differences, staying on top of compliance is a whole different battle. Most strata managers face these day-to-day issues:
1. Compliance Documents Everywhere
Licences in emails, insurances in random folders, warranties in someone’s desk drawer; nothing is central.
2. Keeping Up With Expiry Dates
Monthly reminders get missed, people change roles, and documents slip through the cracks.
3. Contractors Changing Staff
A company may be compliant, but the new technician they send on-site might not be.
4. More Buildings = More Admin
The bigger your portfolio, the harder it is to manage compliance manually.
5. Spreadsheets Don’t Cut It
They fail at scale, become outdated in minutes and don’t provide real-time visibility.
6. Audit Stress
Insurance claims, disputes, and safety inspections require perfect paperwork.
This is why strata managers are turning to dedicated compliance systems; manual methods simply can’t keep up anymore.
How i4T Maintenance Makes Compliance Simple
Compliance doesn’t have to be confusing or stressful. i4T Maintenance is built specifically for strata managers who are juggling lots of buildings, lots of providers and not enough hours in the day. Instead of chasing emails and digging through folders, you get one clear system that keeps everything tidy, trackable and up to date.
Here’s how it helps:
Everything Stored in One Place
No more hunting through inboxes, desktops or filing cabinets.
With i4T Maintenance, all your important compliance documents live in one central hub:
- Licences
- Insurances
- SWMS and safety documents
- Certifications and accreditations
- Warranties and product documents
You can quickly pull up what you need by building, provider, trade or document type. It’s all easy to find, so you spend less time searching and more time actually managing.
Automatic Expiry Alerts
Instead of manually tracking expiry dates in a spreadsheet or calendar, the system does it for you.
- Get notified before licences or insurances run out
- See which providers are about to fall out of compliance
- Act early instead of reacting to problems later
This means you’re not caught off guard by a contractor turning up to the site with expired cover; you already know and can deal with it ahead of time.
Approve or Block Providers Instantly
You’re always in control of who gets work.
Inside i4T Maintenance, you can:
- Approve providers who meet your compliance requirements
- Put providers on hold if their documents are missing or have expired
- Remove providers completely if they’re no longer suitable
It’s a simple way to make sure only the right people are connected to your buildings and committees.
Only Send Jobs to Compliant Contractors
The system doesn’t just store compliance; it actually uses it.
When you go to assign a job:
- i4T Maintenance checks the contractor’s compliance status in real time
- Non-compliant providers can be flagged or prevented from receiving work
- Jobs naturally flow to contractors who are fully up to date
This reduces your risk without you having to double-check every single time.
Real-Time Visibility for Your Whole Team
Compliance shouldn’t live in one person’s head or one person’s inbox.
With i4T Maintenance:
- Strata managers, building managers and authorised team members can all see provider status
- Everyone knows who is compliant, who is pending, and who is blocked
- There’s less back-and-forth and fewer “Can you send me that licence?” emails
It creates one shared source of truth for your whole team and your buildings.
Full Audit Trails
When something goes wrong, or you’re asked to “show the paperwork”, you’re covered.
i4T Maintenance automatically keeps track of:
- Which documents were uploaded
- When they were updated
- Who approved or reviewed them
- Which jobs were assigned to which providers
So if an insurer, regulator, committee member or legal team asks for evidence, you can generate it quickly and confidently.
Lower Risk, Less Stress
At the end of the day, it’s about peace of mind.
With i4T Maintenance:
- You’re not relying on memory or manual reminders
- You’re not scrambling when a licence or insurance has quietly expired
- You’re not guessing whether a contractor is compliant; you know
Compliance moves from being a daily headache to something that quietly runs in the background, supporting you instead of slowing you down.
Make Contractor, Vendor and Supplier Compliance Easy with i4T Maintenance
Keeping track of compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. With i4T Maintenance, you get a smart, centralised system that stores documents, automates reminders and ensures only compliant providers get jobs.
It reduces risk, saves time and keeps your buildings protected.
Book a demo today and see how easy compliance can be when everything finally lives in one place.
FAQs
Contractors work on-site and directly impact the safety of residents and property. Their work also falls under strict WHS laws, making licences and insurances essential.
Not usually. Their main responsibility is providing safe, compliant products. They only need trade licences if they’re performing installation or service work.
Ideally at onboarding, at each expiry date, and before assigning a job. Automated systems make this much easier.
Your building could be at risk. This is why real-time monitoring and expiry alerts are so important.
Absolutely. For example, a company might supply fire equipment, sell digital fire panels and also maintain them. In that case, strata managers must check compliance across all three categories.