ONCE THE MONEY IS POSTED IN THE ACCOUNT, YOU HAVE ZERO LEVERAGE.
No W-9, No Payment.
Yes, that feels strict. But right before you pay someone is when you have the most leverage. Once the money is posted in the account, you have zero leverage. So, if a contractor is pushing for payment, you say, “I’ve got the check ready. Text me a picture of the
W-9 and I’ll hand it over.” They’ll send it in five minutes. Make sure all the boxes are filled, and the form is signed. You don’t need to be difficult. You just need to be consistent.
The 7 Mistakes Landlords Make With Contractors and Vendors
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Waiting until January to get the paperwork. You’re trying to rebuild the year rather than just release payments. Paying before you get the W-9. Once the check’s sent, you’re chasing. Thinking someone else is handling it. Nobody owns the process, so nobody does it. Running on memory instead of a system. That works for one or two units. It breaks at scale.
Making exceptions and never fixing the habit. One emergency becomes the pattern. Scattering the W-9, invoice, and payment across different places. You waste hours digging through emails and files. Believing you can clean it up later. By January, the contractor’s gone, and the cleanup is expensive.
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