Has Anyone Used Smartsheet to Help Run an HOA? Looking to Explore a New Use Case

Tina Ciak

Hi everyone!

I live in a homeowners association (HOA) community that’s entirely run by volunteer members of the neighborhood. While the intention is good, the way it's currently managed isn't very efficient—there’s little transparency, things get lost in email threads, and tracking budget, dues, or vendor info is more reactive than proactive.

At work, I use Smartsheet every day to manage projects, track savings, organize requests, and streamline communication. It’s truly transformed how we work. That’s why I’ve been thinking… could Smartsheet be the game-changer our HOA needs too?

I’d love to explore how Smartsheet could help solve some of the common challenges HOAs face—like managing dues, storing documents, tracking vendor contracts, scheduling events, or even just improving communication and transparency with residents.

Has anyone else ever tested Smartsheet in an HOA setting? I’m curious if anyone has tried this use case before—and if Smartsheet would consider offering a free account or longer trial to help me build out a proof of concept. (It might take me some time to develop and get buy in from my less than enthusiastic board members.) I also have some questions about the types of plans offered, since this doesn't really fit into one of those options.

Open to ideas, templates, or stories—would love to hear from you if you’ve done something similar! Would love to hear from the Smartsheet team as well — if you want to help a girl out. ;)

Thanks so much,
Tina

Paul Newcome

I haven't helped an HOA specifically, but it all seems relatively straightforward if thought of in different contexts. It sounds like you are looking for a series of solutions that all tie together, so maybe start with breaking it down and doing one piece at a time. If you could list all of the challenges and goal in order of importance/priority, what would be a the top? Start there and then work your way down the list (keeping the big picture in mind the whole time).

Maybe look for the "low hanging fruit". The easy stuff that you can knock out quickly to help with buy-in while you work on the more complex parts.

If you approach it this way, I'm sure you can find a ton of your questions already answered in other threads specific to each solution.

Dues and Vendor info seem (initially) like some pretty easy to manage bits that could be thrown together pretty quickly.

Vendor Info is just a sheet with some basic columns, attach contracts, etc..

Dues I would think would be a list of everyone in one sheet. Another sheet would have a form where you can enter who has paid what and when. Back in the master sheet, you would use formulas to bring back the most recent payment, maybe some other formulas to calculate due dates, overdue, etc..