Creating Your HOA — Help

What information do I need to create an HOA?

You'll need:

HOA name — the name of your homeowners association
HOA email address — the custom Fourplex address for your community, such as maple-court@hoamail.app
City, state, and ZIP code — where your community is located. ZIP is required (5-digit, or ZIP+4). Fourplex uses it for billing and sales tax.
Number of units — how many units are in your community (Fourplex supports up to 200 units during signup)
Water submetering interest — answer Yes, No, or Not sure. It doesn't turn anything on. If you answer Yes or Not sure, your plan also shows what water submetering would cost.
Optional promotion code — if Fourplex gave you a code (for example first month free), you can enter it on the same screen. Leave it blank if you do not have one.
Founder details — your name and board role

You'll enter these during the initial sign-up flow. When you enter a valid unit count, Fourplex automatically shows the matching plan for your community size and lets you choose monthly or yearly billing. If you have a promotion code, enter it in the optional field — Fourplex checks the code and updates your plan with the discounted price, the price per unit, and what it renews at. Some codes only work with yearly billing; if you pick monthly, Fourplex tells you to switch to yearly to use the code.

What does the water submetering line on my plan mean?

If you answered Yes or Not sure to water submetering, your plan shows the water add-on below the platform price: $5 per home per month, or $55 per home per year. It's shown as "up to" because only homes with a unit meter are billed.

Water isn't charged at signup or during the trial. It's charged when water billing starts for your community, for the rest of your current plan month or year. After that, it renews together with your plan on one invoice.

If your promotion code keeps discounting after the first invoice, the water line shows the discounted price too. A code that applies only once is used on your first plan invoice, so it doesn't apply to water. During signup, you'll also choose your board role, such as President, Treasurer, or Secretary. Additional details like formation date and fiscal year start can be added later in Settings.

How do I create a new HOA?

When you sign up for Fourplex for the first time, you'll be guided through a short creation flow:

Enter your community name and choose your HOA email address.
Add your city, state, ZIP code, and number of units, and say whether you're interested in water submetering.
Once the unit count is valid, Fourplex automatically shows the matching plan and lets you choose monthly or yearly billing. Optionally enter a promotion code if you have one.
Add your founder details, choose your board role, and confirm.
You'll land in the Onboarding Center at /onboarding, where you can continue setup. Your dashboard is also available as soon as the HOA is created. The sidebar shows your community's unit count (for example, 12 units · Seattle) — that number is the units created at signup, not how many units you have personally claimed yet.

After creation, the Onboarding Center guides you through the remaining setup steps.

Do I need an invite or a code to start a free trial?

No. Anyone can start a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Choose Sign up on the login page, enter your email, type the 6-digit code we email you, and fill in your community details.

Occasionally, when a lot of HOAs sign up at once, the sign-up tab shows a short request form instead. Fill in your HOA name, contact details, unit count, address, and whether you're interested in submetering, and our team will email you soon to get your trial set up. If you were invited to join an existing HOA, use the link in your invite email; invites always work.

What is the Onboarding Center?

The Onboarding Center is an interactive checklist at /onboarding that tracks your HOA's setup progress. Board members can see it from the sidebar.

It has seven sections, completed inline without leaving the page:

Complete community details — confirm your HOA's address, type, and give each unit a name (like A, Garden, or 101). This section must be completed first — it unlocks the rest of the checklist.
Complete your profile — add your name, phone number, and which units you own. Units already assigned to someone else are marked owned and can't be selected.
Set up payments — connect a Stripe bank account to enable online dues collection.
Invite board members — bring in your Treasurer, Secretary, and other board members.
Invite homeowners — invite unit owners and residents.
Upload documents — add any HOA governing documents, rules, or records.
Set up calendar events — add preset reminders (backflow, insurance, fire safety) and any custom ones you need, then click Finished. Or choose Add later to come back without completing the step.

You may also see an optional Set up compliance card. It opens the Compliance first-run wizard so you can confirm jurisdiction facts, board seats, insurance, and review deadlines. Finish later saves a draft you can resume; Compliance stays inactive until you complete the final step.

Each section shows a completion indicator once the relevant action is taken. Sections 2–7 become available after you complete Community details.

Do I need to complete all the onboarding steps before using Fourplex?

Only the first two. While you're setting up a new HOA, finish Complete community details and Complete your profile first. Until both are done, the other sidebar items show a lock icon and can't be opened. Hover over one to see what's left. Onboarding, Settings, and Support stay open the whole time.

Once both are done, the whole sidebar unlocks right away. The rest of the checklist (payments, invites, documents, calendar events) is a guide, not a gate: you can use the Inbox, Documents, Calendar, and everything else before finishing it.

Inside the checklist, completing Community details (including naming your units) unlocks the remaining sections. Until that step is done, the other sections show as locked.

The lock only applies while you're the only one in your HOA. Once you invite a board member or neighbors, or if you join an HOA that already has other members, nothing is locked. You can finish your profile whenever you like.

Why does the Member portal send me back to onboarding?

The Member portal shows your own unit, so it needs a unit linked to your account. While your HOA is still being set up, opening the Member portal before you finish Complete your profile (where you pick the units you own) takes you back to the Onboarding Center. Pick your unit there and the portal opens normally.

If your HOA is already set up and no unit is linked to your account, the Member portal says so and shows a Back to board button.

Why do I need to set up an HOA email address?

Your HOA's Fourplex email address (like maple-grove@hoamail.app) is how external mail reaches your Inbox. Homeowners and vendors can email that address, and it appears in the Inbox for board members to read and respond to.

If you skip this step, the Inbox will still work for internal communication, but you won't have an address to share externally.

You choose this address during signup. If you need help with email settings later, use the app's email settings area or contact support.

When should I set up billing?

Set up billing (connecting a Stripe bank account) when you're ready to collect dues online. It's not required to do during initial setup — you can invite members, manage documents, and use other features without it.

If your HOA currently collects dues by check and you're not ready to switch to online payments, skip the billing step for now and return to it later from the Billing area.

Can I change my HOA's name, address, or unit count after creating it?

Yes. Go to Settings in the sidebar to update any of these fields. Only the President can make changes in Settings. New communities need at least two units; if your community is already recorded as one unit, you can keep that count when saving other Organization settings, but you cannot lower a multi-unit community back to one.

How do I find the Onboarding Center?

The Onboarding Center appears on the main dashboard after your HOA is created. If you've dismissed it or navigated away, look for an Onboarding or Setup link in the sidebar or at the top of the dashboard. It remains visible until all steps are marked complete.

What happens after all onboarding steps are complete?

The Onboarding Center is marked complete and stops showing prominently on the dashboard. Your HOA is fully set up: email is configured, members are invited, and billing is ready if you enabled it. From this point, the dashboard shows your regular activity — Inbox, meetings, documents, and finances.