Powerful engines. Zero CRE knowledge.
HotDocs, Contract Express, and other document-automation engines do real work for legal teams — but they're blank slates. You'd need to build all the commercial real estate logic yourself.
Credit where it's due
HotDocs and Contract Express are mature document-automation engines with deep adoption across legal. They assemble documents from conditional logic and user inputs cleanly.
The question isn't whether they're good tools. It's whether building CRE-specific logic from scratch makes sense when ten years of CRE logic already exists in another product.
10+ years of lease logic, ready to use
This is what you'd need to build from scratch with a generic automation platform.
Percentage Rent
- Natural vs. artificial breakpoints
- Gross sales definitions
- Proration calculations
- Audit provisions
CAM & Operating Expenses
- Controllable expense caps
- Gross-up provisions
- Administrative fee structures
- Year-over-year reconciliation
Tenant Improvements
- Allowance calculations
- Disbursement schedules
- Lien waiver requirements
- Completion deadlines
Rent Escalations
- Fixed increases
- CPI adjustments
- Fair market resets
- Compounding logic
And that's just the start. Co-tenancy logic, date calculations, defined-term management, state-specific disclosures, and more.
Generic automation vs. CRE-native
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Generic Automation | LeasePilot |
|---|---|---|
| CRE Logic | 01 Percentage rent calculations | Build from scratch |
| 02 CAM reconciliation logic | Build from scratch | |
| 03 TI allowance provisions | Build from scratch | |
| 04 Co-tenancy clause handling | Build from scratch | |
| 05 State-specific requirements | Research & build | |
| Platform | 01 Document assembly engine | Yes |
| 02 Conditional logic | Yes | |
| 03 Template builder | Yes | |
| 04 Post-generation changes | Back to Word | |
| Implementation | 01 Time to first lease | 3-6 months |
| 02 Ongoing maintenance | Your team | |
| 03 CRE product updates | No |
The true cost of custom CRE logic
Build vs. Buy
- 3–6 months to build initial templates
6 weeks to live with your templates - Dedicated developer or consultant costs
Predictable subscription cost - Ongoing maintenance as requirements change
Template changes handled by our team - Encode state-specific requirements yourself
State requirements already built-in
Platforms we're often compared to
- HotDocs→Long-running document automation engine
- Contract Express Thomason Reuters document automation
- Docassemble Open-source interview platform
- Legito Modern document lifecycle platform
Skip the build. Start drafting.
10+ years of CRE calculation logic, ready to use. Your templates encoded in weeks, not months of custom development.