# 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.

1. **Percentage Rent**  
   - Natural vs. artificial breakpoints  
   - Gross sales definitions  
   - Proration calculations  
   - Audit provisions

2. **CAM & Operating Expenses**  
   - Controllable expense caps  
   - Gross-up provisions  
   - Administrative fee structures  
   - Year-over-year reconciliation

3. **Tenant Improvements**  
   - Allowance calculations  
   - Disbursement schedules  
   - Lien waiver requirements  
   - Completion deadlines

4. **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         | Yes                        |
|                              | 02 CAM reconciliation logic      | Build from scratch         | Yes                        |
|                              | 03 TI allowance provisions       | Build from scratch         | Yes                        |
|                              | 04 Co-tenancy clause handling    | Build from scratch         | Yes                        |
|                              | 05 State-specific requirements   | Research & build           | Yes                        |
| Platform                     | 01 Document assembly engine      | Yes                        | Yes                        |
|                              | 02 Conditional logic             | Yes                        | Yes                        |
|                              | 03 Template builder              | Yes                        | Yes                        |
|                              | 04 Post-generation changes       | Back to Word               | Still in the platform      |
| Implementation               | 01 Time to first lease          | 3-6 months                 | 6 weeks                    |
|                              | 02 Ongoing maintenance           | Your team                  | Included                   |
|                              | 03 CRE product updates           | No                         | Yes                        |

## The true cost of custom CRE logic

### Build vs. Buy

1. 3–6 months to build initial templates  
   6 weeks to live with your templates  
2. Dedicated developer or consultant costs  
   Predictable subscription cost  
3. Ongoing maintenance as requirements change  
   Template changes handled by our team  
4. Encode state-specific requirements yourself  
   State requirements already built-in

## Platforms we're often compared to

- [HotDocs→Long-running document automation engine](/content/compare/document-automation/hotdocs/index.html)
- 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.