How Bond Vet Centralizes Their Lease Management & Accounting Processes

Last Updated on October 17, 2024 by Morgan Beard

Bond Vet, a modern veterinary care company founded in 2019, has experienced rapid growth in the competitive pet care industry. Starting with a single clinic in Brooklyn, the company has expanded to over 50 locations across major metropolitan areas in just five years. This case study explores how Bond Vet leveraged Occupier’s lease management software to support its ambitious growth strategy while maintaining a lean real estate team.

We delve into Bond Vet’s journey as it navigates the complexities of managing their expanding real estate portfolio. With a dedicated team focused on providing exceptional care for pets and a seamless experience for pet owners, Bond Vet sought a streamlined approach to lease management and lease accounting.

Challenge: Legacy Tools Couldn’t Keep Pace

Prior to implementing Occupier, Bond Vet relied on legacy tools for lease tracking, which quickly became unsustainable as the company expanded from 6 to 50 locations in just three years. This led to challenges in accessing critical lease information and coordinating between different departments. Lauren Heuser, the Senior Director of Real Estate at Bond Vet, recognized that they “needed to put a more robust solution in place from the beginning as a foundation” to support their ambitious growth plans.

The absence of a centralized leasing platform hindered collaboration between real estate, facilities, and accounting teams. It also made it difficult to track important lease details, such as rent commencement dates and maintenance obligations which are crucial for a veterinary care provider operating in multiple jurisdictions.

Solution: Occupier for Leasing Truth & Team Viability

Bond Vet implemented Occupier’s lease management software early in their growth journey to centralize their lease data and streamline collaboration across departments.”When I joined Bond Vet we really started mapping out what our growth over different time horizons would look like, we knew right away that we couldn’t manage everything through just spreadsheets and legacy tools for too long, says Heuser.”

“Having that central source of truth and having the ability to have other people within the company have access to the parts of the lease that they need to look at more frequently without having to go through us for every single request,” remarks Heuser. This data is needed by numerous departments for various organizational workflows, including real estate, facilities, and accounting.

In addition, the platform has enabled better coordination between teams. Heuser notes, “Our facilities team can go in, pull the clauses that they need to look at, understand what our liability is versus the landlords in different scenarios, and then come to us with a very specific, appointed question.”

The Benefits of Occupier:

With Occupier, Bond Vet enjoys operational efficiency, lease data transparency, and better collaboration on their real estate tasks than ever before:

• Centralized Lease Administration: A single source of truth for all lease-related information, accessible to relevant team members.
• Technical Lease Accounting Support: Facilitates compliance with complex lease accounting standards, providing tools and features that help the finance team manage changes in tax rules for commercial real estate.
• Team Collaboration: Empower different departments to access and utilize lease information efficiently, reducing the need for constant communication with the real estate team.
• Lease Data Accuracy: Quickly access property details, such as operating hours requirements and rent commencement dates, enabling better compliance and financial planning.
• Operational Efficiency: Maintain a lean real estate team of just two people managing 50+ locations.
• Time-Savings: Significant time saved across departments by reducing the need for manual data retrieval and email chains.
• Customization and Support: Ability to add custom fields and receive support from the Occupier team for evolving needs.

Since implementing Occupier, Bond Vet has experienced significant improvements in lease management and cross-departmental collaboration. Lauren Heuser states, “It’s that ‘for record’ component that allows us to “stay lean as a team and focus on real estate growth and strategy.”