ExPlan Suite Blog
Five Things to Remember When Negotiating “opting out” Clauses
Published on Wednesday, 11 September 2013 09:34:45
Written by Marc
In the many years I spent head of the Real Estate division of a large company, I was called upon to negotiate all types of leases. Whether it is office, commercial or industrial leases, I never gave much thought to integrating opting out clauses. If a business unit needed a lease for an office space, I mostly focused on the length of time that was. Over the past few years; though, probably since the end of 2008, I have begun to notice a trend in negotiating opting out clauses in our leases. I became aware of this tendency as this request kept coming within the company as well as from other outside sources. A few things are probably at the origin of this trend:
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Renewing a Lease in Advance
Published on Saturday, 7 September 2013 14:40:56
Written by Marc
When in charge of lease management within a large company or organization, it is only a question of time before someone from a division, department or group comes to you and asks if they could or should renew a lease ahead of time; meaning well before the agreed renewal date. I have been in this situation on many occasions where for example the head of a department or business unit would ask me if there would be some benefit for the company to renew and extend our lease ahead of schedule. The idea of course was usually to find savings. However, sometimes it was also to guarantee a strategic advantage over the Landlord by making sure we would be able to extend our lease under favorable conditions. It is never wise to wait until the end of a lease to negotiate!
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Open Ended Question on Return on Investment
Published on Tuesday, 3 September 2013 17:27:32
Written by Marc
Do you evaluate how much the capital expenditure (capex) spent has actually brought back in return over time?
About 10 years ago, the CEO of the company I was working for actually made a similar comment.
I had been with the company only one year and this was my first budget review alongside a bunch of VP’s, senior VP’s, president of sectors, the CEO, as well as some head office executives.
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Planning Capital Expenditure over the Life of the Purchased Item – Better Perspective!
Published on Friday, 30 August 2013 12:20:18
Written by Marc
Large and well-established companies such as pension funds at times plan their [tag]capital expenditures[/tag] according to the lifespan of the items they purchase whereas smaller companies plan for much shorter designated periods. In a previous work environment, one of my responsibilities was to plan purchases based on the expected lifespan established by the manufacturer, which could range from 10 to 25 years.
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Plan Your Capital Expense Like a Squirrel
Published on Tuesday, 27 August 2013 13:49:08
Written by Marc
Did you ever notice how squirrels seem to get active in the fall? Of course, you rarely see a squirrel sitting around doing nothing as they constantly move around getting things done. But in the fall season you can clearly see that they ramp up activity. My apple tree on the side of the house starts to loose apples around the end of august. That’s when the squirrels seem to start to prepare their winter reserves. You can see them with apples as large as an adult’s fist in their mouth climbing the side of the house stopping on the roof for a snack and then off to the small strip of forest in the back of the house to bury the bulk of the produce. So they eat a little and they keep the rest for a rainy or should I say a snowy day.
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