Creating custom objects

[TChappell5]

We have a real estate investment firm and are working to bring in our data to our new HubSpot account.  We are having a hard time with deciphering how to utilize the custom objects.  We want to use "Companies" as our "Tenants", however, we may have 1 company that is a tenant at multiple campus'.  So we have many campuses across CA, MA and NC.  Within each campus there are multiple buildings and then the suites that the tenants occupy.   We currently setup custom objects for Campus and Units (i.e. suites) but now see we may need an object for Buildings as well.  But we are also seeing how this is really hard to see the connections between 1 company and it's many campus/unit locations.  Is it better for us to utilize custom properties for some of these as opposed to objects? Is there anyone that has experience implementing this type of business within Hubspot?  We will initially be using this in a very basic way, creating tasks/contact records for tenants and then utilizing reports for monthly meetings so managers can see what has been happening with tenants across all our campuses and ensure proper contact points are being made and are timely.  Thank you in advance!

[TChappell5 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes your summary is correct.  A campus would be called "Redwood Life" for example and at the campus there are multiple buildings (which is the same as the street address) within each building are units and each unit is occupied by a tenant/company.   So it would look like Redwood Life (Campus) --> 202 James Street (Building) --> Suite/Unit 100.  Within that unit is a company and sometimes we have the same company that can be a tenant at different campuses our even buildings within a campus.  We will not be starting off using HubSpot Sales but may use it in the future as users utilize the program more.  This will be used mainly just as a place for users who interact with tenants to keep track of the tenant contact information and track when they speak with the tenatns and the priority of that conversation (was it high/medium/low in urgency or just a routine reach out).  The reporting would be for other departments that also talk with tenants to track interactions and everyone can see who has had activity with that tenant.  I'm sorry it isnt' 100% clear, this will be our first CRM for the company so users are not really sure what they want yet until we get into using it.  I just want to be sure the data is setup properly at the beginning to allow the most diverse reporting.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @TChappell5,

From what you've elaborate, I'd go with this:

• Tenants = Companies
• Units = Deal / custom object
• Building = property of whatever object is used for units
• Campus = property of whatever object is used for units

If you're about to purchase a Professional or Enterprise subscription, let me know. As a HubSpot solutions partner I can provide help to kickstart your setup.

Best regards!

[TChappell5 · Accepted solution]

Thank you, I think utilizing the Deals might be best now that I'm looking into it more!  I'll see what the team thinks but thank you so much for the insight.  HubSpot is quite a bit more robust than I originally thought!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @TChappell5,

To summarize, it sounds like you need objects to map to the following entities:

• Tenants
• Campuses
• Units
• Buildings

The relationships you described are as follows:

• Tenants are associated with campuses, this can be a one to many relationship
• Units are associated with campuses, this can be a one to many relationship

Correct so far? Can you describe the relationship of the buildings to units and campuses?

Whether you store these entities within objects or custom properties depends on which reporting questions you'll want to answer.

For example:

• Tenants could be stored in the company object
• Units could be stored in the deal or in a custom object
• Units have custom properties that specify which building and campus they belong to

Best regards!

[TChappell5 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes your summary is correct.  A campus would be called "Redwood Life" for example and at the campus there are multiple buildings (which is the same as the street address) within each building are units and each unit is occupied by a tenant/company.   So it would look like Redwood Life (Campus) --> 202 James Street (Building) --> Suite/Unit 100.  Within that unit is a company and sometimes we have the same company that can be a tenant at different campuses our even buildings within a campus.  We will not be starting off using HubSpot Sales but may use it in the future as users utilize the program more.  This will be used mainly just as a place for users who interact with tenants to keep track of the tenant contact information and track when they speak with the tenatns and the priority of that conversation (was it high/medium/low in urgency or just a routine reach out).  The reporting would be for other departments that also talk with tenants to track interactions and everyone can see who has had activity with that tenant.  I'm sorry it isnt' 100% clear, this will be our first CRM for the company so users are not really sure what they want yet until we get into using it.  I just want to be sure the data is setup properly at the beginning to allow the most diverse reporting.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @TChappell5,

From what you've elaborate, I'd go with this:

• Tenants = Companies
• Units = Deal / custom object
• Building = property of whatever object is used for units
• Campus = property of whatever object is used for units

If you're about to purchase a Professional or Enterprise subscription, let me know. As a HubSpot solutions partner I can provide help to kickstart your setup.

Best regards!

[TChappell5 · Accepted solution]

Thank you, I think utilizing the Deals might be best now that I'm looking into it more!  I'll see what the team thinks but thank you so much for the insight.  HubSpot is quite a bit more robust than I originally thought!

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Happy to help, @TChappell5! You marked your own reply as a solution. If you could also mark my replies as solutions, that helps me spend more time in the community. It also helps others find proposed solutions more easily.