Dental Office Design and Construction – Building Your Team
by Joe Miller, AIA

In ten years of designing dental offices, it never ceases to amaze me the impact a well designed and constructed office can have on a practice.  The quality of your office design will have an effect on everyone who passes through or comes in contact with it.  In addition to the obvious – ease of flow and simplicity of function – the look and feel of your office can set you apart from the masses.  Keep in mind that, in most cases, your patients will meet your office before they have a chance to meet you.  The opportunity to make a good first impression should not be wasted.  Set the tone with an office that reflects your personality and the way you work.

The first step in planning your new office is building a team of experienced professionals who can guide you through the process.  Speak with colleagues who have recently built out their office.  Who was on their team and was it a positive or negative experience?  Local associations like the CDA can also be great resources for identifying potential team members.

Dental is one of the few industries where the banks are still actively lending.  In fact, they are competitively vying for your business.  Several national banks have departments that specialize in nothing but dental and they tend to make the approval process relatively seamless.  Take the time to compare rates and terms.

As you begin to consider real estate options, be sure to work with a commercial real estate broker who is looking out for your best interest.  Your broker will identify properties that meet your criteria and negotiate the deal with the landlord or developer.  Negotiating a lease or sale on your own can be extremely difficult as well as time consuming.  A good broker will save you money and keep the process moving.

A dental consultant, or practice management consultant, can be an invaluable member of the team.  Dental consultants work with new start practices that have not been through the process before, as well as established practices that know the value of having a point person who can connect all the dots.  The time involved in managing the design and construction process can be overwhelming, especially for a doctor busy with running their current practice, associating or completing their academic work.  Your dental consultant’s influence on your practice will typically extend well beyond the design and construction phase to marketing and practice management once the office is up and running.
Colorado is fortunate to have a number of very knowledgeable dental equipment specialists.  Selecting your equipment vendor is about more than just price – it’s about the relationship.  Choose an equipment specialist and company based on who you believe will be there for you well after the sale.  As one dental consultant we work with often says, “It’s all about service”.

I’m often asked why an architect is necessary when dental equipment companies are willing to provide a space plan at no cost.  While dental vendors are experts in dental equipment and cabinetry, they are not architects.  The space plan they provide can be very useful early in the process but needs to be followed up with rigorous design work and engineering.  A typical set of construction documents for a 2,500 square foot dental office consists of 20 to 25 pages of detailed, fully coordinated drawings that include architectural, mechanical, electrical and dental equipment drawings.  Anything less can wreak havoc with schedule and cost during construction.  While it’s true that the cost of equipping an office in this day and age is considerable, the cost of doing it right is not much more.  It’s not uncommon for a prospective client to hesitate at the thought of adding design fees to an already long list of costs, but there is no substitute for good planning.  A good architect, experienced in dental design, knows where to spend money and, more importantly, where not to.  Good design is not synonymous with expensive design. 

Additional team members will include your general contractor, IT vendor, accountant and attorney.  Your general contractor’s participation may begin early in the design phase if you are negotiating with one specific contractor, or later in the process if you and your architect are putting your project out for competitive bid.

The time to get your team involved is in the early stages of project planning.  Certainly, once you begin considering commercial space or land you should at least have your broker, dental consultant and architect selected.  The input they can provide to you during the negotiation of your lease or sale can be essential.  If the configuration of the space will allow only 5 operatories and your business plan is based on 6, it’s good to know this as early as possible.  If the mechanical units for heating and cooling are to be provided by the tenant rather than landlord, its best to budget this prior to signing the lease.  Committing to a space before doing your due diligence is risky.  Rely on your team to guide you through the process.

With the current barrage of economic bad news, one of the few bright spots has been in real estate and construction.  Quite simply, it’s a buyer’s market.  For those considering building a new office or renovating an old one, you could not pick a better time.  Landlords and developers are offering unprecedented incentives to lease or purchase real estate.  In construction, we are seeing outstanding pricing from quality general contractors.  Great opportunities exist to competitively bid your project with several general contractors or negotiate with one contractor of your choosing.  Speak with your architect and consultant about which approach makes the most sense for you based on your goals for the project.

Whether you are planning your first office or your last, build your team early and then trust them to guide you through the process.