in the success of your new practice. If any one of them drops the ball, you will lose both time and money, and you may suffer the effects of those losses for years.
Beware: there are far too many “I’ll refer all my clients to you, if you refer all your clients to me” relationships in the dental industry. You may benefit from asking the person who is assembling your team to give you several recommendations to consider in each field.
Here is a list of the team members who can help you successfully complete your dental office:
Dental equipment consultant/supplier
Commercial real estate agent/broker
Financial lender
Architect/designer
Contractor
Technology specialist
Accountant
Attorney
Practice management advisor
Dental Equipment Consultant/Supplier
A dental equipment consultant can meet with you to discuss your 10-year plan. Once a 10-year plan has been established, he or she can help you determine the required square footage for your office. While you are looking for your dental office space and applying for loan pre-approval, the consultant can assist you in making intelligent equipment decisions. Your consultant should care more about getting the best value and staying within your dental equipment budget than about the commissions generated from your equipment purchases.
Once you sign a lease or purchase agreement, get loan pre-approval, and make all your equipment decisions, you and your consultant can see the architect to begin developing a space plan for your new office. While the space plan is being developed, the equipment consultant can help you select a technology specialist with dental experience, who can help finalize technology decisions that fit within your budget. Dental equipment and technology decisions must be made before the space plan is approved and the engineering phase has begun. Having the discipline to make informed equipment and technology decisions before the engineering stage — and stick with these choices — is extremely important to your budget. Failing to finalize dental equipment and technology choices and include all their requirements in your construction documents is one of the biggest inherent weaknesses in the process of dental office development.
Once you sign a lease or purchase agreement, get loan pre-approval, and make all your equipment decisions, you and your consultant can see the architect to begin developing a space plan for your new office.
The dental equipment consultant can then create, or help the architect create, a custom dental equipment specification sheet that becomes part of your construction documents. This custom dental equipment specification sheet gives essential directions to the architect’s engineers. While the engineers are working on their piece, the equipment consultant can aid the architect, with your input, on the design of your millwork (subcontractor-built) cabinetry. The consultant can also offer input into the design of your operatory ceiling grids as they relate to your ceiling-mounted dental lights, computer monitors, and microscopes. Once the architect sends construction documents to the city for permit, the dental equipment consultant can review the plumbing, electric, and mechanical pages (which the engineers have created) to ensure all equipment requirements are on paper. If items are missing after review, the equipment consultant can meet with the architect and create an addendum of these missing items to include in the bidding process to help eliminate contractor change orders. The dental equipment consultant must apply this level of diligence so that the dollar amount quoted to you by the contractors is as close as possible to the final billing.
The construction documents and addendum can now be sent to the contractors for bid. Once the contractor is chosen, the tenant improvement stage begins. The dental equipment consultant can be present at the job site at all the critical stages, to help ensure that the contractor meets all your dental equipment requirements. Depending on the dental experience of the contractor, your consultant may need to make between 14 and 20-plus visits to the job site during construction. Every piece of equipment has unique requirements, so the dental equipment consultant must do the homework necessary to ensure a smooth and uneventful installation.
Unfortunately, here is another inherent weakness in the dental industry that needs to be addressed. Not all “dental equipment consultants” in the United States have the experience and training to handle all the responsibilities described above, and some have no expertise in dental equipment or reading construction documents. Not all dental equipment salespersons are qualified to handle all the responsibilities of a dental equipment consultant. If you are considering working with a dental equipment consultant or a dental equipment salesperson, ask him or her some hard questions about their experience, training, and commitment. Work with a qualified attorney to make sure that any contract you sign with a consultant or salesperson clearly spells out his or her responsibilities and the timeframe for carrying them out. If you assume that a dental equipment consultant or salesperson will spend the time necessary to perform all the above-mentioned services, but he or she doesn’t, the resulting chaos will cost you significant time, money and headaches.
The dental equipment consultant can create, or help the architect create, a custom dental equipment specification sheet that becomes part of your construction documents. This custom dental equipment specification sheet gives essential directions to the architect’s engineers.
Commercial Real Estate Agent/Broker
Two kinds of people can help you find your ideal dental office location: a commercial realtor and a dental office transition specialist (broker). It is crucial that they have dental experience and familiarity with local dental market conditions. You should also understand that they are compensated differently.
Two kinds of people can help you find your ideal dental office location: a commercial realtor and a dental office transition specialist (broker). It is crucial that they have dental experience and familiarity with local dental market conditions.
Commercial realtors earn money by receiving a “split commission” with the lessor or seller’s agent. You pay them nothing directly to help you find the space and negotiate a fair lease or purchase agreement. They have nothing to gain by steering you toward any specific property, because they get paid the same percentage no matter which space you prefer. (The exception to this rule is if they show you one of their listings.) The realtor approach gives you the widest range of choices and only one person to deal with. Commercial realtors only represent you, the buyer, while the lessor or seller has their own agent. Be sure any realtors you work with understand that you are only interested in viewing office space that meets the square footage requirements predetermined by you and your team. Also ask them to tell you if any of the properties they show you are one of their listings to prevent any perceived bias.
In contrast, dental office transition specialists (brokers) generally focus on selling existing dental offices. In some states they can represent both the buyer and the seller, although a buyer or seller may perceive this as a conflict of interest and prefer that his or her broker not represent the other party. They sign a contract with the seller, entitling them to be the only person who may “list” a property for sale, but only for a limited period of time, usually four months. If the property doesn’t sell, the seller can sign a new contract with a different broker and begin the process again. The broker is also instrumental in determining the office sale price.
In addition to representing prospective buyers and
