• Real Estate
• Financing
• Practice Management Consultant
• Architect
• Dental Equipment
• Information Technology
• General Contractor

Settling on a location for your new practice is generally a 3-part process:

Identifying Your Business Location

In addition to the demographic studies will want to perform, you will need to know how much space your new office will require. Typically, 400-450 square feet of useable space for each clinic chair within your office provides a general idea of the amount of space you'll need.

The exposure your location offers is also of critical importance. The close associations a medical office building offers verus the regular, frequent exposure offerd bya retail location are important considerations.

Due Diligence is Time Well Spent

Performing the appropriate due diligence for a potential location can save you time, money, and frustration in the long run. Understanding the capacities of the heating, cooling, and electrical systems of an existing building is critical to your ability to formulate a proper startup plan. Understanding the zoning and soils conditions of a site can save your extraordinary amounts of time and money when planning a new building.

Negotiating the Lease and/or Purchase of a Property

The commercial real estate negotiating process may require a bit of patience. A Real Estate Professional whose only job is to advocate for your interests is an invaluable resource. There are industry standard practices that, without proper identification and explaination, may go unnoticed, costing your unexpected and unnecessary resources. Once your lease and/or purchase in place you're ready to embark on what we consider the fun part: designing and building your new office.

The design and construction of your new office has every opportunity to be a fun, rewarding experience. It is the time during which you'll see your vision take shape, and ultimately transform into a built reality. JoeArchitect begins each dental project by reviewing our Dental Office Design Questionnaire with the doctor. Using this tool we are able to identify and discuss each of the many programmatic, spatial, and aesthetic considerations that will become the basis for our design.

The process of desiging and building your new office within an existing building typically has 3 primary phases:

Design & Documentation

The design and documentation process itself has 3 phases: Schematic Design, Design Development, and Construction Documents. The Schematic Design phase includes the initial layout and refinement of the office flow and spatial character. The Design Development phase builds on the Schematic Design phase and further develops the spatial character, defines and refines custom cabinetry, and establishes the materials and finish palette. The Construction Documents phase prepares all of the previously established design decisions for construction, and incorporates the architectural design and dental equipment specifications with the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering. This entire process typically takes approximately 8 weeks.

Building Department Review & Bidding/Negotiation

Once the Construction Documents have been stamped & signed by the architect and engineers they are submitted to the local building department where they are reviewed for conformance to both state and local building codes. At the same time the Construction Documents are submitted to the local building department they are issued to the bidding general contractors (in the case of a competitive bid) or the previously selected general contractor. The general contractor(s) prepare their proposed pricing which is then submitted to, and reviewed by JoeArchitect. Once the building permit is issued, a general contractor is selected, and a final construction budget is identified construction begins. Depending on the turn around time at the local building department, this entire process typically takes 3-4 weeks.

Construction

During construction JoeArchitect works closely with the general contractor to ensure the project is built accurately and according to the Construction Documents. This includes reviewing product and finish submittals, and regular on-site meetings to review the progress of construction. These on-site meetings typically include the doctor (or assigned representative), JoeArchitect, and the general contractor. JoeArchitect also reviews and certifies the general contractors applications for payment. A final on-site meeting occurs at the conclusion of construction, once all of the primary dental equipment and I.T. equipment has been installed. This final meeting is referred to as the Punch List meeting, and involves a review of each room in the office. Any imperfections are identified for correction by the general contractor and their subcontractors. Depending on the size of the office the construction process is typically complete with a 10-12 week window.

Designing and building a new building includes all of the phases and efforts of an interior tenant finish project as described above as well as a few others. These include Zoning and/or Planning Department submittals, Geotechnical investigations, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering. The unique features of the property and the requirements of the various departments will impact both the scope of professional services requirements as well as the time to perform those services. Generally, a new building will take no less than 9 months to design and build, and may require considerably more time if extensive zoning/planning work is required.