Cabinets

Dear Diary,

Last week was an important week but there is still little to show for the work that has been put in so far.

-I met with a cabinet maker and reviewed my wants and desires for the cabinetry in the office. Some preliminary colors and counter-tops were selected as well as cabinet design and locations. Dental cabinetry is expensive!!!

-The plans for the office were submitted to the city for permits. Let's hope this goes quickly.

-In order to get permitting, we had to add a second public bathroom. We had to take some space from the lab, lounge, storage room, and pano area for this. It was not a change I really wanted to make but a necessary one.


More to come!!!

Finalizing Designs

Dear Diary,

Not too much new as far as progress goes. I had a phone call with the contractor on Tuesday to discuss my vision for the office as well as some specifics. I found some photos online of things I liked in dental offices and emailed them to him. We are working via email back and forth as I type this. He is finalizing his bid which I hopefully should have in the next day or so. If we finalize our deal this week, then he feels he can start construction the week after next and be complete in 10 weeks. Moving fast!

The photo I emailed him was this:















The roof type structure over the front desk is called a suspended soffit and the ceiling is exposed. I am looking for a modern but clean look. I really like the esthetic of this and will be working this into my design.

It looks like we will be doing a stained concrete flooring throughout the office then using area rugs where needed. I feel like it adds to the modern look while offering a cleanable surface that will hold up for many years. There is nothing worse than seeing old battered carpet in dental offices. I would love to avoid carpet all together if possible and I feel this is a good option.

I need to choose the finish of the cabinets I want next. Cabinets are a long term investment and are not easily changed, so their finish starts the domino effect of the interior decor of the office. Hopefully those will be chosen soon.

That's all for today...

Catching up...

Dear Diary,

In the interest of brevity and avoiding putting everyone to sleep, I will summarize the events that have taken place so far in the expedition to start a new practice. If anyone has any specific questions about anything, feel free to ask in the comments section.

- While driving through the far North side of San Antonio, I identified a commercial development that interested me. It is in the middle of new residential and commercial growth. The center has very high visibility to a main highway. There are no other dentists with visibility to this highway for about 4-5 miles in either direction. Here is an artists rendering of the finished center:

The visibility, location, and esthetic of the development attracted me. I called the developer and got the basic information and toured the site.

- After some thought, I decided I would like to proceed with negotiating a lease. I was referred to a real estate broker by a fellow dentist. The broker represented me in negotiating the lease with the land lord. In addition, my attorney was involved in the lease negotiation. I highly recommend a real estate broker. There are many important issues that must be addressed in lease negotiations that a dentist will just not know about or understand. The land lord pays the real estate broker, so no fee is involved. Just find someone you trust yourself. Do not use the broker the land lord recommends.

- After some time, the lease terms were finalized. A security deposit was required so obviously, financing must be in place for this to occur.

- During the lease negotiations, I began working with Patterson Dental to come up with a office design and floor plan. This was changed and tweaked multiple times and is even still being revised to this day. My initial plan is to equip two operatories and have two others plumbed and ready to be equipped when needed. I began thinking about some of the details of the office like flooring, counter tops, cabinets, computers, dental software, etc. None of those details are finalized yet.

- Financing was secured through Bank of America Practice Solutions. They were also recommended by a fellow dentist. They specialize in 100% loans for practice start-ups and actually made it pretty easy, considering. I visited with some traditional banks and will probably end up refinancing the loan with a local bank after 1 year. Some banks are difficult to work with because a start up practice can not demonstrate cash flow. After one year, it is much easier for a traditional bank to lend money.

So that basically catches us up to where we are today. The lease was signed today and financing is in place and finalized.

As far as today goes, it was a relatively big day in the genesis of the new practice.

- I informed my current boss that I would be entering this venture and leaving in around three months. He was very understanding and let me know that I would be welcome to stay on part time while things get started at the new office. Once I informed him, I announced to friends & family about the new practice. A simple Facebook status update was extremely effective in doing this!

- I spent some time on the phone with the contractor discussing some of the details of the design and construction. I have some photographs of things I would like to incorporate into my office and I sent those to him to better communicate what I want. Just like working with a dental lab! He will be working up a bid over the next couple of days. I have received a bid from another contractor but will most likely be using the contractor who built the center. I am not obligated to do so but I feel he knows the building better than anyone. Let's hope his bid is competitive. My lease states that if at all possible, I should have my doors open in 3 months. The contractor says that if we get some details finalized by the end of the week, his construction time would be 10 weeks which is right on target. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Welcome!

Welcome to The New Practice Diary! Many of you may be readers from my other blog, The New Dentist Blog. Today I formally announced my intentions to start my own practice. The process has been going on for several weeks but I have not been able to throughly document the process so far for several reasons. Now that I have formally announced the new practice, I am going to begin keeping a journal about the progress of the practice and the steps being taken to get the practice up and running. Once the doors open, I plan on documenting the trials and tribulations of the new practice. Please feel free to make any comments or ask questions. This is my first experience of starting a new practice so I am confident that I will make mistakes. Working through those mistakes is the key to success. Thank you for your readership!