How long does it take to build a dental office? The first answer is one you don't want to hear. Building a dental office often takes longer than expected in many jurisdictions and with most contractors. There are various reasons for this, but they often come across as excuses, and none of them are particularly good.
Dental office designs are specifically complex. But they are not complicated! With a clear and well-detailed plan, the construction of the dental office is not kin to building a nuclear power plant or a space launch facility! So having said this, let's try to break this down into segments so we can provide you with specific answers. Let's talk about leasehold improvements first since they are the most common type of practice formation.
How long does it take to complete a dental office in leasehold space?
There are two types of leasehold improvement situations. The first is where a practice is planning to rent in an existing commercial building where the shell has already been completed. This is the most predictable construction type. The municipality has already approved commercial use. Core utilities are on site. The landlord is anxious to earn income. In this situation, it can often take longer to develop plans, complete the engineering required, and obtain permits than it will take to do the actual construction. We like to tell doctors who are involved in a startup to expect that this process will take 6 to 9 months. But let's examine the elements within that situation.
A practice that is planning to rent in an existing commercial building where the shell has already been completed can take 6-9 months to complete.
Generally, the doctor involved in this office formation will be doing this for the first time. Much of the time spent, therefore, should be on making sure that the vision, both technologically and from a business positioning standpoint is well established. In our three decades of creating thousands of startup offices, we too often find the primary motivation for the new office is simply to get out of a lousy associateship, and all too often there is a lack of vision in creating what's next. Check out my article on things to consider before starting your own dental practice. One of the reasons we do over-the-shoulder programs for doctors is to help establish that vision.
That brings up the next question,
How long does it take to actually build and complete that office in the leasehold situation?
This is easier to answer. A well-planned leasehold improvement project carried out by a professional and sufficiently large construction team should take no longer than 10 to 12 weeks! This assumes certain critical things. For example, is your construction administration focused enough to ensure that subcontractors will arrive in a timely manner? Have all materials been sourced well prior to the construction start? Do you have a pathway for answering any technical questions expediently during the process so that once construction begins, it is never forced to stop? Anything that gets in the way of these requirements has the possibility of significantly extending the construction timeline. And this brings up a final question regarding timelines in the leasehold improvement situation.
How long can it take to complete an office in a leasehold if the dentist clearly identifies their design, aesthetic, and technology needs?
This is the exciting part. If your site is selected in a commercially approved location, and the building owner is connected to an experienced builder in the local municipality and the doctor is both clear about their capacity needs and able to follow the lead of an experienced designer, the design-to-construction process can be completed in as little as four months.
We have done it in under 3 - but you really shouldn't expect that! You should spend significant time in the planning stages.
That brings us to the other chapter of this question.
How long does it take to complete a new freestanding office construction project?
This is a much more difficult question to answer because of the significant increase in variables.
Owning your own freestanding dental office is the objective of many of us and it is a very worthwhile goal where possible. However, it will, in virtually every situation, require longer planning and development timelines.
There is good news and not-so-good news in all of this. In smaller and more rural towns, it is often possible to move the process of planning for a commercially zoned or zonable property through the approval stages in 4 to 6 months. A conceptual plan for the proposed office will need to be provided to the authorities and, in most instances this will require exterior elevations. Zoning board members do not like to be berated by their neighbors for allowing a new ugly office in the neighborhood, so they are often quite sensitive to this. (Assuming that you are ready to be decisive) the process of creating an attractive proposal can easily take two months in its entirety. Given that you must first plan out your functional needs and then coordinate your aesthetic requirements with those. As a result, it would not be unreasonable to find that a well-planned and executed project in a smaller municipality could be carried out with six months of planning and six months of construction. However, you should be forewarned that this is usually NOT the case. Leave room for indecision - on your part or theirs!
In larger towns and small cities, and in more restrictive states, such as California, this entire process can take significantly longer… And for all the wrong reasons! The design phase does not have to take longer. The construction phase does not have to take longer. But many times, we find that the process of getting a project through planning and zoning, on its own, takes over a year. There are specific things that you can do in advance to speed up these activities and minimize the possibility of having to go back to the drawing board because of unforeseen requests by the authorities. But you need to plan these activities carefully!
Having done this many hundreds of times, you might want to reach out to us to discuss what those pitfalls are and how to plan around them. It is a true fact that we once completed an office from foundation to occupancy in 10 days and moved the approval process through the legal channels in 8 weeks. But these are accomplishments that you should undoubtedly NOT try to replicate. Contact us if you have questions or concerns about your pending project. We're here to help.
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