
When it comes to designing your new dental clinic you need to make sure you are finding the best dental design provider for you.
Before you appoint anyone to take on your project there are certain things you should make sure of.
Do they have prior medical experience?
Prior medical fit out experience is extremely important to ensure your dental design is up to standard and within the current regulations.
Unfortunately there are plenty of commercial design and construct companies out there trying to get onto the medical design side of things but have absolutely no experience in medical fit outs.
The danger here is that commercial design and medical design are two completely different things. Sure, they both have the same foundations when it comes to building and a commercial company could build you are perfectly good tenancy from a structural perspective but the design and layout of your clinic is the difference between being being able to actually open it or not.
Major aspects of your dental design like DDA compliance throughout your clinic (from the amount of space required behind doors and types of disabled access that are required) have to be taken into consideration when the initial floor plan is being put together.
Failing to miss something as simple as a stainless steel shelf in the disabled toilet can hold up your certificate of occupancy which means your business can not commence trading until everything is finalised.
Do they use trusted trades or are they tendering jobs out each time?
Although it can be beneficial to tender jobs from a pricing perspective the cheapest option isn’t always the best which is why it is better to be working with a design and construct company that has trusted trades.
When you have worked with the same person for a few years you are able to pick up on their working habits and what they might need in order to get jobs done not only properly but efficiently. We also find the lines of communication are also a lot more open when it comes to dealing with trades that you hold strong relationships with.
Just as you will continue to use the same suppliers if they offer good service sub contractors are no different and once you have one you do not want to let them go.
Do they have reliable testimonials / references from previous projects?
Testimonials and references can be just as important as a companies portfolio. Just because they can show you lovely photos of projects they have worked on before can they also provide a name and number so you can speak to the client direct in order to get their take on the whole experience?
Any credible design and construct company should be able to offer you a minimum of three references that you can speak to about their experience before signing anyone up.
As you can see it pays to appoint an experienced dental design company. Not only do you get the piece of mind that you are dealing with the best provider for you, but you are also ensuring that your fit out makes you the preferred dental provider for your patients both current and future.