One of the biggest questions at this stage is: “How much?”
Dental Construction Costs:
All dental startup budgets are different, but you can get an idea of the cost by calculating the price based on size. In general, depending on your region, you will find that construction costs a dental practice startup anywhere from $100 to $220 per-square-foot.
In this stage, we will discuss the right pricing and bidding for your practice.
What is the right amount?
Each area of the country has unique average costs. These regional considerations will impact your budget.
For example, the cost of construction can easily exceed $200 per square foot in Seattle. However, in Texas, construction can drop below $100 per square foot.
SEATTLE: 2000 Square Foot Office = $400,000 in Construction
TEXAS: 2000 Square Foot Office = $200,000 in Construction
Do these numbers suggest one area is better than the other? NO!
With hundreds of examples, Ideal Practices has client success stories in both Seattle and Texas markets. Many of these clients have million-dollar practices in the first year.
But most importantly, the right budget for you will be customized to your vision.
The real goal for your new dental office is never to spend the least. Spending less or more on construction should never be your goal.
What is Baseline Pricing?
It’s not uncommon to receive a baseline estimate for construction, only to later have thousands of dollars added to the quote.
Baseline pricing suggests that a contractor intentionally leaves certain pricing off the quote, just to try and win the bid. Then later in the process, they tell you it should have been expected to have to pay another $12,000 for tile. True story.
Dr. Eric’s contractor tried to get him to pay $12,000…instead of $1200.
Dr. Eric was quoted $1200 for tile in his practice. We negotiated that and got it in writing.
Then one day, near the end of the project, the contractor said the doctor had to pay $12,000 for the tile. In short, the contractor tried to pretend the doctor was responsible for paying for all the office tile.
This is not the kind of surprise you want when opening a dental practice.
For this reason, contractors need to have guaranteed pricing – not baseline pricing – and a limit on change orders.
Unfortunately, many doctors have been taken advantage of in hundreds of ways.
Don’t be nickel-and-dimed to death.
Thankfully, we made sure Dr. Eric was covered before signing the contract. This saved him when the contractor tried to play games with numbers and sneak in an extra $12,000 of profit.
Save $30,000 in 30 Seconds
Massive savings can be had, even with a stellar outcome, when you negotiate properly in construction.
Beyond protections, ensure the team who is helping you negotiate with contractors has more experience than the contractor. During the negotiation stages, even short conversations can be worth tens of thousands of dollars of savings.
For example, our lead consultant on construction noticed a price saving opportunity on a doctor’s quote in Florida. He made a 30-second phone call and saved our client $30,000. This is the benefit of having the experience of hundreds of startups.
Let’s get this stage right!