If you already have a dental office, it’s probably best to stay there. Ideally, if you went into your dental office design and construction process properly, you would plan for the possibility of expansion in the first place, either within the same space, or by acquiring adjacent space. Only in the event of drastic circumstance should anybody have to face the daunting task of moving their existing dental practice from one location to another. Fortunately, if it does come to that, you can achieve success with carefully planning, budgeting, and timing.
One of the biggest costs to plan for is going to be the downtime during the move itself, when your practice will no longer be brining in money. Not only with you not be making any money during this downtime, you will also be spending a lot to keep this time to a minimum. For this reason, it’s always better to spend a little more on a moving company who can do it in one week, rather than trying to save cash and drag out the process. Time is of the essence.
The best way to optimize your costs, both in terms of furnishings and the price of the move as well, is taking good stock of your inventory, knowing what you have, and what’s worth keeping (and what you can discard). You’ll want to take any cabinetry, office supplies, dental supplies and equipment, patient charts, etc. Based on your inventory, you can talk to dental equipment providers, contractors, movers, and other professionals to determine the associated costs and benefits of moving certain items.
Lastly, you need to take marketing into account. Updating your address and phone number are a task in themselves, but you obviously need to do more than that. You will need to reach out to new and old patients alike, as well as other doctors and people in your networks, to let them know about the move well in advance. Prepare postcards, banners, fliers, emails, social media posts, and more—whatever you have to do to ensure that anyone who wants or needs to see you knows where you are, and when you will be available.
Remember, these are not steps to be taken in this order—these cost factors are provided so you can plan ahead. Your budget and your timeline for the move are directly related, and any setback or mistake in one will only lead to more problems in the other. So make sure that you coordinate your move far in advance so that you aren’t rushed or stressed, which can cause you to overlook simple issues. Once you’ve settled into your new dental office, give yourself a week before you see your first patient. Something always comes up, and you will deserve a little break.
And lastly here is a list of companies that you may need to contact before the move:
- Equipment provider (depending on who are you using)
- Designer and contractor, usually a good contractor will coordinate the move for you
- Moving company – regular moving and equipment
- IT company – who eve is supporting your computers right now they need to be part of it
- Sign company
- Service providers – ComEd, Nicor, ATT/Comcast, etc
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