If you are a medical or dental professional getting ready to set up a new office space, you have a number of choices at your disposal. You can find a suitable location and build a brand new office from the ground up, complete with state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge fixtures. You can purchase an office space that had previously been used for medical or dental work, ensuring that at least some of the fixtures and technology you need will already be in place. Or you can purchase general office space and retrofit that space to meet the needs of your medical or dental office.
All three approaches have their unique advantages and disadvantages, and it is important to look at the pros and cons of both building a new office space and retrofitting an existing one. The decision you make depends on a number of factors, from the budget you have to work with to the availability of empty office space in the area where you wish to locate your practice.
Office Space Availability
One advantage of converting an existing office space to a medical or dental practice is that empty office space is often easier to come by than either open ground or existing medical and dental office space. If you live in a large urban area or major city, chances are good that vacant lots are extremely rare, making it quite difficult to build an office from the ground up to suit your needs.
On the other hand, chances are good that there is plenty of available office space just waiting to be converted to your needs. Businesses come and go all the time, and when they do they leave lots of office space behind. If you are lucky enough to live in a city or town with a large number of office space vacancies, you might even be able to rent or buy that office space quite inexpensively.
Costs of Conversion
On the other hand, you do face some additional expenses if you plan to convert an existing office space to a medical or dental office. You may need to rewire part of the building for the specific electrical needs of medical and dental equipment, and you might need to install backup generators as well.
You will also need to look at things like sound-dampening technologies to protect patient privacy, and perhaps set up private consulting offices where there are now only cubicles. All of these conversions of use take money, and it is important to factor those costs in when you are creating your budget. You can save money when you buy an existing office space, but it is important to weigh the extra costs associated with that conversion against the money you save on the front end.
Creating a warm and welcoming medical or dental office is never an easy task, but with the right planning, you can design a space your patients will find both comfortable and reassuring.
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