You must check with the local building department that current zoning ordinances allow the space to be operated as a dental office. But for now, it is important for you to find out all limitations and restrictions in regards to the signage by both the landlord and the local building department. I will cover office signage (Indoor, Outdoor, Window) in the future posts when I start discussing construction. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but make sure it’s not a completely deal breaker for you. For my present office, when I first saw the space, I found out from the local building department that I could only use two other colors besides black and white in my sign. Ask the local building department regarding specific restrictions on signage for the space you’re considering.Here’s a photo of what it looks like now: I’m in a very small plaza in a large standalone building, where my signage had to be in an exterior light box. Depending on the area, some zoning laws force the look (color) and style (casing – like an exterior light box) of the signage to be identical for all businesses in a plaza.On the other hand, some plazas have retail businesses that have signage/logo as they wish with no restrictions in terms of color. Landlords may also be bound by the local zoning laws. Ask the landlord on signage restrictions.So before thinking about your dream signage for your office, do the following: When considering signage for your office location, if you’re going to be leasing, you have to consider what kind of signage is ALLOWED? It may take a couple of times for people seeing the office sign before they decide to come in.īut when they have a dental emergency and they don’t already have a dentist, they’ll probably think of the sign they see EVERYDAY on their commute. If the space is located off of a major commuter street that connects local towns, the people are driving by there on a DAILY basis for their commute to/from work. You have to think with most dentists doing some form of marketing, how do you STAND OUT? One way is to make it easy for patients to find you. As many eyeballs you can get on the location from the on-going traffic, the easier it is to stay in potential patients’ minds. This is an important factor, especially for general practitioners who don’t depend on a referral source for patients. Is the property / space you’re looking at in a commercial plaza? a stand-alone building? or is it tucked away in a professional building? Is is visible to cars / people passing by? I looked at the property listings first and I contacted the listed agents from there. You can search by zipcode, county, city & state, etc.Ģ) You can also contact a real estate broker from the start. This is how I started looking for space available for rent. It’s the go-to website if you’re looking for commercial property available for sale or lease. So how do you find spaces available where you can build your office?ġ) One place to start is. Read my previous post Where Should I Start The Process Of Opening My Dental Practice to get things started. Don’t act on impulse – take your time when looking for space. This is why it’s important to have an idea of what you’re looking for – the bigger picture – the vision – the practice that will shape your lifestyle. The last thing you want is turning patients away because you’re hitting capacity and not being able to sustain the growth of office because you have one less chair. Out of excitement, I thought “it’s ok, it’s only small by that much space, I can have a smaller waiting area, or maybe one less op”.Ĭonsidering the average lease term of fifteen years, one less operatory is a BIG DEAL. There was one space 500 sq ft smaller than what I was looking for, but it was neighboring a large grocery chain anchor tenant in a beautiful plaza. There were some spaces that I right away fell in love with on initial visit, but after sitting down I would come to my senses and be glad that I didn’t make an impulsive decision based solely on excitement. Why is this important? It took me good six months of looking online and driving around different available spaces to finally find what I was looking for. Eventually you’ll narrow down your list to only two or three properties and then do a side-by-side comparison.īefore considering the dentist to population ratio and the demographics, here’s a checklist of 7 factors to consider when looking at any property for the very first time:ĭoes the square footage of available rent-able space fit your vision? You’ll go through looking at many properties / spaces before deciding on your dream location. Choosing the location of your dental office will be the most important decision throughout your journey.
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