Buying a dental or medical premises off the plan

If you are buying a new medical or dental premise off the plan, we suggest you engage a specialist solicitor to read your contract and find any items that are not included.

Many developers set up a separate company for each development to limit their obligations to purchasers after settlement. They also use very strong contracts which are hard to avoid or amend when you discover any items crucial for running your new practice that are not supplied.

We encountered a new commercial lot this week that has no water or drainage in the premises. The cost to connect to water and drainage was significant, and had to be born by the new dentist doing the fitout. Identified and demanded earlier, the builder could easily have installed the services.

Commodore Dental & Medical Fitouts - Christmas Trading Closure 2017

Well it's Christmas time again. We are working full speed on our fitouts in Sydney and the Central Coast up until Wednesday 20th December. At this point we will collapse and have a rest.

After cosuming high doses of Christmas food we will return to work on Tuesday 16th January to continue with our work.

We have dental fitouts booked throughout February and March and are now scheduling work for April. Please contact us if you need work done in the first half of next year as things are going to remain very busy it seems. We are very keen for the work, and we need to schedule it ahead of time for it to go well.

New fire regulations for Dental & Medical Fitouts in Sydney and surrounds

Planning approvals for dental and medical fitouts in NSW continue to get more complicated. As of the 1st October we have had to engage a qualified fire engineer to provide a statement of compliance for all fitout designs. Previously the certifier used to ensure the fire provisions in the fitout emulated those throughout the rest of the building. Now we are required to engage a separate fire engineer to asses the plans and provide a statement of compliance. As with all these things, because the fire engineer is putting his name on the line, it’s relatively expensive for what it is. Typically, we are finding costs of about $1,500 to $2,000 for normal size fitouts. It’s just another little hurdle that we help our clients get over.

Our latest staff member

We have just hired a new recruit.

Meet Zac, our new Makita Robot Vac.

Dental and Medical Fitout sites are dusty, noisy places. Especially when we are working feverishly to complete a quality fitout in 6 weeks as is often the case. During the fitout, its very important to keep the site clean and clear. Clear workspaces are safer, more efficient, more enjoyable for our tradespeople and most importantly, a clean worksite looks good from the client’s perspective. Tradesmen are expensive cleaners. Apprentices learn best when they are drilling, cutting and installing, not when they are cleaning.

So the solution is our new Makita Robot, Zac the Vac. He runs around all day keeping the site clear and dust free. Running on standard Makita 18v batteries, he’ll work for hours and is easily recharged with our normal charging equipment. And one of his best qualities is that he loves to work the night shift. We set him off as we leave and he works for half the night, finding his way into all the rooms of our fitout. We don’t even need to remove our tools and materials, he just works around them. And we arrive the next morning to the cleanest site in the building.

Zac never complains, never spends time texting or disappearing to the bathroom repeatedly. He always looks smart and so far has not asked for any days off to attend music festivals. He’s not perfect but he is a trusted and respected member of the Commodore team.

Hidden costs in Dental and Medical Fitouts - Read your lease or contract carefully

We have had a run of dental and medical fitout projects in new developments around Sydney this year. Our clients have been both owners of new lots and lessees. A number of them have experienced some surprise costs relating to their tenancy. We suggest you read your lease carefully and in most cases, we suggest you engage a specialist solicitor to review the documents for you. Many costs are justified but you need to make yourself aware of them at the beginning when you are formulating your budget. Here are a few to be aware of:

Fire provisions – Fire provisions are part of the base building but in some leases, the new tenant is required to pay for all the fire provisions to the tenancy. More common is for the tenant to have to pay for the adjustments or additions to the basic provisions as a result of their fitout. For example, if the tenancy is originally an open shell with two sprinklers to protect it from fire and the dentist divides the tenancy into a number of separate treatment rooms and a reception area, then additional sprinkler heads may need to be installed to protect each area or room. The same may be the case for smoke detectors. The work is normally carried out by the fire services company that looks after the building, but at your cost.

Shopfront – Some tenancies are sold or leased without a shopfront being included. This can be an expensive discovery if you wish to have a nice full glass shopfront. To make matters in worse, in some shopping centres, the centre’s design manager will specify what you must have as a shopfront and it may be very expensive.

Core Holes – Many of our dental and medical fitouts involve the drilling of holes into the concrete slab to facilitate drainage from wet areas and dental chairs. The drilling of core holes is a relatively simple task, however an x-ray of the slab is required to ensure safe locations away from any steel in the concrete. Most shopping centres and base building contractors will require that they do the drilling, but at your cost. And we have seen a great variety in the amounts they charge for core holes. Find out the cost before signing a lease. A major issue can also arise in some Strata buildings where the Owners’ Corporation requires a By-Law to be registered before allowing any core holes to be drilled. If you are in a Strata building, getting permission for core holes can sometimes be a major hold up and expense. We suggest you make contact with the Strata manager before making any commitments.

Air Conditioning – Many base buildings have an AC system in place that each tenancy can then connect to for ventilation. Check with the building manager or owner to see who will pay for any modifications to the AC system to allow it to work with your new layout. Some dental and medical layouts place a higher load on the AC system and upgrades can be very expensive. Again, this is a cost that might be organised by the owner or builder, but paid for by you. This leaves you in a vulnerable position in terms of the price you pay.

Best Price Dental and Medical Fitouts throughout Sydney

You’ve heard of a spec home right? Well, did you know we offer spec dental surgeries throughout Sydney.

The benefits are the same. Both the spec home and the spec dental surgery fitout:

·         Are a tried and tested design

·         Benefit from the increased buying power that comes with volume

·         Are quick to build

·         Offer a turnkey solution that maximises profitability

·         Require less time and effort from the owner because most of the selections have been made for you based on our previous experience

Whilst we are always happy to build customised dental and medical fitouts, we do emphasise the savings in time and money that are possible with our standard specification fitouts.

Our standard specification dental and medical surgery fitouts offer high quality fixtures. Because we provide warranties on all our surgeries, we insist on using fixtures and fittings that are reliable. We purchase in bulk to reduce price and we save time installing and constructing because each fitout is essentially the same. All savings are passed onto our clients.

For further information please contact us.

Natural Light in Dental and Medical Fitout Design

We have recently been installing a high number of glass partitions and sliding doors in our dental surgery fitouts in our quest for the perfect practice design.

We have a desire for maximum natural light spread evenly throughout the surgery. We can achieve this, alongside privacy, by using glass in many areas coupled with digital graphics to enhance the design and ensure privacy.

Getting light to cross corridors is a particular challenge that can be achieved with this method. If we can move the light across the corridor, we can make the whole surgery feel bigger and brighter.

We tend to use full height (usually 2,700mm) doors with high quality German concealed sliding mechanisms. Do not compromise on quality in this area. The difference between a quality runner and a lower quality alternative is enormous immediately and into the future.

In all our designs, price is a crucial element. We have found the use of glass to be affordable in surgery fitouts whilst significantly improving the design and ergonomic outcomes we can achieve. We always negotiate firmly with our suppliers and contractors to ensure the best products for the best price for our clients.

Dental Specific Joinery and Cabinetry

One of the key components to a new dental surgery fitout is the cabinetry. The requirements for storage in a dental surgery are very different from other medical fitouts, let alone standard commercial office fitouts. Well designed surgeries include many custom designed drawers and storage facilities for files, documents, consumables, hardware and other equipment.

At Commodore we have our own in-house joinery factory where we produce our custom designed dental specific cabinetry. Our cabinetry designs benefit from many years of experience installing and maintaining dental surgeries. The cabinetry needs to be easy to clean, non-porous, ergonomically designed and must last for many years of busy commercial use.

At Commodore we use only the highest quality Blum® fittings, hinges and drawer runners. This ensures precision performance and reliability for many years to come.

Because we manufacture our own cabinetry we control the quality and the timeframe. It is very beneficial to be able to manufacture a cabinet overnight when we really need to meet a client’s emergency deadline.

We are proud to be an Australian manufacturer, and have found we can produce cabinetry as cost effectively here in Australia as we can purchase from overseas, with much faster turn-around times of course.

The Most Cost Effective and Profitable Dental or Medical Fitout Solution

We are just finishing a new dental fitout at Rouse Hill. This is our 5th project in Sydney's growing Hills District this year. The job is an excellent example of a ‘standard’ dental fitout.

The client has asked us to design and build a professional looking, cost effective and efficient dental practice. Over the years we have developed and updated a ‘standard specification’ for dental surgery fitouts. We have learnt from client feedback received after completion what is needed, and what is superfluous.

Data and power points are a good example. We specify a certain number of points in each treatment room. Often clients ask for extra points ‘just to be safe’. While we are happy to accommodate, it is important to understand that everything costs money. We work hard to produce the best fitout we can for the lowest price possible.

We often end up ‘down-selling’ rather than ‘up-selling’ because we know from experience that 6 months later when we are talking to the dentist about their new fitout, they will say ‘Yes, you were right, we didn’t really need that’.

We’ve designed and built countless dental and medical practices over the years. We know what you need. Unless there is something you do that is different to the normal operation of a dental practice, the standard specification is the most cost effective and hence profitable solution for your new dental or medical fitout. Look out for photos of our Rouse Hill fitout on our website soon. You will see it looks great.

Every now and then, we are called upon to build ‘showpiece practices’, that are an expression of the personality and success of the owner. I must admit, it’s enjoyable to work with a more relaxed budget and the results are magnificent. But this situation is a rarity. In most cases our role is to build a cost effective, ergonomic, profitable practice that generates the best possible patient outcomes and dentist income.