4 Questions to Ask Your Dental Office Designer

Posted by HJT Design

Sometimes, we could all benefit from a little change, including our dental office. Whether it’s a quick and easy facelift, or a complete dental office design project, you want to feel confident that you’re hiring the right designer for the job.

Here are four important questions you’ll want to ask a prospective dental office design consultant before any contracts are signed or construction work begins:

1. What is Your Previous Experience Redesigning Dental Offices?

While there are some aspects of design that may be universal, not all design firms are equally experienced or knowledgeable when it comes to the specifics of dental office redesign. This includes dealing with unique, specialized dental equipment, rules and regulations, and how to best work around your business and client needs while construction work is in progress.

Assuming that all design firms must have some level of dental office redesign and construction experience and forging ahead without asking first can end up being a costly mistake you don’t want to make.

For example, you wouldn’t hire an eye specialist to perform your root canal, so it’s equally imperative that you carefully select the appropriate designer for your needs the first time around. This will save you from a potential financial disaster, as well as major hassle and inconvenience down the road by having to correct the mistakes.

2. How Can You Help Us Minimize the Distraction to Our Practice?

While it may be impossible to complete a dental office design project without some level of disruption to your patients and staff, it’s important to try and minimize those disruptions as much as possible.

Your prospective dental office design firm should be willing and able to work with you to create a project schedule that not only minimizes disruptions, but also eliminate as much downtime as possible, if any.

For example, they may create a schedule that carries out different phases of the project, instead of doing all of the work at once. While this would increase the overall timeline of the project, it may be more practical when it comes to meeting the needs and demands of your busy dental practice.

3. Can I See Some Examples of Your Work?

Any qualified and experienced designer is more than happy to show off their amazing and talented hard work to a potential client. If you ask to see examples of their work and they refuse to show you a portfolio of previously completed projects, or case studies, then something definitely isn’t right here, and you will want to keep looking for a designer who will proudly display their designs with loving detail and enthusiasm.

4. Can I Have a List of Referrals or Speak to Some of Your Past Clients?

If the answer to this question isn’t an immediate “Of course you can” then red flags should be going up. Hesitation or refusal to provide a list of previous client referrals upon request could mean that they aren’t being honest about their previous dental office design experience, or perhaps their past clients weren’t very satisfied with their work. Either way, it’s usually a strong indication they are keeping vital information from you, in fear that you’ll make a discovery that could potentially deter you from requiring their services.

We have decades of experience designing dental offices, and our portfolio of past successful projects is something we’re proud of. Contact us today to talk about your dental office design plans.