By Simour Design

"Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation." – Zig Ziglar

Deciding to renovate or build your medical spa is easy. Figuring out where to start is considerably harder, overwhelming and at times confusing. The process must begin with clarity to make intentional choices to set you up for success. It is a huge milestone for you and your practice, and an investment that should be geared to success above anything else. How do you start? And what do you need to know?

Here are four things you need to pin down to create a world-class medical spa:

1. Clarity

Before anything else, it would be best to determine your vision and mission for your practice. It requires a bit of introspection on your part, to get into the root of your core. What is your why? What is the bigger purpose? Setting the vision and aligning your concept with that vision is an essential step in building a world-class practice. Your team cannot do this for you. They will not be able to realize a successful medical spa if you are unclear and unsure. Claim your success early on and be firm on your vision and everything will fall into place.

2. Budget

Setting a realistic budget is key to planning with purpose. It keeps you grounded, working within a framework that is attainable and reasonable. It keeps you disciplined and lets you focus on the essentials and non-negotiables. Working with a budget means you are building within your reach and that you are intentionally building a successful medical spa. It is best to ask for a preliminary budget breakdown for construction from your designers or builders. Additionally, it's always best to plan to add around 20% contingency on your budget. A lot of factors affect the prices, including scope, schedule and scale. Also, each state or city may have its own standards for construction pricing, which must be reflected in your budget.

3. Timeline

Sticking with a schedule is as much an exercise in discipline as working within a budget. It takes precious, finite resources to complete the task of completing the project. You can rely on managers to oversee the progress being made, but you should be firm on keeping track as well. If you can't delegate the task to your internal staff, then consider investing in a project manager. It's a group effort that may have more significant effects on you and your bottom line too. A promise to deliver your medical spa on time is a commitment to serve clients at the earliest possibility.

4. Team

Building your medical spa is also about you building your team. This begins with working with a team of experts who specialize specifically in medical spas or medical interiors. They have experience and expertise, as well as quality workmanship to deliver satisfactory work. It ensures that the people you involve in the realization of your vision are both knowledgeable and capable of delivering what you envisioned for your medical spa. It also saves you time, money and stress from committing and rectifying avoidable mistakes. Below is a list of the usual team composition when building or renovating your medical spa:

1. Medical interior designer
   
2. Architect (specializing in medical)
   
3. General Contractor (specializing in medical)
   
4. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contractor
   
5. Additional possible teams: IT company and project manager

The team must involve a medical interior designer to create the plan and safeguard the design intent for your medical spa, so that the visual clarity of your concept is translated into the final space. Medical interior design professionals are specifically equipped to design for patient psychology and experience first before the usual design technicalities. This makes for an intentional design process that accounts for the patient experience, as well as the knowledge in the specific requirements for the medical environment to provide better workflow for you and your team.

Engineering the interiors so that it has the proper utilities in place is a job for an MEP engineer. MEP are trades that will figure immensely into making your space functional. They will work in tandem with the designers to make sure that everything is wired well and piped-in properly. Also, consider including an IT team to integrate tech into your space. They are increasingly becoming a major part of any medical spa for office operations and efficiency, so it is best to include them at the planning stages.

Lastly, you would also need a general contractor—someone who has the know-how of delivering the plan into reality. Check for references and demand samples of previous work. If possible, do ocular visits of previous projects so you are assured of what you can expect from their quality and workmanship.

Are you ready to take the leap to building your new medical spa? Follow these tips to get you started for success. Simour Design has always likened the building process to a journey, and sincerely wishes you all the best in starting your own. Let Simour Design be part of your team so it can lend you experience and insights in creating a beautiful and successful medical spa you will be proud of. Call (310) 359-1200 or send a consultation request here.

Simour Design is a medical interior design firm with a passion for transforming and creating world-class medical spaces. It builds custom medical offices, taking into account clients' workflow, office culture and specialty-specific considerations to create environments that make everyone feel better. Simour brings more than a decade of experience designing hundreds of world-class medical offices that set physicians up for success.