Welcome to Dental Unscripted.
Where Mike D'Inzio and Paula
Quinn break down the
practice ownership journey,
one episode at a time.
Starting up, buying,
and running a successful dental practice.
What up, what up, guys?
Hey, my name's Mike D'Incio.
As you all know,
this is another amazing
episode of Dental Unscripted.
As you all know,
I'm one of the co-founders
of Next Level and a co-host
of this amazing program
called Dental Unscripted.
You guys, for you followers,
thanks so much for tuning
in to another episode.
And if you are following the program,
you know that we're
literally right in the
middle of Dental Shark Week.
And I'm super excited.
This is something that we do
typically every year around
the time of Shark Week.
And we pick a topic that's
kind of a hot topic.
And this year,
it's all about construction.
So for those of you that are
thinking about a startup or
in the middle of a startup
or thinking about a major
expansion in your office,
you are not going to want
to miss this week as we
break down the topic of construction.
And I'm super excited to
keep this topic going here.
So without further ado,
I'd like to introduce my
friend and partner in the community,
Kenny Ackerman with
Accurate Construction.
Kenny and I have done a lot
of projects together.
Welcome to the show, Kenny.
Thank you, Mike.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, man.
So this Shark Week,
we really pick topics that
have a lot of conversation about that.
As a consultant,
I think the first Shark
Week was all about real estate.
The second Shark Week was
all about practice brokers,
brokering practices.
Construction is a very,
very important topic for startups.
And I'm excited because this
week is just a bunch of
knowledge from the best
contractors in the country,
all kind of spinning their
own flavor on it.
And yeah, we're lucky to have you, man.
Tell me a little bit about
Accurate Construction.
I know you serve the amazing
state of Florida.
You do a great job there.
We've done a lot of projects there.
Tell me a little about the company, you,
how it started.
Just kind of give me the high level,
your company and who you guys are.
So basically we're based out of Tampa,
Florida.
That's where our hub is.
My father and I, Kevin, own the company.
We're pretty much definitely
family owned and operated for good,
for better, for worse.
Sometimes we're hands on all the time.
So that's kind of how we run it.
We have a close group of
subcontractors we work with
throughout the state.
where predominantly a lot of
our work is in-house.
So we have all of our own carpenters.
We recently, within the last five years,
got our plumbing license.
So our own plumbers, framers, hangers,
all that good stuff is
within the accurate umbrella.
Wow.
What that allows us to do is
be extremely aggressive on timeline.
and product placement.
So we make sure that your vision,
especially in a startup,
because it's gonna be
somebody's first time doing this,
we wanna make sure they,
like no stone is left unturned.
We kind of think for them in that sense,
getting them down the road,
But we're based out of Tampa.
We service the state.
I would say a predominant
amount of our work is in
the Tampa Bay and Orlando
market currently.
But areas like Jacksonville,
Fort Lauderdale, Naples,
those areas are all growing
and we're starting to see
project uptick in those areas as well.
That's awesome.
It's a big state to service, man.
Hats off.
I know scaling into other
different markets is challenging,
especially for construction.
So that's super cool to hear, man.
Well, awesome.
I mean,
I think one of the things that's
really unique is you guys'
ability to keep things in-house.
So we're going to definitely
touch on that here in a little bit.
I don't think that's a
normal thing for
contractors to have a lot
of in-house stuff.
So let's get let's get into that.
I'm going to mark that as a
topic for later.
But I'd like to kick us off
with kind of like how like
when you're looking at a startup,
there's a lot of our our viewers,
listeners are our startups
thinking about.
getting into ownership.
And, you know, I was an ex-banker,
as you may remember or know.
And, you know,
lending is kind of sets the
tone for how much money
these guys can spend.
You know,
construction has been so
expensive by inflation and
labor and all kinds and
every market's different,
which is why I'm really
excited about Shark Week,
because you guys are all
kind of different markets
and have different flavor
for this industry.
this situation,
but like everybody kind of
runs their business a
little bit different and
every market runs the flow
a little bit different.
How early on do you like to
get involved to start with the planning,
the due diligence process?
Like what in your mind sets
up a dentist the best way
when getting a contractor
involved soon or how soon?
What's the answer there?
How quickly do you want to get in?
I think the best position to
be in as a contractor
client relationship for the
overall project to
incorporate all those
things that you're talking
about is to get in when the
client has a couple of spaces
And what that looks like is
the client would have
already gotten in touch with the bank,
kind of figured out what
their budget's going to be.
They got with their agent,
their agent's going to tell them, hey,
these are the spaces that are available.
Now I think it's a great
opportunity to be linked
with the contractor.
And what that does is that allows you,
the earlier the contractor
can get in and you're comparing spaces,
it allows the contractor to go, okay,
space A,
here are your challenges versus
space B and space C.
Sometimes it's a little too
early if the designated
areas haven't been located.
Sometimes a contractor is
just another person in the
tent that maybe doesn't
need to be there that early.
But I think once you get the bank on board,
once the agent goes, hey,
we have these couple spots located,
I think that's a great time.
Nothing is signed from the
client perspective.
So you can really compare
and contrast because
ultimately it's going to
come down to the budget.
And you want to make sure
you align all those things.
And I think that would be a
great position to be in.
I love that you said that
because everybody wants to
get introduced as a consultant.
Everybody wants to be introduced very,
very beginning of the
process of a startup.
Like, hey, I'm the marketing company.
I think I should be involved
because I'm the best guy ever.
And then even the equipment guys and gals,
they want to be...
Everybody wants to be in the front.
Let's just put it that way.
But if the show has...
has educated enough folks
it's really there's key
players in the beginning of
the process that need to be
part of that process to set
the doctor up for a
successful project and
absolutely and you said it
banking of course nobody
wants to work for free you
need pay everybody needs
paid so it makes the client feel great
That a bank's behind the project.
That's kind of step one.
Step two, of course, is real estate.
My favorite thing that you
said there was a couple spaces,
three spaces.
Let's bring the contractor
in and get their opinion.
Is that something that you
guys do in Florida a lot,
is really honing in on...
multiple spaces and
comparing them because I
find that not a lot of real
estate folks love making
multiple offers it's a lot
more work for them uh
there's a lot you know you
mean so what what's your
take I mean it sounds like
you're pretty big on going
into multiple spaces you
don't have a contract with
the client yet and you're
helping that client
really make the best decision for them.
I love that.
So is that something that
you guys do quite often?
Yeah.
I believe that's part of
building their relationship
with the client.
I think that's a huge thing.
Um,
cause it's easy for us to kind of sit
back and say, okay,
call me when you have your
plans and your spot picked out.
We kind of try to get it on
the other end and build
that relationship.
So there is that camaraderie
early so they can build the trust.
Um, because you know,
telling them what they want
to hear is sometimes harder
than people think um versus
you know kind of you know
hey I love this little
telling them what they
don't want to hear exactly
yeah that's right yeah yeah
that's hard yeah yeah and I
and I feel like you know
before everything's signed
that's the position to do
it and yeah there's a
little bit of there's extra
effort on our portion like
you know we don't know if
they're going to sign with
us we don't know if it's going to come
You were speaking to them on
a Sunday night at ten
o'clock and we're talking
to options like it's just
we look at it as that
branch that's going to get us there.
And yeah, gotten us there so far.
The relationships we've built.
I just tell people, I'm like,
just speak to your experience with us.
So kind of so, Kenny, to that point.
And I love that.
I just want to make a note real quick.
Nobody.
A lot of people do.
a lot of things before they get hired.
And I want to make sure that the audience,
the listeners appreciate
that and don't take advantage of that.
It doesn't necessarily mean
that you're going to hire
Kenny one hundred percent of the time,
but Kenny knows he's not
going to win every deal.
Everybody, he knows that.
But I do want people to appreciate that.
consultants equipment reps
contractors real estate
people for sure bankers
they're going to do a lot
of they're going to put a
lot of time into you before
anybody makes any money and
I think that's really
important because if you
take advantage of that
situation can burn some
bridges in the industry
whatever you know it's better to have
a great team helping you
make these decisions and
just appreciate the fact
that they're giving their time,
donating their time.
So I just wanted to make that note,
but real quick,
what are some of the things then,
since you're helping them
look at different spaces,
what are some of the things
that like help you decide, okay,
this is a good space.
This is going to be a challenge.
Like what's that sound and look like?
Like,
What are those things that
you're looking at in that
due diligence process?
So a lot of it is power,
electrical to the building.
When I go in there,
there's a checklist we go through.
Usually electric is up at the top.
Usually newer buildings,
it's a little more cut and dry.
During acquisitions and remodels,
sometimes it's a little
more difficult because
we're trying to figure out
how to build this without
having kind of a ground
floor to start with.
So getting in there, power,
parking's a big one.
We wanna make sure there's parking.
Basically when I'm going into it,
I'm looking at from the outside in.
Usually we kind of have a precursor.
Is there going to be
exterior work needed versus
interior work?
Usually that's budget driven,
stuff like that.
But our biggest thing is
interior wise is power.
It's going to be your HVAC system.
It's going to be your plumbing.
It's going to be those nuts and bolts.
The big expenses,
the things that you know
are going to be like, holy crap,
like that power panel is
not going to support you.
So who's going to pay for it?
Basically, who's going to pay for that?
Exactly.
And we want to make sure if
they haven't signed a lease
yet or they're in the
process of an LOI or anything like that,
we present those options so
they can be like, hey,
the power is insufficient in this space.
What are we doing to address
it before we sign the lease?
Correct.
Yes.
If we can be in those
discussions and be of assistance.
rather than them coming and being like,
hey, I signed this lease two weeks ago.
This is what I got.
And I'm like, oh, man,
now we have to deal with this.
I'm pretty surprised by how
many calls I get throughout
the year of folks trying to
negotiate their own deals.
And, of course, my first response, whoa,
let's get some people
involved here because –
I don't know what you're doing.
Wow, it's a great deal.
And the landlord said he
didn't want anybody
involved and he's giving me
a great deal because no one's involved.
That's a red flag, folks.
It's a red flag.
They're doing that on
purpose so they know what they're doing.
Okay, so that's really great information.
Of course,
that's something that not a lot
of people can do.
Your real estate guy can't do that.
Your contractor can't look
at the power panel and determine that.
They can't look at HVAC.
So it's obviously a really
good thing to get a
contractor involved early
on in that site selection.
And what I heard was not
only to help you pick the right space,
but really to negotiate your
best deal with the landlord.
Do you find that you
collaborate with those real
estate guys a lot to help
you to give the real estate
guy or gal ammunition?
I assume that's where that's
going when you find
something that's a potential issue.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I mean, we want to bring those costs.
We want to bring those items up.
We want to associate a cost
with those items so they
can be discussed at this point in time.
Back to your point,
if they're representing
themselves and they
believe the landlord has
their best interest at
heart and sign a lease,
I find us working uphill at that point.
Now we're up against the budget.
Now we're up against the
timeline for things that
should have been deemed in
negotiation of an LOI
versus now it's like, hey, you signed it.
How do we figure a way out of this?
At that point,
we're taking portions of
their budget that could
have been used for the
practice and using it to
enhance the utilities that
are on the site.
And it makes sense that so
so you're kind of you're
probably putting a chicken
scratch kind of value to a
deficiency so that the
landlord can potentially
pay for that so that it
doesn't come out of your
bank loan or maybe TI allowances.
But and that's the dance.
That's the real estate person's dance.
But without that information, you know,
it's not much leverage.
Let me ask you one more
question on due diligence
and we'll move on.
I want to talk a little bit
about your collaboration
with designers and architects next.
Before we move on,
I've been seeing this kind
of trend where real estate
folks don't want to bring
contractors in too soon.
I'm always a big fan of that.
That's why I asked the
question and I knew you
would probably answer it that way,
get you involved as soon as possible.
But I'm starting to see real
estate people put in the LOI,
we need this minimum of this amperage,
minimum of this HVAC.
And that's just in the LOI.
And I feel like they're
doing that so that maybe we
don't need to bring the contractor in,
but they're covering their bases.
Is there any pitfalls with that?
I'm just curious.
I would have to imagine that
there's got to be some pitfalls to that.
Am I making sense what I'm asking you?
It's signing a lease, you know.
as is, putting those definitely has been.
But sometimes there are caveats to that.
Sometimes it depends on
single phase power versus
three phase power.
So for example, if you were going to do
hey,
we want a minimum of two hundred amp
power.
OK, that's single phase,
then that's going to be
insufficient for an office
that's fifteen hundred or bigger.
So those are things that we would see.
Hey,
you need four hundred amp single phase
power, stuff like that.
So I think the boilerplate
stuff is fine for a general
and it gets you started
down that road to see the
temperament of a landlord
with the negotiation.
But from a construction perspective,
there's definitely items
that are particular to that,
that would go in more detail.
So you'd want a contractor
and a professional involved.
I've always found that if
there's a deal point that
needs to be ironed out,
it's best to get it ironed
out on the front end.
Then you strike a deal.
Landlord thinks you're good
because he or she landlord
sees that two hundred
amperage should be fine.
They don't know anything about dental.
So this real estate person
that's dental specific puts
two hundred amp on the LOI.
they're checking the box and
then later on down the road
mr ackerman comes rolling
in hot saying well I need a
I don't even know what
you're talking about I'm
not an electrician but a
three-phase whatever
landlord's probably gonna
be like what the hell you
know and we already we
already agreed now you're
going back on that
agreement so I I guess all
to say get that contractor
involved early because
Yeah.
There's there's just things
that I think need to be
flushed out before you get
to the finish of the LOI.
Now,
I think that's what we're ultimately
seeing.
All right, so let's move on.
I want to talk a little bit.
And just so you know, Kenny,
I'm kind of like with you,
I wanted to really stay in
the front end of the project.
I'm going to get to the back
end of the project with
some of the other interviews this week.
And so this is great.
Let's talk a little bit.
Let's talk some on the
designer architect collaboration.
I feel like...
lately in the marketplace
this design build concept
is is really working well
there's got there's a lot
of um a lot of uh
conversations about it in
my world uh should we hard
bid should we do some kind
of design assist or or
design build we've defined
that in other episodes
Kenny, ultimately,
I think it all is around budget, right?
It all comes down to budget and speed.
Where do you kind of fall in
the spectrum of what the
best way to go about this?
What's your take on it?
I don't think there's a wrong answer here,
but what's your take?
So there's definitely two
different processes.
We're a design-built firm,
meaning I have an architect in-house.
So what that means to the
client is basically we
could find the space, design the space,
and take that to permit.
With all that in mind,
I like to start with the budget.
So we go, okay,
we have X amount to spend here.
We're going to design this
space to incorporate
all these items that are
pertinent to your build so
be it you know accent walls
design flooring and stuff
like that like those can be
implemented while we're
drawing it um so when we
get the end result and
there's a collaboration
during this whole time so
we're running things by
them we're designing it
together um and then by the
time we get that finished
print and we're submitting
for permit everything lines
up so there but we design
this with that budget in mind
And then we take it to permit and then we,
you know, we carry it out.
The flip side of that is a
hard bid process,
which is the doctor will go
get an architect
independent of us or
independent of any GC.
And they will allow the
architect to design and build the office.
And then they'll submit that
to general contractors for a bid.
The problem I find with that
is they fell in love and
they did all this due
diligence with the architect.
And then they're getting
numbers on the other end
that aren't in
collaboration with their
budget that's assigned to them.
So what that means to the
client is we have to call
in the industry.
It's called value engineering.
So, for example,
if they design the
reception area a certain way, we go, OK,
you know, this is.
this is seven stones of
granite this is gonna
exceed our budget why don't
we design it this way and
normally clients are up to
that but it just adds time
to the whole process
because now a lot of pain a
lot of pain too right kenny
because yeah I mean
I want to paint a picture.
You did a great job explaining that.
I want to paint a picture to the clients,
to the listeners.
The very first thing that designers,
architects do,
and I'm not against design architects,
so please do not get me wrong.
This is Shark Week,
general contractor style of a whole week.
Of course,
you're going to hear a lot of
design assist or design build,
which Kenny is a design builder.
You're going to get that perspective.
I wanted to point out the
fact that there are hard
There are challenges with a hard bid,
and Kenny just broadly
brushstrokes on those challenges.
But I want to back up for a second.
Imagine a world where the designer,
architect, space planner,
interior designer, whoever,
sets up a call with you, doctor.
And they're like, hey,
I want you to start
thinking about your vision
for the practice.
I want you to set up a
Pinterest and start pinning
a bunch of images of what you want.
And I don't know, folks,
if you've ever spent any
time on Pinterest,
but there are some amazing
shit out there that is really attractive.
And so here you are with your follower.
You're like, holy crap,
I love that front desk.
And holy crap,
I want a lot of glass and I
want this and I want that.
And oh my God,
look at the texture on the wall and blah,
blah, blah.
So next thing you know,
you're sending this
Pinterest board to your interior designer,
architect, space planner,
whatever you want to call them.
And guess what?
They were hired by you to
recreate a lot of that.
And they very rarely ask the question,
what's our budget?
And so the poor contractors
have to deal with this
where they're the bad guys.
So now, like Kenny said,
you go to a hard bid
because the designer
architect just designed
this incredible space,
the brainchild of Pinterest, right?
And then you, Kenny, you're the bad guy.
You're like, damn, Kenny,
you're five hundred grand,
six hundred grand.
And and you're like, yeah, like
So, Kenny,
give me some back to kind of plans,
permits.
If we could be smart about
it on the front end,
you asked about budget first.
And I love that because I'm an ex-banker.
I'm a consultant.
I want budget first.
But, of course,
the doctors are really
nervous about you just
jacking up your margin.
That's the flip side is we
don't know what your margin is.
yeah so where how do you
break down that uh
insecurity and build trust
like how what's that like
how do you do that with a
design assist kind of stuff
it's yeah what's your
thoughts there I try to
find what's important to
them and what their vision
is so um normally we try to
focus on any patient areas
So I tell people, I'm like, look,
if we're going to build
this office a certain way,
most of the budget should
be allocated to things that
are going to touch the patient.
So be it that reception,
be it the exam rooms, your panel area,
different stuff like that.
We want to make sure that any of that,
we tip that toward the design.
So that would be like accent walls,
fancy millwork, stuff like that.
And then the back end of the office,
we kind of try to
consolidate with the budget
that's remaining.
um it's definitely a trust
you gotta you know it helps
with the vision either be
it from a designer or
anything like that we work
with a couple um it
definitely helps to get it
there but you also have to
have like a like a
conversation like this I
mean and that our our
relationship pre pre-design
is usually established like
we said during those phases of
you know, kind of reviewing the spaces.
So at least by the time we get to design,
we have a good trust within each other.
Like, hey, listen, like this is, you know,
I've told you I've laid
this road out this way.
You guys want this image.
Let's find it.
Let's get creative with it.
We did a client together
where they had pictures of a of a
of a lobby and we kind of
had to figure out how to do it.
And he did a great job of
explaining how we wanted it.
And we kind of ran through
samples with them and we
did it within budget most, you know,
most importantly.
So I think that's kind of how the process,
that's how we look at the process.
Just kind of like going through options,
kind of getting the vision
to what they want while giving them,
you know,
because all they see is a
picture on Pinterest.
So you don't have to buy
that expensive paneling.
There's other paneling,
there's other ways to build it.
And I think that helps with
us having stuff in house.
I'm not having to go find a
carpenter to build this.
I have a guy who can get creative on site,
will bring materials.
So it kind of makes it a
little more personal for the doctor.
I like that.
I find that collaboration is
super important because the
contractors are the ones
that know how much things cost.
Yeah.
And the architects are kind
of the visionaries of the whatever.
And even within your organization, Kenny,
I'm sure there's this
battle between your
creatives and the builders.
And that's a natural battle
to have creatives
fight against what's
possible and um I love that
process to make the office
as awesome as it can be
with the budget that we
have yeah and um yeah so
that's that's awesome um
anything else to touch on
that before we pivot to
just um anything else
No,
I just think it goes back to your
relationship with your GC.
It's got to be pretty transparent.
It's got to be you can call
them on the phone.
You can shoot them a text.
You can you can get in front
of them rather than, you know,
you you explaining your
vision to someone.
And then they go, OK, we're in contract.
And then that vision gets
passed off to either
subcontractor or
superintendent who might not have been.
involved with that whole
process so they're kind of
like hey you know I don't
remember talking about
doing an accent model like
you know this isn't part of
it you know so I think
that's just that would be
the most important thing
it's just getting that relationship
yeah I couldn't agree more
so you talked a little bit
about having kind of like
your own guys in house and
I I want to talk about that
because I think it's a
little unique and I don't
think this is something
that a lot of contractors
have nationwide anyways but
I do know that contractors have
some resources in-house so
it sounds like you're kind
of going down the path of
taking in and creating your
own workforce so that
you're not having to
subcontract everything out
so what are what are the
benefits um of having things in-house
I think the benefits,
the biggest benefit of
having it is a cohesive
project throughout.
So be it that, you know,
the carpenters are, um,
we are the carpenters,
we are the plumbers, we are, you know,
doing all this stuff real time.
I think it allows for the
doctor to feel comfortable
because they can come up.
Our biggest thing in the field,
we wouldn't be anything
without our guys in the field.
I tell everybody, I'm like,
I write checks and these guys cash them.
I'm like, because they make it happen.
And our team's unbelievable.
And I, especially with a startup, it's,
it's hard to expect a
doctor to see a floor plan
and then six months later,
just be okay with that floor plan.
It's difficult.
It's, it's, you know,
this thing's not going to
become real until the walls are up.
And we understand that.
And, uh,
we try to get, be it that, you know,
we try to look at from,
everybody looks at the prop,
we look at it from the back
end going backwards.
So we look at it,
what are the hurdles that
we're gonna come up to that
are gonna prevent us from
getting to our finish date?
And a lot of it is layout, a lot of it is,
you know, outlets and stuff like that.
So preemptively,
be it that we have these guys in house,
it allows us to do a
walkthrough and make an
adjustment real time.
So if we do a walkthrough on
framing and the doctor's like, man,
I thought the door was going
to be over here I would
like it this way we can
make that change real time
it's not going through a
whole tree of people like
hey let me call the framer
let me call the architect
let me call these people um
you know we make the change
in the field we do an
architect addendum letter
whatever the municipality
is going to require us to
do and we keep it moving I
think that gives confidence
to the doctor that their
voice is being heard
rather than us telling them
no you signed off on this
layout eight months ago
this is what we're building
and um we try to that's it
that's interesting that's
interesting I didn't think
you were gonna go go there
I I'm thinking benefits of
like cost control and
quality control and and
you're kind of going down
this idea of being nimble
and being able to make changes.
And that's pretty special.
I wasn't even thinking about
the nimbleness of it.
So essentially,
when you're a GC and you're
hiring subcontractors to do all the work,
there's not as much flexibility.
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, it's more difficult.
I mean,
everybody runs their own ship the
way they want.
We look at it as, you know,
going back to the budget and being nimble,
as you said, like if you hire,
if you hire a subcontractor to frame it,
okay.
And they agreed on framing
this floor plan.
And then you go in there and go,
you know what,
we're going to move door A to door this,
we're going to slide this door here.
We're going to make this
dairy center bigger.
We're going to make the
private office smaller.
Because now the doctor can
see it and they're like, holy crap,
the sterilization area is not big enough.
Yeah, yeah.
No, no doubt.
And an equipment specialist can come in.
They can be like, oh man,
they ordered a modular unit.
So what those changes cause is, you know,
now this GC has to go back
to the subcontractor and go, hey,
we're going to extend this.
So the subcontractor goes, well,
it's it's labor to take down the wall.
It's labor to move the wall.
Whereas we look at it as
having those services in house.
We're doing a real time.
So my superintendent's going
to mark it on the floor and
we have all working supers.
So they're going to go, OK,
you want to move?
We'll move it.
Now, I always tell doctors,
we bring them to certain stages.
They're like,
where is the line that I can
no longer cross?
And I usually tell them that's drywall.
Once we get drywall up,
everything's on the wall.
That makes sense.
And it's a real thing they can see.
It's like, hey,
once there's drywall on these walls,
Nothing else is changing.
But up until then, you know,
I want to give them I think
it helps with their stress level, too,
because they're freaking out,
freaking out.
And rightfully so,
because they're they're
starting a business,
they're buying equipment,
they're working for someone there.
There's a million things.
There's a lot there's a lot
of things going on for sure.
Yeah.
So we try to be.
the least squeaky wheel in
that process and kind of go, hey,
this is where we're at.
Some clients are like, hey, we're good.
Some clients are like, oh my God,
I can't sleep.
I'm like, let's meet on site.
Let's talk this out.
Dude, that's such an incredible service.
I can't say, folks,
listeners going to work right now,
I can't say that that's
going to be atypical for
most contractors.
I think that is definitely
something that's unique
But but this concept of
having things in house,
that might be a question.
That's what I'm going to
pivot as we kind of wrap up
our questions today and let
Kenny go to go build some more projects.
But like.
My next question is kind of
like my next question for
you is what questions to ask the GC,
a GC before you hire them.
And I'm asking everybody
that that's that's one
unique question I'm asking
every contractor this week,
because I feel like I feel
like doctors don't really
know what questions to ask you guys.
And let's say.
your competitor is talking
to a dentist right now and
you'd love a shot to win their business.
Think of it from that perspective.
Like what are some good due
diligence questions for the
dentist to ask you before
they go into this relationship?
One of those questions should be,
do you have any services in house?
Cause you just did a
beautiful job of explaining
the benefits of that.
But what other questions
could we ask a contractor
before we hire them to make
sure it's the right fit for
and maybe that they have the
right experience for the job?
Yeah, no doubt.
What I would ask first is,
are they licensed or are they qualified?
And what that means is there's,
basically in the state of Florida,
especially you can,
you can be qualified by someone else.
Meaning.
So if I didn't have a CGC license,
I could borrow someone
else's CGC license and do the work.
Um,
so that would be the first question I'd
ask.
I'd ask, Hey, are you the,
is your name on the CGC license?
And when I look and that's
easily accessible,
the doctor can look it up online.
You can verify it.
And the only reason I bring
that up is because that's been kind of a,
um,
Like people were like, you know,
I hired this guy and now it
went south and I went to
figure it out and I found
out he wasn't even
associated with the license.
Wow, I didn't know that was a thing.
Okay.
Yeah, so I would just ask them like, hey,
is your company and your
name associated with the
license number that you're giving me?
It sounds kind of technical,
but it's something that's
good to start with and work
your way down.
Okay.
Yeah.
a lot of cowboys out there a
lot of cowboys okay
secondly I would ask um
going back to the in-house
services how do you how do
you farm out your work how
um and and what does that
process look like for me as
the client so do you have
in-house services are you
my point of contact um do
do I have any opportunity
to make edits or changes
once this process begins
what does that look like
because I think that's the
biggest thing with a startup
is knowing that going
forward um because I think
that's a big kind of bait
and switch like you know
like you fall in love with
someone and you think okay
yeah it's gonna be great
and then they're like hey
you're gonna talk to
so-and-so from now on this
is the guy and then
you know it just it kind of
hurts your confidence a
little bit because you show
up to the site um you don't
know anyone or you don't
know who to talk to and
this is your baby right
like this is my startup I
want to know who my point
of contact is so I would
say the the main question
there is who do I deal with
on site and what
subcontractors can I be
expecting to see on site
and will I be able to talk
to them or do I have to go
through you or or the
superintendent is there any
opportunity there
On that one,
sometimes contractors have
their subcontractors spread
too thin where they might
be managing too many projects.
So that might be another
solid question to ask.
Well, in your opinion,
how many projects can a subcontractor –
a superintendent handle and
manage efficiently, in your opinion?
It might be different
opinions across the board this week,
but what's your answer there?
I would think the
superintendent is only
going to be as strong as
the company works for in
the organization.
So I think a superintendent can handle,
if they're a good superintendent,
they can handle a multiple
amount of projects.
I think it's most important that
The client knows who their
contact is and knows what's
the expectation for communication.
So like, when can I reach out to you?
Like we're an open book.
So I tell people, I'm like,
text is the best way for us.
Only because I tell doctors, I'm like,
if you're sleeping and you
wake up and you got a question,
just text it.
So you don't wake up in the morning,
schedule a call or set me up.
And we forget it.
So but I would say that that
expectation of
communication is key
because you want to know
before you sign a contractor, hey,
how do I get with you?
How do I get you on the phone?
How do what's totally communication?
I get that.
I get that a lot from my clients.
My contractor's not calling me back.
And I do think that when I hear both sides,
it's like, okay,
both of these people are right.
And to your point, Kenny,
it's expectations.
It's how quickly... If I'm
going to text you, Kenny,
how quickly can you get back to me?
Or if I email you or like,
what's the best way and how
quickly do you get back to me?
And who's my point in contact?
Is it you or the
subcontractor or the superintendent?
So I think those are all
really good things.
That's a great lesson for
anybody that you hire
through this project,
not just contractors.
It's equipment people.
It's IT people.
It's your consultant.
Sometimes folks...
think that I'm just
literally at their beck and
call every single day,
every day of the week.
I got a lot of clients,
so it's impossible for me
to help a lot of clients if
I'm literally your personal life coach.
And so I'm not saying that to be a jerk,
but
We all run businesses and I
think it's healthy to have
that conversation before
you hire because I'll be
honest and you'll be honest.
Hey, look,
I need a minute to answer questions.
And if that's not fast enough,
we might not be a good fit
and that's okay.
So I love that from you, Kenny.
Any last minute kind of,
I call this like market
watch conversation.
You know, what's the market like today?
Final question.
You know, remember,
these podcast episodes exist forever.
So try not to get too granular.
And this like the week of July, you know,
But in general,
were we in a good time to
build a weird time to build
the President Trump and the
tariffs and stuff?
I've gotten some questions about that.
I don't want you to get political.
I'm just simply saying this
is a question I get.
And I'm curious what your answer is.
Is labor market weird?
Is the I saw inflation
inflation today went down.
So what's your answer to
where we're at as far as
construction goes?
And that will be my last
question for today.
So I always thought,
cause I get that question a lot.
They're like,
should I wait a year to build?
Should I wait?
I think based on our history,
it's never going to go backwards.
So we're never going to be
at a point in a year from now where I go,
oh, man,
I saved fifty percent on my
construction costs because I waited.
That goes back to the bid.
I mean, the bid,
we bid a lot of projects out.
So we try to do a good job
of tracking the market.
The tariffs,
things obviously tariffs
affect raw materials.
So like metal framing, wire,
stuff like that.
But that goes back to your
relationship with your contractor.
Like, you know, like, hey, how confident?
And this is a good question to ask them.
How confident are you in this bid?
Like, when we ink a bid,
that's the number.
Barring any type of extras, like, you know,
big extras,
that's going to be the number.
And I think that that
confidence is why vendors
like working with us because they're like,
hey,
I know he's going to get your bill
for this because we did the
last twenty offices like that.
Um,
but as far as the construction
perspective for the budget,
I would say right now is
the time to build.
If you're, if you're now, now's the time,
this moment forward, um,
because no matter when you're,
no matter when you're doing your project,
no matter when you're doing it.
Um, cause I don't, I, I, I agree.
I think people sit on the
sidelines too long and the
opportunity that's in front of you today.
Yeah.
That's why we're both
passionate about doctors
getting into ownership.
That's what this program is about.
Yeah.
Ownership is the best way to go.
Kenny owns his company.
I own my company.
It's the best thing that we ever did.
It's the hardest thing we ever did,
but it's the best thing.
and don't wait on
construction costs to go down, whatever,
interest rates to go down,
inflation to come down.
You're never gonna time it, right?
You're never gonna time it perfectly.
I was just curious about
materials and whatnot,
but I think you answered
that really well.
Any last minute or last topics,
things that you really
wanted to get off your
chest today before we sign
off on Dental Unscripted
Shark Week construction topic?
No,
I want to really thank you for having
me on.
Um, it's an exciting market.
Um,
I would just tell people out there
trying to get this, this ball started,
make sure you,
you put an effort into
establishing a relationship with your GC.
Um,
I think that's the biggest caveat that
people don't do.
They kind of just look at a
number and they don't put a
face to a number.
Um, so it's like, you know,
You have a GC that's willing to meet you,
like to our point,
before you sign a contract
or while you're evaluating spaces,
like putting that legwork in,
try to get a relationship
with your general
contractor that you feel
confident you guys are
going to be able to get
through things moving forward.
That's going to make your
build a lot easier.
I think that's solid advice, Kenny.
I love working with you.
You guys do a great job down
there in Florida.
I love your customer service
and pull through.
When there's issues, you respond.
I love the fact that you
guys put a number up.
That's your number.
I love that you collaborate
and try to work with the budgets.
It's all good stuff.
It's why you're on the program today.
I do endorse you guys.
And congratulations on
building a phenomenal
company and doing right by
all of our doctors out there.
So thanks for being on the program, man.
No, thank you very much.
I appreciate it, Mike.
It's always great to see you.
And I look forward to many more, man.
You do a great job.
No, appreciate it, brother.
All right.
Another episode of Dental
Unscripted Shark Week.
Appreciate your time, guys.
And I want to remind you,
if you're listening to the podcast,
will you please do me a
solid here and just give me a five star?
You don't even have to say anything.
Just just rate us five star it.
uh we need to get our
rankings up I think I get
feedback every single day
and how much you guys love
this program and then I
think we've got like ten
star five star reviews like
what I know that there's
hundreds out there will you
guys please help me out and
do that um that's my only
ask and we will continue to
put out great content like
today and having amazing
interviewers like Kenny
Ackerman um with uh
accurate construction so
Thanks again for tuning in.
We'll catch you later this
week on another episode of
Dental Unscripted Shark Week.
Talk soon, guys.
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