Welcome to Dental Unscripted,
where Mike Dinsio and
Paula Quinn break down the
practice ownership journey,
one episode at a time.
Starting up, buying,
and running a successful dental practice.
All right, all right, all right,
here we go.
Another episode of Dental Unscripted.
This is a special,
special week as we are
heading into Shark Week,
Dental Shark Week.
I haven't done a Shark Week in,
I don't know, a year or so.
I think we just skipped last year.
But for those of you that are old school,
that followed me many years,
many moons ago, I did a Shark Week.
And that week is essentially
a week of fantastic
interviews on one particular topic.
And we started from the West
Coast and we would work our
way across to the East Coast.
And it was an interview
every single day on that topic.
And this year,
the episodes will be
dedicated to dental construction.
And in the world of startups, construction,
construction,
construction is what matters.
And it's the one thing that chews up
about seventy to eighty
percent of your total
budget of a startup.
So these folks,
these experts in the
industry will have so much
to give to you all throughout this week.
I'm super excited about it.
No shark suit this year.
Maybe we put that back on
for the last episode.
I don't know,
but Shark Week is here and
let's get the party started.
Real quick,
before we pivot into the
episode and introduce the
guests of today.
I do want to remind you all,
if you are listening to
this on a startup
unscripted channel or the
dental acquisition unscripted channel,
I need you to flip over to
the dental unscripted channel.
It's just dental unscripted.
It's a turquoise and navy blue logo.
We're consolidating the two
programs into one.
And if you guys have been following us,
we're not only talking
about startups and acquisitions,
but we're also giving you a
lot of amazing practice
management episodes.
So Paula and Stefani and the
whole team over at Next
Level have all kinds of
practice management good stuff.
It's not just Mike D'Incio's show.
Now it's Paula Quinn, Mike D'Incio's.
And for those of you that
are getting to know Paul
and the rest of the team,
you're in for a treat.
It's a special program.
We love doing our podcast.
So, all right.
Without further ado,
Shark Week kicks off with
one of my favorite friends,
a guy that I respect a ton
in the industry up here in
the Pacific Northwest.
as we are sitting here in
the Seattle Puget Sound area.
And I have the pleasure to
be speaking with Dustin
Long with Big Sky Construction.
And he's been wanting to do
this program for so long.
Buddy, welcome to the show.
It's great to see you.
Mike, you know what?
This is really cool.
You're right.
We have been wanting to do this.
I've
Very excited to be on the podcast.
And while you might be
sitting in the Pacific Northwest,
I'm actually sitting in Dallas, Texas.
Okay.
Because not only is Big Sky
taking over the Pacific
Northwest when it comes to dental builds,
we are also now taking over Texas.
Well,
that makes sense because if you're
watching on YouTube,
Dustin's got a big...
cowboy hat sitting on top of
his head for the record
dustin wore cowboy hats
before his company was in
texas so this is all part
of the dustin long show
dustin that's huge news uh
and and super exciting for
you my friend thanks it is
tell us a little bit about
big sky man I got to meet
you uh I don't know
Six years ago, maybe five years.
I don't know.
At least.
Yeah.
No.
Well, you know, Big Sky.
There are two Big Skies.
Big Sky Northwest.
We've been building now
dental offices for the last ten years.
We just hit our ten year mark.
uh which is fantastic I know
it's it's it's awesome
we've got a great team we
know how to do this we walk
our clients and it's just
it's been a great
experience um and so now
it's really cool to come down to texas
and take over my family's business,
Big Sky.
It's been building here in
DFW for over forty years.
And now we're going to be
expanding our book of
business here into dental as well.
So, you know, Big Sky
I like to share, first of all,
we're not just a contractor.
Uh-oh.
We're getting deep already.
We're getting deep with this conversation.
We are.
We can get deeper later if I
can get deep now.
We are a partner to the
client that assists them
through not just construction,
but the entire process,
which I know we'll be getting into more.
But Big Sky...
For today's purposes,
for the listeners out there,
we're the best dental
builders in the Pacific
Northwest and now moving
down to the South as well.
And yeah,
I think that's high level of who we are.
I'm going to let you help us dig deeper.
that's great dustin I I love
I love kind of where your
head's at right now guys we
don't prepare for this
episode at all it's totally
unscripted hence the title
so um if it's choppy and
raw and uncut that's the
way it's supposed to be
this is just two dudes
talking I happen to be in
the studio but um the the
truth is is there's all
there's so much stuff in
dustin's brain that I need
to pull out for the program
And the goal here is just to
educate you guys all on
what you're all getting
into as you pursue a
startup or even if it's
established doctor looking
to relocate and build your dream office.
We're starting to build our
community of listeners,
of practice owners,
current practice owners.
So it's not just startups, but startups.
In typical Shark Week fashion,
let's start digging into
some of the things that's in my mind,
my brain,
that I would love the audience to hear.
And so the first thing that
I just want to go to, Dustin,
is exactly where you were heading,
is how does a contractor
partner with my clients, with dentists,
earlier on and I'm going to
preface that is like look
everybody wants to talk to
the client talk to the
doctor super early on
they're all kind of
jockeying for position to
try to gain the the the
attention of the doctor
because there's a sale
involved and I'm doing air
quotes a sale yep but part
of my job as a consultant
is just to kind of like
let's put all that other
stuff kind of on hold
because the first thing we
really need to do is we
need to get a space.
We need to negotiate that space.
And I did a shark week, real estate week,
uh, years ago.
But once we kind of get
through the meat and
potatoes of that space,
now we need to begin due
diligence on that space.
And I think the contractor
has a huge role to play in,
in that due diligence process, Dustin,
am I smoking something here
or am I on the right path?
No, you're absolutely right.
And you know, the,
the air quotes of people
trying to get a position into the project,
you've got,
you've got your contractors
who are client might have bid on the job.
Yeah.
Then you've got big sky.
Our focal point early on is
building the project on
paper that entails the space and
understanding the challenges
that come with the space
that the doctor is looking at,
understanding that the
doctor now needs to
establish a fiscal budget
to start talking to the bank about.
We've got to start talking
to the client about design,
making sure that we
understand that the budget
and the design need to coincide together.
Yeah, they do.
Way too often when a client
kind of steps out of the
bounds of what we would
consider to be norm,
you end up getting a project that is
designed with all their heart's content,
their dreams, their thoughts,
these ideas.
And then all of a sudden it's like, oh man,
we never thought about the
budget during this process.
Now we're twenty, thirty,
forty percent over budget.
What do we do?
Stepping back,
taking the proper steps
through the what we call
the design build model.
We are working with the
client and every just like next level.
You're also there part of
the table making sure
because we all have these special
skill sets, we've got the knowledge.
And so now we're taking this
client from this conceptual idea of,
I want to start a practice.
And it could take six,
nine months of building
this project on paper
before we're actually building it.
You know, it's funny that you say that,
Dustin,
because I had my admin track this
just the other day.
If you guys know Abby,
shout out to Abby McCoy,
the best assistant of all time.
and I asked abby I'm like
look go back five years and
tell me how long from when
a client signed my contract
to work with me in next
level to the time that they
signed the lease so this is
like concept to lease nine
months was the average
Isn't that crazy?
So nine months from the time
that they're like, hey,
I think I want to do a
startup to the time that
they sign the lease, which folks,
to give you a timeline,
by the time you sign the lease,
you need the contractor on
your team signed, committed, ready to go.
You need the equipment reps ready to roll.
You need the architects, space planners,
if they're involved, ready to roll.
All these people got to be
ready to roll when you sign
the lease so that Dustin and his team,
architects,
and we're going to get into that,
can submit for permits immediately.
Immediately.
And so to your point, yeah, you, Dustin,
could be involved a solid
six months before the
doctor even signs the lease,
before you're even swinging hammers.
Right.
Let's walk through that due
diligence checklist that
Dustin goes through.
When you're looking at a space,
what should your contractor
be looking at and helping
the real estate guy or gal
negotiate a better space?
What are the things that are
really important for a
dentist to think about when
you're looking at a space
to rent and build out for yourself?
What do you look at?
Totally.
Great questions.
First, we start with some requirements of
What are the goals of the client?
Are they a specialist?
How many operatories?
Because we can walk into a space,
they found a great
a retail location that's
fifteen hundred feet and
they want eight ops.
OK, Doc,
we need to step back and rethink
the size of space.
So we need to understand a
little bit of the business
model of the client before
even approaching a space.
Once we've got that established,
we start looking at some spaces.
First thing we're doing broker Big Sky.
We're starting to talk about
the space and the
challenges that are brought
from that space.
We can build a dental office anywhere.
I can stick a chair up on a
roof of a high rise.
So now it's understanding
the challenges that this
particular space is going to bring to us,
how it's going to impact our budget,
how it's going to impact our timing,
what city or entity is
reviewing for permits,
because some could take four weeks,
some could take twenty weeks.
So now we need to make sure
the broker understands this
because they're using a lot
of that information to
leverage to the client to
negotiate the deal.
That's right.
Lots of things there.
Timing.
Exactly.
So like the,
the big things that I'm
thinking of is no one
really knows the
mechanicals like a contractor, right?
The real estate guy doesn't
gal guy doesn't,
definitely not the
consultant equipment people
meh not really like
attorneys definitely don't
so like all the people that
are putting these deals
together on paper as far as
legal and negotiation
someone's got to look at
the mechanicals can you
explain what the
mechanicals are when I'm
you know what I'm talking
about what are you looking
at specifically yeah
We walk into a space, you know,
a dental office
infrastructure is quite
different than an insurance office.
So when we walk in there,
we're looking at the
electrical capacities that
are there in the space.
If those aren't adequate,
we might have to upgrade those.
That could be six, ten thousand dollars.
You need to know that.
Exactly.
You need to know that.
HVAC there's so much heat
gain and or loss depending
on the time of year with
the equipment all the you
know the chairs the
sterilization the
mechanical room reception
everyone's looking for a
different the same comfort zone but
it's going to differentiate
between different sides of
the office so understanding
the hvac what kind of
challenges can we deal with
the existing do we need to
upgrade do we need to add
same for the plumbing you
know your average retail
center is going to have one
restroom and maybe a staff
lounge dental offices we
could add twelve to fifteen
plumbing fixtures within
that space do we have the
adequate water supply and
the adequate sanitary see
you don't know this walking
into it all of a sudden you
might be hit with twenty
thirty thousand dollars
worth of upgrades you had
no idea about and those are
not good surprises and it's
happened look like uh I
don't want to get into this
too much but if you watch
some of the old episodes go
to dental unscripted.com
and then go to um archived
episodes go back five years
we're talking about the same crap
go to shark week, real estate week.
There's seven episodes.
And I interviewed all these
real estate people.
I don't want to go into this, but like,
The landlord wants a dentist
in their space because
you're an anchor tenant.
You're bringing all these
amazing patients in.
You're a safe business.
You're probably not going to default.
Odds are ninety ninety nine percent.
Ninety eight percent of you
will not default.
Very safe.
You're also going to improve
their space because
Dustin's going to build a
beautiful office.
You're doing all these
wonderful things for the landlord.
The landlord, again,
is gonna give you some
stuff like tenant
improvements and free rent.
Again, go back to that episode.
But Dustin's the one that's gonna say,
Hey, what you have here,
Mr. Landlord is not
adequate for a dentist and
you need to help us make it adequate.
And that's a negotiating point.
And by the way,
it has nothing to do with
Dustin's construction contract.
Any of these contractors
that we interviewed this week,
that is all high value ad.
That's why it's a
relationship in the front end.
So, yeah,
I think this is really
important because the
contractor that you choose
to partner with can save
you a lot of money.
They're going to cost you a
lot of money just by the
nature of the business that they're in,
but they're also going to
save you a lot of money too.
Absolutely.
Right?
And that goes all the way to
the negotiations of the space.
So would you say that's
where the beginning of your
relationship begins then, Doc, or Doc,
Dustin,
is helping the doc look at the space,
And unfold the vision there
and try to help the real
estate professional negotiate.
That's probably the biggest
piece in this first start.
That's exactly right.
It's understanding that real
estate to help the broker
leverage to the landlord.
But then that information is
also utilized to now
transfer to the designer.
Yeah.
So this is...
I'm glad you're
transitioning to this
because we're going to go there.
Go ahead.
The foundation continues to
build on paper.
We're now using that
information to transfer to
the designer and say, hey, listen,
this is where the existing
infrastructure is.
These are how tall the windows are.
Here's where the beams are located.
That way,
when we're doing our initial
concept designs, we don't have to
completely change them or
make major modifications
because we weren't aware of
what challenges the shell
might have presented to us
we don't want to stick a
mechanical room all the way
across uh the other side of
the space when the main
water line is on the
opposite side yeah now we
have to extend the main
water all the way so we're
looking at all these you know hey
Maybe that's only a few
thousand dollar increase, but still,
that's a few thousand
dollar that we can save
from day one just knowing
that information.
That's a sensor, guys.
That's a sensor, right?
Absolutely.
So I think that's really good.
I think that's really good.
So we covered due diligence
and where the partnership begins.
You kind of alluded to where
I'm heading with the program,
and that is our relationship,
our relationship from a
client and a contractor and
a space planner slash architect.
I really want to get into
this because Dustin, you're really good.
I've worked with you for many years now.
We've built a lot of
Beautiful offices.
Our clients have really
benefited from working with Big Sky,
which is why you're on the program.
You do a great job.
Thank you.
One of the things that I
really like about you is
how you truly hold my
client's hand through the
permitting process.
And I have to say,
this is one of the more
complicated conversations
that I have with my clients
because they all want to
bid they want to bid
because they don't want to
take be taken advantage by
construction knowing that
construction is going to be
seventy plus percent of
their entire budget they
want to make sure that
that's a good number right
absolutely I get that you
would too ever anybody
would especially if it's
that big of a ticket item
yeah right for sure for
sure construction's your
biggest one that you have
to manage otherwise you're
you're in trouble with with lending
But at the same time,
we need your help so much
to get through the planning.
So I would love for you to
just describe the process.
whether it's you by yourself
or you in partnership with
somebody and how you get a
client from concept floor plan and,
and a floor plan is just chicken scratch.
It's oftentimes the
equipment guys are putting
a floor plan together.
Next level oftentimes
provides a floor plan.
I outsource that service,
but it's just like kind of
like a rudimentary floor plan.
It's not the final floor plan.
Someone's got to take that floor plan,
that concept and,
and get it to permits that
the city will approve and
there's a lot to say about
that so dustin how do you
how are you going to
approach that question
that's a tough question
it's a loaded question how
do you get it from concept
to permit go well
Hey,
I think we need to educate the
audience in this process.
It's weird.
And we got to talk about it.
Totally.
A lot goes into that.
So at concept,
we've got the basic flow of the practice.
We've got the basic
requirements set of what
the doctor wants in that moment.
Now we need to dig deep into
the nuts and bolts of the
actual practice.
Is this, you know,
what is the now and what
does the future look like
for this business?
Are you going to add another
doc at some point?
Are you going to have associates?
What's the hygiene versus restorative?
Or if you're a specialist, you know,
what does that look like?
Now,
then we start talking about equipment
needs as well.
You know, delivery units.
Are they at the twelve?
Are they at the chair?
X-rays, TVs on the ceiling.
Are you educating and
wanting entertainment for
patients while in a restorative case?
You know,
all these questions go into
finalizing the details of that practice.
That's right.
Now, once we've got that,
then we have to understand, okay,
what is the city now going
to be looking for from us
to approve a permit?
I love it.
So there's this kind of like step one,
step two.
There's like,
what do you need to do what
you're trying to do?
Right.
And then there's what is the city need?
Correct.
And every city is different.
That's the that's the
complexity of this freaking
conversation is I might
have a client in
Tallahassee and a client in Tacoma,
Washington, and a client in the East Bay,
California.
And my answer is not the
same for all of them.
Because I don't know what
Tacoma is going to say
compared to Tallahassee,
compared to East Bay.
Right.
Because all those cities are different.
So, Dustin, help us out with the city.
And do we need partners?
It's an option to get a partner involved.
But do we need partners?
And how does that work with
contractors and all that?
Well, Mike,
I'm going to step back just one
step real quick.
Beautiful.
In my design-build model…
I've had the conversation
with the client that says, listen,
I understand this idea.
We are the biggest part of the budget.
Um,
six to nine months of my upfront time
is going to be given to you for free,
regardless of whether you
use big sky or not,
just because that's who we are.
And I want my knowledge
given to every client to
set them up for success.
That's right.
That's part of that due
diligence that we talked about earlier.
It is.
Now there is a point though,
where I tell the doc, okay, listen,
give me the benefit of the
doubt let me get you all
the way through this
process let me get you to
the budgeting stage once I
budgeted if I'm hitting
your budget let's keep
going because that next
step you're right if we get
into permits and they're
not design building this uh practice
you do have to bring in
outside partners that are
going to cost a lot more
going to take quite a bit
more time and they're going
to they're going to design
and engineer systems that
the city will approve but
traditionally are way over
engineered than what is
actually needed we are the
dental specialist we design
build in-house in-house
engineers we know exactly
what is needed yes
I love that you said that.
So you're using this word
called design build.
Yes.
And from plans to permit and this topic,
this is very important.
You've got two paths.
you got one path to get an architect,
like Dustin said,
space planner slash
architect to drive it from plans for plan,
basic rudimentary,
basic plans to permitting
without the contractor.
Right.
And then the contractor will
pick it up from there and
bid it or another,
another route is design build.
And he used the word design build.
And that's a very important
thing because some contractors are,
don't need architects and
too much help from space planners.
And they can take it from
that floor plan all the way
into permitting.
And there are some benefits
to design build.
So let's talk about that.
Staying within this plans to permit topic,
let's talk about design build.
So what are the benefits?
I know I'm, I want you to say it.
Yeah, absolutely.
What are the benefits?
You said it fast.
I want you to slow down and
describe what you mean
there of design build totally where,
where the builder takes you
from floor plan to permit.
Go ahead.
Yes.
The design build model is a
collaboration of the contractor,
They're still a designer,
whether they're in-house or
a separate vendor and the client.
We are building this project
on paper together,
making sure that the needs
and requirements plus the
budget are all hit prior to
submitting for permit.
We are giving the city
exactly what is needed in
order to approve this dental office.
Beautiful.
Now,
what that does is it's saving you time.
Because in the other model
where you have an architect and engineers,
the engineers I can a
hundred percent guarantee
to you are over-engineering
because they're not building.
Yeah, exactly.
They're not building these
systems or warranty this system.
So they're going to
over-engineer to make sure
that they're meeting the need,
but traditionally they're way more.
Contractors stepping in
after all these systems are built,
Or designed, not built, designed.
Designed, excuse me, yes.
Over budget,
we're now having to value engineer the...
the mental enjoyment of the
experience is going down
because now the client's looking at,
what do I cut?
How do I delete?
And you're usually the bad guy.
The contractor's usually the bad guy.
Let's take a step back.
So I like what you're saying.
And do I think...
Having an architect involved
is a terrible idea.
The answer is no.
And I think even Dustin will
say it's a no also.
However,
this design build model is you're
truly partnering with the
contractor and they're
trying to be as fast as
possible to get you into permits.
with budget in mind and and
the reason I say that
that's really cool because
I was an ex-banker you all
know that if you've been
following the program for a
while I was an ex-banker
and I'm gonna tell you
right now this is a true
story I'm not exaggerating
I tend to sometimes
exaggerate to prove a point
I am not on this on this
comment in the in all the
years that I have worked as
a lender and a con a consultant
Not one architect would call
me on one of my client's
projects as a banker and
consultant and ask what the budget was.
They never asked me.
So an architect sometimes just, well,
not sometimes,
pretty much just designs it
and gets it prepared for the city,
which is very important.
But they're just kind of designing it.
And then we throw it at the contractor.
This is the bid, right?
The bid route,
we're not talking about design build,
the bid route.
And we throw it to the contractor and say,
hey, we just designed this thing.
Can you quote it?
And no one up to that point
has even discussed budget yet.
And the funny thing is, is most of my,
the very first thing that the designers,
architects say to my client
is get a Pinterest account
and start giving me your ideas.
Well,
what do you think everybody's
interested in, in Pinterest?
It's the nicest stuff.
It's most beautiful finishes.
And that's what you're
pinning and sending into
the architect and the
architects creating that.
And giving it to Dustin and
more than fifty percent of the time,
the budget is blown and
then we have to go backwards.
And that's exactly what
Dustin was saying is it's
not a very pleasant
experience when you tell me the client,
hey, you can have this beautiful office.
let's design it and have the
contractor bid it.
And then all the contractors
come in way overpriced.
And now my client, now the client's like,
man,
I was kind of bummed because I saw a
lot of glass and great
lighting and amazing wall covers.
And now they got to strip
all that out because you're the bad guy,
Dustin.
Exactly.
Something different.
I want to add to that real quick.
So when you have found
yourself in that position, yeah.
We now need to figure out how to delete,
reduce, cut, and then redesign.
And then redesign.
And then rebid.
Which time?
You're talking about eight, ten,
twelve weeks.
What does that twelve weeks
equate to seeing patients?
In business, yeah.
I could tell you what it
equates to as a startup.
The first two months of a
startup are somewhere around five months
depending on how busy you
get right out of the gate
with some of our marketing
efforts and stuff, for the first month,
somewhere between five and
ten thousand dollars.
And then the next month,
usually somewhere between
ten to fifteen thousand dollars.
So you might be looking at
first two months is twenty
five thousand dollars of
sales that you're you're not
getting and then you're
also spending it on the
front end so it does add up
um so thank you dustin for
that so so when a
contractor um does bring up
this idea of design build
what are some great
questions to ask them to kind of get out
the inner in the interview process,
what are some good
questions that the audience
should be asking you, Dustin, about, Hey,
what's the process like?
And, um,
how do you guys help me through
this and how to, you know,
what are the right questions asked?
I guess.
Are you with me on this?
Uh, yeah, no, totally.
You know, when a client, uh,
here's what a client should
be asking their contractor.
Um, and, and I would expect to be asked is,
you know,
Or to be told, Dr. Smith, listen,
we've done this hundreds of times.
Not only,
and this is a big point that I
want to press upon is, you know,
a lot of contractors are
going to tell you there's
three things in the industry you can have,
but you can only get two of the three.
It's price, it's schedule, it's quality.
Pick two of the three.
With Big Sky and with your contractor,
you should actually be
getting all three but a fourth.
You should get the competitive pricing.
You should get the quality work.
You should get within
schedule and you should get
the experience.
That is one of the biggest
parts of the design build
is the experience for the client.
They should not be stressing
out on a day-to-day basis
while seeing patients.
How am I going to get this built?
How am I going to get it paid?
How am I going to get it done?
They need a team like Next
Level and Big Sky that is
working behind the scenes,
getting this done for them.
and letting them enjoy this
experience as much or
little as they want to.
So a couple questions should be, listen,
are you coordinating everything for me?
absolutely the contractor
hey are you coordinating
this yeah exactly uh you
know how much engagement uh
do you need of me during
this process throughout do
you have all the resources
necessary to make this
happen a lot of contractors
don't know the next levels
they don't know the uh it
uh and tech reps they don't
know the best equipment
reps out there they don't
know the best designers
there's designers out there
giving startups a fifty
thousand dollar proposal
and they're thinking that's
the norm it's not the norm
that's not making sure that
your general contractor has
the resources to design
build your project yeah um
because design build might
not be that big sky is
handling all of that stuff
to get you from correct
floor plan to permitting
but they're going to
partner with folks to make
it happen is what you're
saying exactly they'll
either have it in-house or
not and that's okay
Exactly.
Yes.
Okay.
That's great.
All right.
That's awesome.
The last question that a
client and most critical question is,
how are you going to hit my budget?
Yes.
Let me show you.
Yes.
That's a critical one.
Yeah.
I often find to put an end
cap on the question is timelines.
Did sometimes I get
contractors on my projects
and the projects just keep
going and going and going
and they give me a date.
I even send you texts all the time.
I'm like, Hey, when is the ETA to open?
Like I'm always asking like,
what's the opening?
Because a startup and,
and established practices too,
they really need to know
that date because then
that's when the marketing launches,
they need to hire their team.
All of this expensive stuff
needs to get deployed.
Right.
And if you're not open and
we got to push everything back a week,
that's a whole week of payroll, right?
that I didn't want to have
so so having your
contractor dialed on
timelines um is so
important and give us some
um I always heard debunk it
or agree with it that on
average by the time drywall
gets completed how far out
are you from opening day typically
From opening day?
Well,
we're about six weeks from finishing
getting final occupancy and
we're about eight weeks
from seeing patients.
Okay.
Six to eight weeks.
I've always said six.
Okay.
Perfect.
Yeah.
And I liked your response
for the one that we're
building together right now and rent.
And Mike asked me, Hey, what's,
what's our ETA on, on opening day?
And I gave him the date and
he thought I was full of shit.
He was like, no way.
It's going to take you way
longer than that.
I was like, no, we're halfway there.
You guys are, you guys are fast.
And that matters.
Another question is, is on average,
great question to ask your
contractor on average, how,
how quickly could you build
out this office?
You know, um,
On average, your typical startup,
we will be ready for
equipment after twelve weeks.
We say fourteen weeks until
you're ready to see your first patient.
Twelve to build, two to equip, stock,
supply,
and start seeing your first patient.
I'll ask that question the
rest of this week.
So your answer on record is
how many weeks from start to finish?
If you had permit in hand.
Fourteen weeks.
Fourteen weeks is Dustin
Long and Big Sky's answer.
I like it.
We'll ask that question the whole week.
My portion, twelve.
A lot of contractors won't give you
the added time at the very
end to move and equip.
Got it.
Yes.
Well then let's get, let's put the,
let's land this bird.
It's been a great conversation.
It's exactly what I wanted
to get out of it.
The last question I'll say is, is why my,
why in,
so you're in Texas and you're also
in Seattle and Puget Sound.
when when folks are
listening to podcasts just
like this or online
trolling and sleuthing all
over the internet and they
see construction costs per
square foot yes I work with
a contractor in florida
it's the same contractor
and he services
jacksonville and he
services um tampa those are
pretty far away from each other
He quotes a cost per square foot for Tampa,
and then he quotes a
dramatically different cost
per square foot in Jacksonville.
I would argue that Texas and
Seattle are two different
markets as well.
I'm not asking you to tell
me what those costs are.
What I'm asking you is why
is it so different across the country?
Do you know the answer to that?
You know,
I've actually had recent
conversations on this
because you're right.
Texas is damn near half the
cost per square foot.
It's wild.
I know it is.
I wasn't going to say it on air,
but same metal studs.
It's the same drywall builder,
same builder, same probability model.
What is it?
Labor?
It's labor, right?
A lot of, a lot of it is labor.
Yeah.
The, the,
The unions a long,
long time ago set a baseline,
and it continues to rise.
The cost of living in the
Pacific Northwest,
we're so constrained space-wise.
Land values are just so much
more expensive.
What about material in a
world where Donald Trump
gets into office?
And actually,
I'm not even going to say Donald Trump.
Biden put a stamp timestamp.
You know,
Biden had some crazy inflation in
his term.
Trump's seeing some with the tariffs.
I don't care about the politics.
I'm just saying we have seen
a crazy amount of fluctuation.
as it relates to tariff
stuff tax stuff in just
just inflation loaf loaf of
bread eggs is that an issue
with construction uh
differences between seattle
and texas absolutely yeah
yeah think about the
warehouse storage rental
fees in seattle compared to
somewhere here in texas
Okay.
But the materials themselves,
like wood and steel for the
framing and just material.
Same material, but you don't know.
It's absolutely more expensive.
Yeah.
In different markets, in different markets,
potentially twenty five to
thirty percent different.
Is it an access or a lack of
access to materials in
different parts of the country?
Think about all the ports we
have in Seattle.
There's no ports in Texas.
I know that I'm just trying
to figure it out,
like why a metal stud would
cost double here in the
northwest than it would in Texas.
And it has nothing to do with labor.
Other than, well,
it kind of does because the
labors of the steel stud.
So, yeah.
I tell you what, when you figure that out,
let's strategize because
there's got to be some
leverage we can take
advantage to build our businesses.
But for the time being,
I don't know what the answer is.
No, no.
I think that's I think
that's really good because
these are the questions
that my clients ask and
it's just sometimes it's
just a great mystery and
they think you mr
contractor are the guy
that's screwing them over
like why is dustin two
fifty or whatever plus in
the northwest and he's one
fifty plus in texas he must
be trying to screw me here
in seattle and that's not
the answer that's not like
an electrician here in
texas journeyman
electrician fifty five to
sixty five an hour seattle
One hundred and thirty to
one hundred and fifty an hour.
There it is.
Same guy, same skill set,
same certification.
Yeah.
Different locations.
Wild.
Unreal.
Well, with that being said,
I think we debunked and had
a fantastic conversation today.
I think our clients and
prospective clients and
folks looking to do startups,
they're going to get a lot
of information out of this episode.
That's what Shark Week's all about.
We're going to get more
information this whole week.
All construction.
Great contractors,
just like Dustin Long and Big Sky.
I thank you, my friend,
for being part of the program.
Dude,
it's been how many years you've been
trying to get on this podcast?
Years, right?
Years.
I don't know why it took so long,
but you are one of my
favorites and I appreciate
you being on the show, buddy.
Absolutely, Mark.
I appreciate you and all the
listeners here that are
listening now and gonna listen.
If you need to get a hold of Dustin,
I want to ask him some questions.
Links below, contact information below.
If you're in the Northwest
or if you're in Texas,
you definitely need to
consider him to build your project.
Absolutely.
Call my cell, text me.
I work a twenty, twenty hours a day,
seven days a week.
Let's go.
This is true.
With that being said, thank you, sir,
for your time.
Appreciate it.
See ya.
Let us know how you like the show.
Rate us on Apple and Spotify.
Subscribe and follow for more.