Renovations
Arrange renovations
Draw up detailed plans of renovations required. If you are not good at this, you may need to hire an architect to help. Carefully think through everything that you will need, and draw up exact specifications and measurements. What are your plumbing and electrical requirements? Can you do the painting yourself? You will now need to get the plans approved by the city/town building inspector. Allow sufficient time here as government bureaucracies can sometimes move very slowly. Next you will need to hire a general contractor who will guide the overall project and where necessary hire the various "sub trades" such as plumbers, electricians and drywallers. Check your lease as to whether the landlord requires you to use a specific contractor. Depending on the market for rental properties in your area the landlord may be willing to pay for part of the renovations, or give you a rental allowance to cover the rent while renovations are taking place. Discuss this with your rental agent. Don't be afraid to "bargain."
Before choosing a contractor, you may want to get two or three quotes, and always check references. Go over the plans with your contractor who may suggest less costly methods. For example a curved corner is much more expensive to build than a 90 degree corner.
- Order office furniture
- Record personal items transferred to business. The tax laws basically say that “any reasonable expense incurred to earn income” can be deducted for tax purposes. Keep track of your expenditures, and save your receipts.
- Design and print patient intake forms
Clinic renovations under way
Work closely with your contractor, but don't "hover." Be careful when proposing "changes" to the original plans, and always put changes in writing with costs clearly noted and signed by both parties. Allow for extra time at this stage.
Other tasks while renovations are under way
- Interview and hire a lab service provider
- Phone line installed
- Develop office procedures
- Patient tracking system
- Hire receptionist (you may want to wait until you start)
- Order initial stock of supplements
Speak to other NDs about this, and learn from their mistakes. Most will tell you that when they started out, they sank FAR too much cash into supplements that just ended up expiring on the shelf. Others will say that they bought many supplements for conditions they thought they would be treating but now are not. If you live in the GTA you may want to consider using Body and Mind 
as a resource at the beginning when volume is low. Also consider that most supplement companies have a very short turn-around time and you can always have supplements directly shipped to your patient. Ideally, you want to purchase a supplement from a company on your credit card, and sell it before you pay for it (i.e., before your credit card bill is due).
