Dental Unscripted | Getting into Ownership and Practice Management Insights

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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