What we build · Dental
Everything Is in the Floor
A dental practice is defined by what runs underneath it — water, air, vacuum, drainage and data, all arriving at fixed points in each operatory.
Tell us the space, the specialty, and whether the facility will be licensed. Those three answers decide almost everything else.
Licensed?
The first question, because it changes the whole project
ICRA
Containment built and monitored, not just described
Occupied
Clinics keep seeing patients while we work
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
The rough-in has to be right the first time
Every operatory needs multiple services arriving at exact positions determined by the chair and the delivery unit. Those positions come from the equipment manufacturer, not from the architect, and if the equipment package changes after the slab is cut the cost of moving them is severe. Dental projects fail in the floor.
The equipment package is also a commercial commitment, not just a technical one, and practices frequently want to keep negotiating it while the build proceeds. That is entirely reasonable and it is incompatible with pouring a slab, which is why the sequence has to be settled explicitly rather than assumed.
What has to be settled early
- The equipment package, finalized before any rough-in.
- Chair positions and handedness in every operatory.
- Vacuum and compressor location, and the noise it makes.
- Imaging — panoramic, cone beam — and any shielding required.
- Sterilization area workflow, which is the practice's daily bottleneck.
Why the mechanical room location matters
Compressors and vacuum pumps run through the working day and they are not quiet. Placed adjacent to an operatory or on the other side of a consultation room wall, the noise becomes a permanent feature of every patient interaction in that room.
Locating them properly — away from clinical and consultation space, with attention to structure-borne noise as well as airborne — costs nothing at layout stage and cannot be corrected once the services are run.
How we handle it
- 01Coordinate directly with your equipment supplier before rough-in.
- 02Set utility positions from the manufacturer's templates.
- 03Locate mechanical plant where its noise does not reach operatories.
- 04Build the sterilization area to the workflow, not to leftover space.
- 05Verify every rough-in position before concrete is placed.
Freeze the equipment package before rough-in, even if it delays the start. A week of waiting is nothing against the cost of relocating services in a slab that has already been poured.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not start rough-in on a provisional equipment list. It reads as caution and it is the single largest source of cost overrun in dental construction.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why does equipment selection matter so early?
- Utility positions come from the manufacturer's templates. Change the equipment after the slab and relocation is severe.
- Where should the compressor go?
- Somewhere its noise does not reach operatories. It is frequently an afterthought and it should not be.
- Does imaging need shielding?
- Depending on the equipment, yes. It is established from the manufacturer's data and a physicist where required.
- Can rough-in start before equipment is chosen?
- We will not do it. It is the biggest single source of overrun in dental work.
The requirements
Licensure & Plan Review
Some healthcare spaces are licensed facilities reviewed by the state. Some are commercial tenant buildouts. The difference decides the cost, the schedule and the standard.
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Infection Control & ICRA
Construction in or near a healthcare space releases dust, and dust carries organisms that matter to people who are already unwell. Containment is a built assembly with a measurable performance.
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Medical Gas
Medical gas piping looks like plumbing and is governed by an entirely separate regime of qualification, installation and independent verification.
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Life Safety & ILSM
Building work interrupts alarms, sprinklers, exits and smoke compartments. In an occupied healthcare facility every one of those interruptions has to be planned and compensated for.
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Working in a Live Facility
Most healthcare construction happens in a building that is still seeing patients, which makes coordination the largest part of the job.
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More what we build
Medical Office
A private physician practice doing examinations and consultation. Usually a commercial tenant buildout with clinical requirements layered on top.
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Ambulatory Surgery
An ambulatory surgery center is a licensed facility. State plan review, code requirements for operating rooms, medical gas and air handling all apply, and each has a real schedule consequence.
Read more →
Imaging & Radiology
X-ray, CT and MRI each impose physical requirements that a normal building does not anticipate — shielding, floor loading, power and, for MRI, a magnetic field that never turns off.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.