Communication With Your Veterinary Architect is Key
Nothing can be more frustrating then to have a vision and not see that vision come to fruition. So much of this end result can be eliminated by open, honest, and productive communication. This can not be more true than in our industry.
It begins with a casual sit-down with an experienced veterinary architect. The first job of an architect is to listen. We intently listen to hear your ideas, and begin the process of your animal hospital design, forming concepts and parameters. Your job is to tell us exactly as you see things, and give us the big picture, the VISION. We will provide you feedback on items such as costs, time-frame, site concerns, and construction details. Here is where it’s critical to be honest. The truth is we can design and build you almost anything you want. We need to see it as you do. Finding an architect you can talk to and be heard is very important. The biggest mistake your veterinary architect can make in this stage of the relationship is to blindly agree to move forward with your vision without telling you the “cold hard facts” of what it will take to build your dream. We will guide you through this phase, putting the project in terms of both time and money, and then we continue to work with you to make your dream possible.
Once the course is set, the process begins to design the dream and start construction documents. It’s here where consistent communication is required. Do we move this door? Do you like this office layout? Stone or brick out front? You’ll see lots of emails with concepts, updated plans, and colorful renderings. Unless we have this “team” communication, there will always be unplanned surprises, and we work hard to minimize those surprises by being open and transparent during this medical design phase.
Finally it’s time to build your vision. It’s here where we invite the Contractor into the conversation. This new relationship demands honest and sometimes hard communication. We know you are busy running your business, so we take on this role as your communicator during construction. We have almost daily conversations with the Contractor, answering questions, reviewing conditions, and working through field issues which invariably crop up. It is important that the contractor understand both the intent and the nuance of what we are building, to assure you get the dream you always wanted.
The most effective team for a medical project is the one where, at the end of the job, we can all shake hands and look proudly at what we’ve accomplished. In all our years of experience, it’s been those teams that maintained open communication that have proven the most successful. It’s that communication that gets us from the first meeting to opening the doors to your dreams.
Give us a call, and lets start “talking”!
