Addressing the Issues
On every dental office design project issues arise during construction. Sometimes the issues could have been prevented with better communication between the various parties working on the project. Sometimes they should have been foreseen and were merely overlooked due to other distractions along the way. And, sometimes they are merely the results of mistakes made. After all, we’re all human. The key to a successful project is the approach taken in dealing with finding solutions to the issues when they arise.
Personally, I find it much more enjoyable and better off for all parties involved to brainstorm and find creative solutions to the issues. I’ve never found getting all upset and screaming and yelling and pointing fingers to be the least bit constructive. All these behaviors accomplish is to make continuing to work together challenging and usually ends up costing the project more in time, money, and delays.
When any issue arises my goal is to find out the root cause is, why did the issue occur, and what are the obvious options for dealing with and resolving the issue. Sometimes, however, creative solutions must be found.
For example, a client is currently not going to finish out all of the operatories in the dental office. No big deal, other than the only two people that were aware of this was the dentist and the equipment provider. This poses an issue for the contractor in how to best finish off the plumbing and electrical connections in the floor in order to pass inspection. One solution proposed was to build boxes, finish them in a laminate to match the casework and use them to cover the pipes. Not a bad idea, but probably not the least expensive approach. After a bit of brainstorming, a trip to Target, and a simple resin box was found that will do the job quite nicely for $14. It even comes in a color that coordinates with the rest of the dental office design! Problem solved at minimal cost and no delay to the project.
In my mind this is the essence of customer service: bringing value to clients by addressing issues calmly, rationally, and looking for the best cost solution.
