Strengthening the design team: the contract furniture dealership.

The Contract Furniture Dealership

A source of expertise and advice you might not have thought of before

Creating a new environment is a highly demanding process encompassing hundreds - even thousands - of decisions. It requires the efforts of many people, and the end result affects your patients and employees. The challenge is to keep things running as usual - every step of the way.

You will need to develop a strategic plan that realistically addresses people, processes and products - a blueprint that factors in all your facility's requirements for present use and future growth, technology, hygienic and environmental considerations, move scheduling, aesthetics and budgets.

As you're fine-tuning the plan you should be selecting your "transition team." This might include: internal staff, the architect, the design firm, the builder, the office furniture dealership and other vendors and consultants, in such fields as laboratory technology, telecommunications and medical equipment. The important thing to remember is that, in the transition team, no one person should bear responsibility for too much of the transition process.

What does the transition process involve? Tasks may include:

* Developing project schedule

* Developing space plans

* Selecting suppliers

* Selecting architectural finishes, such as flooring, carpet and wall coverings

* Coordinating with electrical contractor and other trades

* Performing ongoing budget evaluation

* Specifying furniture

* Coordinating all orders with manufacturers

* Preparing installation documents

* Coordinating deliveries and installation of all furniture

* Determining technologic requirements

* Coordinating with telephone company

* Working with movers

* Moving patients and ensuring uninterrupted quality of care and comfort

It's a big job - so ask yourself: Will managing this project in-house effectively utilize time and resources, and achieve the desired result on time and within budget? Chances are you will find that no matter how qualified your staff or how reliable and extensive your supplier network may be, there are compelling reasons to outsource key components of this project, rather than attempting to manage them internally. Reasons might include: varying levels of project expertise among too many project players; diminished quality control; delays, postponements and schedule breakdowns; and lack of control over cost, including "unaccountable" human resource costs.

When it comes to outsourcing, consider this option: Your contract furniture dealership, in conjunction with your design firm, can assume some, or all, of the responsibilities outlined above and act as a central point of contact. Such a dealership can effectively manage communications between facility staff and outside consultants and suppliers. Moreover, your dealer can leverage professional knowledge, healthcare industry insight and purchasing power to your benefit.

Assuming you want to give this a try, it is best to involve the dealership early on, when you've selected your architect, design firm or contractor. By doing so, the dealer is able to help keep costs down, keep the project on track and maximize the effectiveness of your workplace and patient care setting. In deciding whether a contract furniture dealership can help, consider these factors:

* Is the dealer familiar with the particular needs of your patient care environment?

* Is the dealer familiar with healthcare compliance codes?

* Is the dealer familiar with ADA compliance codes?

* How well does your dealer provide counsel on the best possible use of physical space?

* What is the dealer's scope of service: installation and such ongoing services as interiors management, repair and refinishing services, providing rental and loaner furniture, and warehousing?

* How effectively has the dealership worked with outside sources in the past, e.g., architects, interior designers, contractors?

* What's been the quality of service? Look at examples of past work. Obtain references.

Here are some factors that all members of the transition team should take into account:

1. If you fail to build flexibility into your plans, you risk wasting space (or not securing enough space) and then incurring more expenses as you need to make adjustments at a later time.

Plan for your facility's size in the future. Explore the dynamics of your facility's layout - offices, labs, patient rooms, common areas, treatment and activity rooms, and waiting areas. Evaluate present and' future needs for functional areas to be situated close to one another. Where do you see these growing in terms of staff and technology? Where do you see them converging or shrinking?

2. Be mindful of your employees' health and safety during the planning stage. Evaluating adjustable work surfaces and ergonomic seating, as well as lighting and acoustical issues, when selecting furniture can help your facility avoid unwelcome liability or other related expenses such as workers' compensation.

3. It's a wise idea to include your technology suppliers as part of your transition team because, in today's wired world, relocating technology requires more than pulling the plug at one location and plugging in at another. Make sure you have allocated enough space for electronics, with optimum adjacency. Moreover, decide early on whether electronics need to be incorporated into office furnishings - this can be highly effective and aesthetically desirable, but it is costlier and requires additional time.

4. What can individual furnishings contribute to the mental and physical comfort of patients, and how can they help your employees do their jobs more efficiently? It's vitally important to define your furniture needs by the attributes of care and work settings rather than by the aesthetics or the features of a particular manufacturer.

Furniture should be stable and secure in any areas where you have residents. Four sturdy legs on chairs offer a much better base of support than a sled-based chair, for example. If someone who is in a weakened condition uses the chair arms to get up or sit down, he or she might lose balance in a less sturdy chair. Also think durability. How often will you need to replace furnishings or materials? A qualified dealer can specify cost-effective materials that look good, wear well and comply with health regulations.

5. Plan for "reconfigurability." Standardization can help - e.g., all work stations from one company, all desks and accessories from another. When you have to organize a future space change, you will have gone a long way toward minimizing complications, since all the components match. Remember that custom furnishings can enhance a facility's image or create a perfectly matched complement to a building's architecture, but custom work takes longer and is more costly, both initially and when you need to replace or add an occasional piece in the future. Your dealer can help you plan for change and order wisely.

Even if you're not incorporating anything "custom," select materials early. Waiting for carpets, wall coverings and other materials may cause unexpected delay.

Finally, leasing may allow you to acquire the furniture you want without prohibitive down payments, freeing your working capital for other expenses. Many dealers are able to arrange this for you, as well.

For your next construction or renovation project, then, remember that a solid strategic plan, a focused approach, teamwork and professional guidance can go a long way toward minimizing the inevitable complications. And consider a team member and consultant you might not have thought of before - your contract furniture dealership.

Norman Rothbard is president of Joseph Rothbard & Company, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. Joseph Rothbard & Company, Inc., is a national office furniture dealership and interiors project management firm specializing in serving the healthcare industry. For further information, [phone].