Strengthening the design team: the contract furniture dealership - Cover Story

Nursing Homes, June, 1998 by Norman Rothbard

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.