Planning & Construction
When Should Your Cabinet Design Happen?
ยท 4 min read
Cabinets go in near the end of a build, but they need to be decided near the start. Here is when to lock your drawings and what the order looks like.
Cabinets are one of the last things to go into a new dental office, so it is easy to assume they can be one of the last things you decide. In our experience it works the other way around. The cabinets go in late, after rough-in, paint and flooring, but the decisions behind them need to be made early, before permitting and before the sheetrock goes up. The earlier that conversation starts, the more we can plan ahead with you.
Two timelines, not one
It helps to think of cabinetry as running on two timelines. The first is when the cabinets are installed, which happens near the end of the build, once the rooms are finished and just before the equipment goes in. The second is when the cabinets are decided, and that happens much earlier. Where the sinks sit, where power and data come out of the wall, and how the sterilization room is laid out all shape the plumbing and electrical plans your contractor builds from. Once those lines are inside finished walls, changing a cabinet often means changing the walls too.
Lock your drawings before the walls close
The good news is that utility locations can still move after framing, as long as the sheetrock is not up yet. That window is the moment to have your cabinet drawings settled. One dentist we worked with caught a few utility locations that did not line up with the cabinetry and had them moved before the sheetrock went in, rather than changing the design and workflow to work around them later. We also suggest taking photos of the plumbing and electrical in every room before the walls close, since those photos stay useful for years.
To get your drawings to that point, it helps to know your equipment types going in. You do not need model numbers yet, but you do need to know whether you will have a sterilizer, an ultrasonic or a washer, rear or chair delivery, and plumbed nitrous or carts. Those answers decide where the plumbing, power and data need to land.
What the order looks like
Once you are ready to move forward, a cabinet order follows the same steps every time:
1. Estimate signed. A deposit is due when you sign, and its timing can be flexible to line up with your bank loan. Signing early also gets your job priority in our production schedule.
2. Shop drawings. We draw every room for you to review, which takes about 2 weeks. You can approve the drawings pending site verification.
3. Materials. We order materials as soon as the drawings are approved, and they take about 4 weeks or more to arrive.
4. Site verification. We confirm measurements at the job site so every cabinet fits the walls exactly as built.
5. Production. Once materials are in, your cabinets are built to order in our own facility in Texas in about 2 weeks.
6. Delivery. We time shipping to your schedule so the cabinets arrive when the rooms are ready. Cabinets do best when they are not stored for months in a hot or humid warehouse.
7. Install. Installation takes 2 to 4 days.
Plan on 12 weeks or more from first call to delivery. Simple projects can be done in as little as 8. If your timeline allows more room than that, even better, because a design that is never rushed is a design that fits.
Leave room for permits
Permitting comes at the front of the project, and it is the part of the schedule you have the least control over. We have seen offices with every cabinet installed while the opening waited on an electrical permit, and practices that carried extra loan costs because permits ran long. Whatever estimate your contractor gives you for permitting, build in some extra padding around it. Starting the cabinet conversation early means your drawings are ready well before they are needed, so cabinetry is never the reason your opening date moves.
Start with your floor plan
If you are planning a build, send us your floor plan as early as you can, even if some equipment is still being decided. We will walk through each room with you, point out the decisions that need to happen before rough-in, and give you a starting price.
Want the full planning guide? Our free white paper, ABCD: A Better Cabinet Design, walks through every decision in the order you will face it and ends with a one-page checklist with an owner and a date for every item. You can download it from our Resources page, try our cost estimator, or call us at (210) 538-2927.